Orange Shirt Day Inspired By A Girl Who Couldn’t Wear Hers:
Phyllis Webstad was six-years-old when the new orange shirt she excitedly chose for her first day of school was stripped off her back. She never saw it again.
It was the early ‘70s and Webstad was the third generation of her family to attend St. Joseph’s Residential School in Williams Lake, B.C. Most people knew it as The Mission.
She was a kid. She didn’t know that merely being born an indigenous child surrendered her to an education system designed to break down her identity.
Orange Shirt day is on September 30th all across Canada.
Orange Shirt Day is Today.