Every year on September 30th, people across Canada wear orange and participate in Orange Shirt Day events to recognize and raise awareness about the history and legacies of the residential school system in Canada. Orange Shirt Day originates from the story of Phyllis Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation. In 1973, on her first day at St. Joseph’s Residential School in Williams Lake, BC, Phyllis’s shiny new orange shirt was stripped from her, never to be seen again.
40 years later, on September 30th, 2013, Phyllis spoke publicly for the first time about her experience, and thus began the Orange Shirt Day movement.
The Canadian government designated September 30 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, beginning in 2021. This response to Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 80, which states that the federal government will work with Indigenous people to establish a statutory day to “honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process”.
The National Film Board's curators have assembled a selection of films by Indigenous filmmakers and allies about the tragic impact of residential schools in Canada.
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NBCC campuses are located on Mi’kmaq, Wolastoq and Peskotomuhkati homelands. Since 1726 this land has been subject to treaties that are still in effect today. We are grateful to learn together on this land and do so guided by the original spirit of those treaties - peace, respect and friendship.