September 29 is Orange Shirt Day!
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The Orange
Shirt Day movement started in 2013 to highlight the pain and suffering of
thousands of Indigenous children who were sent to residential school
throughout the last century. The colour of the shirt is connected to the
experience of Phyllis Webstad who was sent to Cariboo Residential School
near Williams Lake, BC, in 1973.
Six-years old at the
time, Phyllis went to her first day of school wearing a new bright orange
shirt. New clothes were a rare thing for the young girl, who was being
raised by her grandmother. However, upon arriving at the school, the nuns
stripped her of the shirt, forcing her to wear the school’s institutional
uniform.
Webstad has felt the
impact of that event long after it occurred, “that feeling of worthlessness
and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the mission,
affected the way I lived my life for many years. Even now, when I know
nothing could be further than the truth, I still sometimes feel that I
don’t matter.”
The shirt has since
gone on to become a symbol of a national movement that recognizes the
suffering of Indigenous children at residential schools across the country
and to show a renewed commitment to ensure that every child matters.
At JLPS we will be
recognizing the resiliency and bravery of Residential School Survivors by
wearing orange on September 29th. Please help your child support our
efforts, while also earning a point for their house team.
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