Remember, Reflect, Restore, Reconcile

National Truth and Reconciliation Day September 30

National Truth and Reconciliation Day known as Orange Shirt Day is recognized as a day of rememberance, reflection and action. This is a time for thoughtful prayer and reflection on the truth of Canadian history. Native Communities across the country will be spending time with family in prayer and healing. They will reflect and remember all the lost childhoods and ancestors. Take time to teach students that Every Child Matters.

Every Child Matters

September 30th is recognized as Orange Shirt Day. On this day we remember and reflect on the former students, survivors and families of Indian Residential Schools. This day is known as National Truth and Reconciliation Day. It is a federally recognized holiday. Indigenous people and communities will spend the day with family and honour their ancestors in ceremony. Each nation will commemorate the day in a way that is unique to their own peoples practices and culture.

The colour orange is worn to show respect and honour for those who suffered at the many schools across Canada, and to build awareness around the legacy and history of these schools.

Why is the Orange Shirt a Symbol of Truth and Reconciliation?

When Phylis Webstad, an Indian Residential School Survivor, was ready to attend school, her family was so very proud. Her grandmother bought Pauline a new shirt to wear to school. Phylis felt so proud. Her new shirt was orange.

When she arrived at school wearing the beautiful orange shirt, it was taken away and replaced with an old grey smock. Phylis never saw her orange shirt again. Nor her grandmother.

The orange shirt has become the symbol of Indian Residential School legacy. It is a reminder to recall the grief and loss students felt when they left their homes and families to attend these schools.

Every Child Matters

orangeshirtday.org

National Truth and Reconciliation Day September 30

215

Is the number of graves recovered at Kamloops Indian Residential School in May 2021. Since that time, the number of unmarked graves discovered at Indian Residential Schools has grown to 6509 unmarked graves. (Sept.2021)

Primary

Teacher Resources with links to lessons and activities.

Orange Shirt Day Teacher Resource

Supporting Learning about Truth and Reconciliation

COLORING PAGES | Urbaniskwew

Every Child Matters Colouring Pages

Find downloadable colouring pages can be found by opening the link by clickling on the image and then opening another page. It will take you to the site . Beautiful graphics and slogans to promote

Every Child Matters.

Multi languages represented.

Just click on the image and open a new window.

Kujo's Kid Zone: Episode 31Orange Shirt Day

What does Indigenous mean?

CBC Kids

The Truth about Residential Schools

Residential Schools: Canada's Shame

On October 27, 2022, Canada’s parliament unanimously recognised the country’s residential school system as genocide. More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their homes between the 1880s and late 1990s, and placed in distant schools where they were stripped of their identity.

Officially, more than 4,100 children died at the schools, but it’s believed many more lost their lives while in the government-funded system. At least 1,300 potential unmarked graves have been identified using ground-penetrating radar at just four of the 139 residential schools nationwide.

Now, new revelations are emerging as investigators search the lands surrounding former residential schools across the country. People and Power joins teams as they try to seek justice for the thousands of children who went missing and looks at the long-term consequences of the system.

Canada's Dark Secret

In 1996, the last residential school in Canada was closed down, bringing to light horrifying stories about the methods used to sever indigenous children from the influence of their families and to assimilate them into the dominant "Canadian" culture. Over more than a century, tens of thousands of families were torn apart as children were kidnapped or forcibly removed from their homes

Residential schools were part of an extensive education system set up by the Canadian government and administered by churches with the objective of indoctrinating Aboriginal children into the Euro-Canadian and Christian way of life.

Bud Whiteye, a survivor of the Mohawk Institute Residential School, was "picked up" and taken to the school along with four other children as they walked along a public road to visit his grandmother.

The Good Canadian

Canada is a peacekeeper, a defender of liberty, and a humane, empathetic nation that's willing to make sacrifices so its citizens have access to health care and so people from around the globe feel welcome.

But is there a dark secret behind that national identity? What if that identity is just a mask hiding the country's true nature from others — and itself?

The film looks at the systemic inequities faced by First Nations and Inuit people, whose ancestors were on these lands long before the nation of Canada existed. It chronicles the history of dispossession — from the theft of land and residential schools to the separation of families today — and traces the impact of Canada’s racism and racist policies on Indigenous communities and their access to child welfare, health care, justice and education.

Title: The Good Canadian (2025)

Directors: Leena Minifie and David Paperny

Orange Shirt Day Lesson Plans

Integrated plans for math, literacy and social justice.

Survivor Stories and Documentaries

Disclaimer: These videos cover sensitive information. These are survivors voices, sharing their personal stories. The survivors speak on the effects of Residential Schools. I have included the entire documentary but you may wish to take a clip to show your class.

Intermediate Senior Resources

32:07min

Description:

Susie Kicknosway Jones shares her experiences with us as a First Nations person and a Christian. She reflects on her life, the suffering she had endured, and how she lives now as a survivor of the residential school system and a follower of Jesus.

Stole Children. Residential Survivors Speak

18:35min

How Residential Schools affected survivors and their children and grandchildren.

Click here for the full story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal

»»» Subscribe to The National to watch more videos here: https://www.youtube.com/user/CBCTheNa..

Canada's Dark Secret

47:30min

Canada's Dark Secret | Featured Documentary

In 1996, the last residential school in Canada was closed down, bringing to light horrifying stories about the methods used to sever indigenous children from the influence of their families and to assimilate them into the dominant "Canadian" culture. Over more than a century, tens of thousands of families were torn apart as children were kidnapped or forcibly removed from their homes

Residential schools were part of an extensive education system set up by the Canadian government and administered by churches with the objective of indoctrinating Aboriginal children into the Euro-Canadian and Christian way of life.

Bud Whiteye, a survivor of the Mohawk Institute Residential School, was "picked up" and taken to the school along with four other children as they walked along a public road to visit his grandmother.

I'm ashamed to say I'm Canadian because of what my government has done.

Ron Short, former RCMP officer

"They didn't put us in a room and indoctrinate us all day long or anything like that," he explains. "It was in the routine of the place.

"You didn't speak anything but English. You went to the white man's school. You went to the white man's church. You wore white mens' clothes. All those were built in. It wasn't a classroom-type lecture. It was ingrained in the system."

In 2008, the Canadian government launched the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which finally enabled survivors to give their testimonies on life in the residential schools. Abuse - mental, physical and sexual - was rife and, although research and statistics vary, it is estimated that 6,000 children died in these schools. Some evidence puts the casualties at three times that number.

After its formation, the TRC travelled around Canada for six years, gathering testimony from thousands who bore witness to the tragedies of the residential schools. Numerous "Aboriginal healing" programmes were put in place to help those affected to move on with their lives.