National Day for Truth and Reconciliation honours the thousands of children harmed in residential schools.
Phyllis Jack Webstad, a member of the Stswecem'c Xgat'tem First Nation, had a new orange shirt taken from her on her first day of residential school. Her orange shirt came to symbolize the loss of culture, identity, and childhood that Indigenous children experienced in the residential school system. Webstad's story is compelling, and in 2013, became the founding story of the Orange Shirt Day movement.
Orange Shirt Day—also known as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation—is annually observed on September 30, and was designated a federal statutory holiday in 2021 to fulfill Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 80.
Since 2013, many United Church individuals and congregations have observed Orange Shirt Day on the Sunday before September 30. This past weekend, the General Council Executive added the Sunday before National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to its list of special Sundays.
Remembering the children who went to residential institutions or who never came home from them, through worship as a public expression of our grief, reflects our commitment to reconciliation and Indigenous justice.
At a time when the trauma caused at residential institutions is being denied, and as discriminatory treatment of Indigenous children by contemporary institutions continues, formalizing the recognition of “Orange Shirt Sunday” reminds us that Every Child Matters.
The Special Interlocutor on Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites named it a sacred obligation to resist residential institutions denialism. It is an act of faithful public witness, honouring the calls of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to educate church communities about residential institutions and to speak up for justice for Indigenous children.