The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (sometimes shortened to T&R Day) (NDTR; ), originally and still colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day (), is a Canadian day of memorial to recognize the atrocities and multi-generational effects of the

Canadian Indian residential school system The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by various Christian churches. The sch ...

. It occurs every year on September 30. NDTR is a statutory holiday for: * federal government employees and private-sector employees to whom the

Canada Labour Code The ''Canada Labour Code'' () is an Act of the Parliament of Canada to consolidate certain statutes respecting labour. The objective of the Code is to facilitate production by controlling strikes & lockouts, occupational safety and health, a ...

applies; * provincial government employees in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

and

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. * all workers in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, and

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

. The

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

, established to document the effects of the residential school system, ran from 2008 to 2015, and concluded that the attempt to forcefully assimilate Indigenous communities was a

cultural genocide Cultural genocide or culturicide is a concept first described by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, in the same book that coined the term ''genocide''. The destruction of culture was a central component in Lemkin's formulation of genocide ...

. Orange Shirt Day was first established as a day of observance in 2013. The use of an orange shirt as a symbol was inspired by the accounts of Phyllis Jack Webstad, whose personal clothing—including a new orange shirt—was taken from her during her first day of residential schooling, and never returned. The orange shirt is thus used as a symbol of the forced assimilation of Indigenous children that the residential school system enforced. The day was elevated to a statutory holiday for federal workers and workers in federally-regulated workplaces by the

Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada () is the Canadian federalism, federal legislature of Canada. The Monarchy of Canada, Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate of Canada, Senate and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, form the Bicameral ...

in 2021, and named "National Day for Truth and Reconciliation", in light of the claims of over 1,000 unmarked graves near former residential school sites.

Background

Indian residential school system

Shortly after

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

in 1867, the ministers in the new

Cabinet of Canada The Canadian Ministry (Canadian French, French: ''Conseil des ministres''), colloquially referred to as the Cabinet of Canada (), is a body of Minister of the Crown, ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the t ...

inherited the responsibility of advising

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

on the treaties signed between it and the

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

of Canada. Prime Minister

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (10 or 11January 18156June 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 until his death in 1891. He was the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, and had a political ...

was faced with a country with disparate cultures and identities and wanted to forge a new Canadian identity to unite the country and ensure its survival. It was Macdonald's goal to absorb the First Nations into the general population of Canada and extinguish their culture. In 1878, he commissioned

Nicholas Flood Davin Nicholas Flood Davin, KC (January 13, 1840 – October 18, 1901) was a lawyer, journalist and politician, born at Kilfinane, Ireland (then part of the United Kingdom). The first MP for Assiniboia West (1887–1900), Davin was known as the ...

to write a report about residential schools in the United States. One year later, Davin reported that only residential schools could separate aboriginal children from their parents and culture and cause them "to be merged and lost" within the nation. Davin argued that the government should work with the Christian churches to open these schools. Beginning in 1883, the government began funding Indian residential schools across Canada, which were run primarily by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

; but also included the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (UCC; ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada. The United Chu ...

, the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, and the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

. When the separation of children from their parents was resisted, the government responded by making school attendance compulsory in 1894 and empowered the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

to seize children from reserves and bring them to the residential schools. When parents came to take their children away from the schools, the pass system was created, banning Indigenous people from leaving their reserve without a pass from an Indian agent. Conditions at the schools were rough, as schools were underfunded and the infectious disease of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

was rampant. Over the course of the system's existence—more than a century long—approximately 150,000 children were placed in residential schools nationally. The

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC; []) was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. The commission was offi ...

details deaths of approximately 3,200 children in residential schools, representing a 2.1% mortality rate. However, Justice

Murray Sinclair Calvin Murray Sinclair (Ojibway name Mizanay (Mizhana) Gheezhik; January 24, 1951 – November 4, 2024) was a Canadian politician who was a member of the Senate, and a First Nations lawyer who served as chairman of the Indian Residential Scho ...

, the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission later stated that they only included deaths of children that they had records for and that the true number of deaths could be as high as 6,000. Most of the recorded student deaths at residential schools took place before the 1950s. The most common cause of death was

, which was also a common cause of death among children across Canada at that time; but, students also died from other causes, including other diseases, fire, accident, drowning, and hypothermia, some of which occurred while running away from school. Some residential schools had mortality rates of 30% or more. The mortality rates at residential schools were much higher than the mortality rates of Canadian children as a whole. Many deaths were the result of neglect, as schools frequently denied basic medical care or assistance to their students until just before they died; in many cases, school staff did not bother searching for missing children until the next day. Canadian IRS comparative death rates

Dr.

Peter Bryce Peter Henderson Bryce (August 17, 1853 – January 15, 1932) was a public health physician for the Ontario provincial and Canadian federal governments. As a public official he submitted reports that highlighted the mistreatment of Indigenous s ...

reported to the Department of Indian Affairs in 1897 about the high student mortality rates at residential schools due to

. Bryce's report was leaked to journalists, prompting calls for reform from across the country. Despite this public outcry, Bryce's recommendations were largely ignored.

Duncan Campbell Scott Duncan Campbell Scott (August 2, 1862 – December 19, 1947) was a Canadian civil servant and poet and prose writer. With Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Archibald Lampman, he is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets. A caree ...

, the deputy superintendent of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932, who supported the assimilation policy said in 1910, "it is readily acknowledged that Indian children lose their natural resistance to illness by habitating so closely in these schools and that they die at a much higher rate than in their villages. But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this Department, which is being geared towards the final solution of our Indian Problem." In 1914 he added, "the system was open to criticism. Insufficient care was exercised in the admission of children to the schools. The well-known predisposition of Indians to

resulted in a very large percentage of deaths among the pupils." Many schools did not communicate the news of the deaths of students to the students' families, burying the children in

unmarked grave An unmarked grave is one that lacks a marker, headstone, or nameplate indicating that a body is buried there. It may also include burials that previously had identification but which are no longer identifiable due to weather damage, neglect, dist ...

s; in one-third of recorded deaths, the names of the students who had died were not recorded. In some schools,

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

was common and students were forced to work to help raise money for the school. Students were beaten for speaking their indigenous languages. By the 1950s, the government began to relax restrictions on the First Nations of Canada and began to work towards shutting the schools down. The government seized control of the residential schools from the churches in 1969 and, by the 1980s, only a few schools remained open, with the last school, Kivalliq Hall, located in

Rankin Inlet Rankin Inlet, which fronts to Hudson Bay, is an Inuit hamlet on the Kudlulik Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest hamlet and second-largest settlement in Nunavut after the territorial capital, Iqaluit. Rankin Inlet is the regional c ...

, closing in 1996.

Truth and Reconciliation

In 1986, the

apologized for its role in the residential school system. The Anglican church followed suit in 1992. Some Catholic organizations have apologized for their role in the residential school system and, in 2009,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

expressed sorrow for the experiences of the residential school survivors, but the Roman Catholic Church had not formally apologized for its role in the residential school system. In 2017, Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

asked the Pope to issue an apology over its role in the Indian residential school system. In 1991, the

Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was a Canadian royal commission established in 1991 with the aim of investigating the relationship between Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Government of Canada, and Canadian society as a whole. ...

was formed to investigate the relationship between indigenous peoples in Canada, the government of Canada, and Canadian society as a whole. When its final report was presented five years later, it led the government to make a statement of reconciliation in 1998 and established the

Aboriginal Healing Foundation The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was established in 1998 as an Indigenous managed, non-profit corporation dedicated to responding to the legacy of residential schools in Canada and the associated community health impacts. Funding for the Aborig ...

. Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

apologized in 2008, on behalf of the federal Cabinet, for the Indian residential school system and created the

to find out what happened at the schools. The commission released its final report in 2015, which concluded that the Indian residential school system was an act of "

" against the First Nations of Canada, as it disrupted the ability of parents and communities to pass on their

indigenous language An indigenous language, or autochthonous language, is a language that is native to a region and spoken by its indigenous peoples. Indigenous languages are not necessarily national languages but they can be; for example, Aymara is both an indigen ...

s and cultural practices to their children, leading to 70% of Canada's Aboriginal languages being classified as endangered. It found that subpar education deliberately offered at the residential school system created a poorly educated indigenous population in Canada, which reduced the incomes those students could earn as adults and the educational achievement of their children and grandchildren, who were frequently raised in low-income homes. It also found that the sexual and physical abuse received at the schools created life-long trauma in residential school survivors, trauma and abuse which was often passed down to their children and grandchildren, which continues to create victims of the residential school system today.

History

History of Orange Shirt Day

Orange Shirt Day was first established as an observance in 2013, as part of an effort to promote awareness and education of the Canadian residential school system and the effect it has had on

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

communities for over a century. The inspiration for Orange Shirt Day came from residential school survivor Phyllis Jack Webstad, who shared her story at a St. Joseph Mission (SJM) Residential School Commemoration Project and Reunion event held in

Williams Lake, British Columbia Williams Lake is a city in the Central Interior of British Columbia, in the central part of a region known as the Cariboo. Williams Lake is one of the largest cites, by population of metropolitan area, in the Cariboo after neighbouring Quesnel ...

, in the spring of 2013. Webstad recounted her first day of residential schooling at six years old, when she was stripped of her clothes, including the new orange shirt her grandmother bought her, which was never returned. The orange shirt now symbolizes how the residential school system took away the indigenous identities of its students. However, the association of the colour with the First Nations goes back to antiquity, the colour represents sunshine, truth-telling, health, regeneration, strength and power. Today, Orange Shirt Day exists as a legacy of the SJM Project, and September 30, the annual date of the event, signifies the time of year when Indigenous children were historically taken from their homes to residential schools. The official tagline of the day, "Every Child Matters", reminds Canadians that all peoples' cultural experiences are important. Education on the history of residential schools and their assimilation practices are also encouraged, drawing from Webstad's experience in particular. For instance, many communities have held memorial walks, film screenings, and public lectures to raise awareness about Indigenous history. Accordingly, school boards across Canada have begun to use this event to teach children about the system.

Federal government recognition

Minister of Indigenous Services The minister of Indigenous services () is the minister of the Crown responsible for Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), the department of the Government of Canada which delivers federal government services to Indigenous peoples. The minister is a ...

Jane Philpott Jane Pauline Philpott (née Little; born November 23, 1960) is a physician, academic administrator, and former Canadian politician who represented the riding of Markham—Stouffville in the House of Commons. She was first elected in the 201 ...

and

Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

Carolyn Bennett Carolyn Ann Bennett (born December 20, 1950) is a Canadian ambassador and retired politician. A member of the Liberal Party, she represented Toronto—St. Paul's in the House of Commons from 1997 to 2024, and was a cabinet minister in the go ...

in 2017 encouraged people across Canada to participate in this commemorative and educational event. The following year, the Department of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism announced that it was considering tabling a bill in Parliament to establish a statutory holiday that recognized the legacy of residential schools; September 30 was one of the dates considered. The Heritage Committee chose Orange Shirt Day, and

Georgina Jolibois Georgina Jolibois (born 1968) is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2015 Canadian federal election to represent the riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River during the 42nd Canadian Parliament. Jolibois sought re-election in ...

submitted a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...

to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

, where it passed on March 21, 2019. However, the bill was unable to make it through the Senate before parliament was dissolved ahead of an election. During the subsequent parliamentary session, Heritage Minister

Steven Guilbeault Steven Guilbeault (; born June 9, 1970) is a Canadian politician and activist who has served as Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture since 2025. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal Party, Guilbeault has sat as a Member of Par ...

tabled a new bill on September 29, 2020, proposing Orange Shirt Day become a national statutory holiday, similar to the previous proposal by Jolibois. The new holiday would be officially named the ''National Day for Truth and Reconciliation''. On May 28, 2021, the day after it was reported that the remains of 215 bodies (now referred to as 200 "targets of interest" by Dr. Sarah Beaulieu who performed the search) were discovered in an

unmarked In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...

cemetery on the grounds of the former

Kamloops Indian Residential School The Kamloops Indian Residential School was part of the Canadian Indian residential school system. Located in Kamloops, British Columbia, it was once the largest residential school in Canada, with its enrolment peaking at 500 in the 1950s. The sc ...

, all parties in the House of Commons agreed to fast-track the bill, which passed in the House by

unanimous consent In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a propo ...

. The bill passed the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

unanimously six days later and received royal assent on June 3, 2021. On September 30, 2021,

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, Canada's head of state, issued a message marking the day:

I join with all Canadians on this first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to reflect on the painful history that Indigenous peoples endured in residential schools in Canada and on the work that remains to heal and to continue to build an inclusive society.

The legislation made September 30th a statutory holiday for federal government employees and private-sector employees to whom the

applies.

Controversy

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was first observed as a federal holiday in 2021. On the first year it was observed, Prime Minister

had been invited to spend the day with the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc nation near Kamloops, B.C., near the place the first Indian residential school unmarked graves were alleged to have been discovered earlier that year. Trudeau ignored the invitation, and his schedule showed him having meetings in Ottawa that day. However, Trudeau instead took an unannounced private holiday in

Tofino, British Columbia Tofino ( , Nuu-chah-nulth: ''Načiks'') is a town of approximately 2,516 residents on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The District of Tofino is located at the western terminus of Highway 4 on ...

, attracting widespread criticism from the public and media alike. Kúkpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc described his lack of attendance as a "gut punch to the community." In 2023's National Truth and Reconciliation Day, Justin Trudeau said that

denialism In the psychology of human behavior, denialism is a person's choice to denial, deny reality as a way to avoid believing in a psychologically uncomfortable truth. Denialism is an essentially irrational action that withholds the validation of a h ...

was on the rise, and the whole truth needed to be uncovered.

Provincial/territorial government recognition

The governments of

, and the

added September 30th to their relevant legislations as a holiday to some extent. , NDTR is a statutory holiday for all workers in British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island, and Yukon. In 2021, subsequently following the federal government's creation of the new federal holiday, the

Government of the Northwest Territories The Government of the Northwest Territories () is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian territory of the Northwest Territories. In modern Canadian use, the term ''Government of the Northwest Territories'' refers specifical ...

amended their ''Public Service Act'' to allow for NWT employees to observe the holiday that year. The following year, on June 3, 2022, the

Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a u ...

brought Bill 47 into force, making National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a statutory holiday for all employees in the territory. In 2021, Premier Dennis King of Prince Edward Island introduced an amendment to the ''Employment Standards Act'' to officially recognize September 30 as a provincial statutory holiday for residents, which passed on November 17 that year. In spring 2022,

Commissioner of Nunavut The commissioner of Nunavut (; Inuinnaqtun: ''Kamisinauyuq Nunavunmut''; ) is the Government of Canada's representative in the territory of Nunavut. The current commissioner since January 14, 2021 is Eva Aariak who served as Premier of Nunavut, Pre ...

Eva Aariak Eva Qamaniq Aariak (, ; born January 10, 1955) is a Canadian Inuit, Inuk politician, who was elected in the 2008 Nunavut general election, 2008 territorial election to represent the Electoral district (Canada), electoral district of Iqaluit Ea ...

gave assent at the

Legislative Assembly of Nunavut The Legislative Assembly of Nunavut is the legislative assembly for the Canadian territory of Nunavut. The seat of the Assembly is the Legislative Building of Nunavut in Iqaluit. Prior to the creation of Nunavut as a Canadian territory on ...

to make National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a holiday for territorial government employees and territorially-regulated businesses. In November 2022, the

Legislature of Yukon The Legislature of Yukon is the legislature of the territory of Yukon, Canada. The legislature is made of two elements: the Commissioner of Yukon, who represents the federal government of Canada, and the unicameral assembly Yukon Legislative Asse ...

unanimously approved National Truth and Reconciliation Day as statutory holiday in the territory. The bill was sponsored by MLA

Annie Blake Annie Blake is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in the 2021 Yukon general election. She represents the electoral district of Vuntut Gwitchin as a member of the Yukon New Democratic Party. She finished in ...

. In February 2023, B.C. Minister Harry Bains introduced a bill in the

BC Legislature The Legislature of British Columbia is made of two elements: the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, lieutenant governor (representing the King of Canada), and the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (which meets at the British Columbi ...

to make September 30 a paid statutory holiday in the province. The legislation was passed on March 9, 2023, making National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a statutory holiday for provincial workers, via amendments to the province's ''Employment Standards Act''.

Film and television

On October 11, 2020,

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

and the

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) is a group of Television in Canada, Canadian Specialty channel, specialty television channels based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The channels broadcast programming produced by or highlighting Indigenous p ...

jointly aired ''Every Child Matters: Reconciliation Through Education'', a television special produced by the

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR; , ) is the Archive, archival repository for all of the material collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, purposed to compile the complete history and legacy of Canadia ...

to mark Orange Shirt Day by highlighting the stories of various residential school survivors.Kelly Townsend
"CBC, APTN to air special on residential school survivors"
. '' Playback'', October 9, 2020. The special received two

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

nominations at the

9th Canadian Screen Awards The 9th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 17–20 May 2021 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020. The presentations were held as a seri ...

in 2021, for Best Children's or Youth Non-Fiction Program or Series and Best Picture Editing in a Factual Program or Series (Craig Anderson, Cathy Gulkin, James Kinistino and Ken Yan). Webstad was profiled in the 2021 documentary film '' Returning Home''. In September 2021, CBC Television aired the documentary '' We Know the Truth: Stories to Inspire Reconciliation''.

Official shirts

The Orange Shirt Society was founded by the people involved in the creation of Orange Shirt Day, and is headquartered in Williams Lake, British Columbia. Every year, they release an official Orange Shirt Day

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

, which features a design by an Indigenous artist and the tagline "Every Child Matters"; proceeds from the sales of the shirt go towards the Orange Shirt Society. In 2017, the supply of official orange shirts did not meet demand. As a workaround, some communities created their own shirts. Designer Carey Newman made one that sold out in under two days. Newman's father attended a residential school and his design commemorated this. The Orange Shirt Society then approved of other Indigenous artists creating orange shirts. Their policy states that while they retain copyright over Orange Shirt Day, other people and organizations may make their own shirts provided that some of the profits go towards the Orange Shirt Society or other Indigenous charities and causes, and meet other technical requirements as stated on their website.

References

External links

Understanding the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Orange Shirt Day

* *
Orange Shirt Day
." ''Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre''. University of British Columbia. 2020. *
Orange Shirt Day
." ''Centennial College Libraries''. August 27, 2020. *
What is Orange Shirt Day?
''Indigenous Corporate Training Inc''. August 28, 2020.

Videos

* CBC News. September 28, 2018.
What Orange Shirt Day means
" ''YouTube''. * johndellca. September 24, 2016.
Phyllis Webstad Orange Shirt Day Presentation
" ''YouTube''. * ProvinceofBC. September 29, 2018.
Eddy Charlie shares his story of survival for Orange Shirt Day
" ''YouTube''. * School District 27 Residential Schools and Reconciliation. January 6, 2014.
Murray Sinclair – Truth and Reconciliation
" ''YouTube''. * Shaw TV Northern BC. May 24, 2013.
St. Joseph's Residential School Stories
" ''YouTube''. * Wilbur Sargunaraj. September 28, 2019.
What is Orange Shirt Day? Bob Joseph- Indigenous Master Trainer
" ''YouTube''. {{Discrimination against Indigenous peoples in Canada Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Observances in Canada 2013 establishments in Canada Recurring events established in 2013 Annual events in Canada Indigenous events in Canada Anti-bullying campaigns Awareness days Fall in Canada Indigenous child displacement in Canada Public holidays in Canada September observances Remembrance days Shirts Genocide remembrance days Fashion-related occasions Scandals in Canada