A day to educate, reflect and acknowledge the impact of residential schools
By Christina Jung, Broadview Newsletter, September 29, 2023
This Saturday, Sept. 30 marks the third National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
It’s a day for reflection and education, to acknowledge the tragic legacy of residential schools, honour the survivors and their families, as well as thousands of children who never made it back home.
Communities across the country will be marking the day with various commemorative events.
Across Canada, many people will be wearing orange shirts to honour the people who were forced to attend residential schools.
Also known as Orange Shirt Day, this movement is a grassroots campaign founded by Phyllis Webstad — a residential school survivor in Williams Lake, B.C. I had the privilege of speaking to her about her experience at St. Joseph’s Mission.
She told me how decades later she still feels a sense of anxiety when she sees the leaves changing colour, marking the end of summer, because that meant she had to leave her family and return to school for another year.
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