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Orange Memories

on 30 September, Cindy Blackstock and all the others who are fighting for the rights of Indigenous peoples celebrate Orange Shirt Day.

Above, children in Kitigan Zibi remembered the children hurt in residential schools by forming a sacred circle around a memorial. Hundreds of pairs of children’s shoes that had previously been left outside Canada’s parliament were buried at the memorial site.

Phyllis Webstad wasn’t allowed to keep her new shirt. Now, children all over Canada learn about her and other survivors.

Orange Shirt Day

Orange Shirt Day started after Phyllis Webstad, a survivor, spoke about when she was sent to residential school at the age of six. Phyllis was so proud of her new orange shirt, given to her by her grandmother to wear at school. But as soon as she arrived, they took the shirt away from her, and Phyllis never got it back.

“The colour orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing,” says Phyllis.

On Orange Shirt Day, everyone helps heal the wounds from the residential schools with dance, song and ceremonies. The message is that every child matters.

In the First Nation Community of Kitigan Zibi, one might say that every day is Orange Shirt Day. For years, people here have had displayed orange shirts by the roadside. They will stay there until justice have been served, community members explain.
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In 2023, she was chosen as the recipient of the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child by millions of voting children.
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