Orange Shirt Day

kc dyer
Sep 30
2 min read

Visible and meaningful acts of Truth and Reconciliation

This year's 'Every Child Matters' winning design, by Sloane Cameron, Grade 6 student from Innisfail, Alberta.

This year, the Orange Shirt Society is celebrating 10 years of supporting Residential School Reconciliation and reminding the world that "Every child matters".

Founded by Phyllis Webstad, the organization works to create awareness of the inter-generational impacts Indian Residential Schools had on individuals, families and society.

Canada has a long-standing history of abuse and genocide against Indigenous peoples, and many of us are only just now beginning to come to terms with the extent and severity of the damage inflicted.

Orange Shirt Day is about finding ways to acknowledge these wrongs, and to make meaningful change in systemic racism.

Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission made 94 Calls to Action in 2015, which can be read HERE.

While wearing an orange shirt is a step forward in the continuing education of Canadians, other tangible efforts are being made that can be seen more than one day a year.

On September 17, the intersection at Dollarton Highway and Sleil-Waututh Road in North Vancouver became the location for a new 'Every Child Matters' crosswalk. The crosswalk, designed by Tsleil-Waututh artist Candace Thomas, is the first of two planned in North Vancouver. The second is expected to be sited on Forbes Avenue, near the location of St. Paul’s Indian Residential School, which closed in 1959.

According to Indigenous Watchdog (an Ontario-based non-profit organization dedicated to monitoring and reporting on reconciliation efforts), the creation of this project was the result of a partnership between the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Orange Shirt Society, and was supported by the District of North Vancouver and North Shore Community Foundation.

This tangible response to Call to Action #10 addresses the importance of public education, as what District of North Vancouver mayor Mike Little called "a very visible reminder" that that the crosswalk is in Tsleil-Waututh territory.