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Every Child Matters: VCAD Launches Orange Shirt Day Fundraiser for Residential School

Survivors

Published: Thursday, 30 September 2021

History

Orange Shirt Day is commemorated on September 30 each year, as thousands of individuals gather across the country to remember and honor the victims and survivors of residential schools. Inspired by the story of Phyllis Webstad – who wore a bright orange shirt on her first day attending a BC residential school in 1973 – had her shirt stripped from her, never to be seen again. This act represented the poor and unfair treatment that many Indigenous children and families experienced from the late 1800s to early 1990s, when the last residential school was finally shut down.

Orange Shirt Day is now recognized as a Canadian federal holiday: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. As of now, resolutions have currently been passed by local governments, school districts, and First Nations in the Cariboo and beyond. This new national holiday will also serve to commemorate residential school survivors and further educate thousands of Canadians. Learn more here.

Movement

It is estimated that over 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools in Canada from the late 1800s until the early 1990s, and of those that attended, approximately 5,000 died while under residential school care. Many survivors are still dealing with the trauma of abuse experienced at these schools, and the impact it’s had not just on them, but on their families as well. “Every child matters” movement recognizes the importance of each individual child and how, as a society, [we] need to do better to ensure this kind of harmful treatment or negligence never occurs in Canada again.

Get Involved

Calling all artists! In honour of Orange Shirt Day, VCAD has launched a creative fundraiser to raise money for residential school survivors. Create your own Orange Shirt Day T-shirt design* and submit it to us by September 30, 2021. Each submitted design will generate $5 towards residential school survivors. Learn more and enter our fundraiser here.

*Some conditions apply.