VICTORIA -- Students and staff from across the Greater Victoria School District (GVSD) will participate in the sixth annual Orange Shirt Day, which honours the survivors of Canadian residential schools.
The first Orange Shirt Day took place in 2013 and was inspired by the story of Phyllis Jack-Webstad, a First Nations girl who had her new orange shirt taken away from her on her first day of school at the St. Joseph Mission Residential School near Williams Lake in 1973.
Since her story exploded across the nation several years ago, Sept. 30 was declared Orange Shirt Day to help reflect and raise awareness about the legacy of the residential school system.
"Public education has a critical role to play in the truth-telling that will enable meaningful reconciliation," said GVSD Board Chair Jordan Watters in a news release on Friday.
"We cannot change the past but we can learn from it and move forward together in a good way. Orange Shirt Day is an important opportunity to have conversations about our collective history and renew and inspire a commitment to advancing the process of Canadian reconciliation."
Besides classroom discussions, students from across the GVSD will participate in an Orange Shirt Day event at Centennial Square from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday. Students are expected to perform a "reconciliation song" and a drumming performance in remembrance of victims of residential schools and their families.
