09/28/2026
Message from one of our Board of Directors, Nadine Kitchekeesik. 🪶
Orange Shirt Day, now called National Day for Truth & Reconciliation, was inspired by the story of Phyllis Webstad.
In 1973, six-year-old Phyllis Webstad went to her first day at the St. Joseph Mission Residential School. Her grandmother had bought her a new outfit to mark the occasion, including a bright orange shirt that Phyllis was excited to wear.
Phyllis did not receive the warm welcome she was expecting. Instead, school officials stripped her of her clothes, and her orange shirt was never returned.
We wear orange this week to honour victims of the residential school system in Canada and bring awareness to Indigenous history and the legacy of colonialism in North America.
Truth and Reconciliation means acknowledging that children were never meant to be separated from their families and making sure that it never happens again.