Orange Shirt Day

ORANGE SHIRT DAYThe Rev. Leigh Kern, the diocese’s Right Relations coordinator, sent out an invitation throughout the diocese for people to send in a ‘selfie’ on Orange Shirt Day. She compiled the photos into a collage (above) and shared it on the Toronto Urban Native Ministry’s Facebook page. Sept. 30 is known as Orange Shirt Day in memory of Phyllis Webstad’s first day at an Indian Residential School in 1973. Ms. Webstad came to school wearing her favourite shirt that was gifted to her by a loved one. She was forced by school officials to throw out her orange shirt and personal belongings. Wearing an orange shirt on Sept. 30 is a symbolic way of honouring the residential school survivors and acknowledging the legacy of harm inflicted on generations of Indigenous families and communities.