Orange Shirt Day to honour residential school survivors

Orange Shirt Day is coming up on Friday. It is meant to honour Indigenous peoples who were taken from their homes and forced into residential schools across Canada. It is also a time to showcase the stories and healing of families who are survivors of the schools. Marilyn Contois, a Library Technician from Indigenous Services at the Lethbridge Public Library say the day stems from a residential school survivor named Phyllis Webstad.

“She shared her story on how when she went to a residential school she wore an orange shirt that her grandmother bought her. That was taken away from her and she had to wear a uniform. That orange shirt meant a lot to her and so in memory- in honour of that it became a day and a way to honour what happened to her. It’s all across Canada now. Everybody’s wearing the orange shirt on that day.”

National Day For Truth and Reconciliation takes place on Friday with a number of events in Lethbridge happening during the week.