Orange Shirt Day

St. Thomas University is commemorating Orange Shirt Day on Wednesday, September 30.

Watch THIS VIDEO to see members of our community come together to honour former residential school students and to speak about the importance of Orange Shirt Day.

Orange Shirt is a national movement in Canada for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to come together in the spirit of hope and reconciliation to honour former residential school students whose families and communities have been impacted by the policies and actions of the Government of Canada and churches that operated the schools.

Orange Shirt Day began in Williams Lake, BC in 2013 at the St. Joseph Mission residential school commemoration event and has spread across the country. The name Orange Shirt Day honours survivor Phyllis Webstad's story of having her shiny new orange shirt taken away from her on her first day of school at the Mission. The date of the annual event was chosen because it is the time of year that children were removed from their families and forced to attend residential schools. Orange Shirt Day seeks to inspire Canadians to initiate anti-racism and anti-bullying initiatives in schools and the workplace.

The residential school era began in the 1880’s, with the last school closing in 1996. More than 150,000 Indigenous, Métis, and Inuit children attended these schools, with an estimated 80,000 survivors living today.

Please wear orange on September 30 to show your support.