Every year, Canadians dress in orange shirts as a solemn reflection of the atrocities committed by residential schools.
Hundreds of residents gather at Templeton Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, to learn about Truth and Reconciliation
November 1st, 2022 | Author & Photographer: Justin Juwan Yu
The phrase “Every Child Matters'' signifies a solemn reminder of Canada’s colonial atrocities. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day takes place annually on September 30, intended to raise awareness of the generational impacts of residential schools, cultural genocide, and assimilation.
On Orange Shirt Day, the federal government encourages all Canadians to wear orange to honour thousands of residential school survivors; the day is dedicated to children who died at government-funded residential schools (also known as Federal Indian Day Schools), where their culture, identity, and traditions were stripped away.
“I want to get rid of the Indian problem...Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question and no Indian Department.” ~Duncan Campbell Scott, 1910
Crucially, this problem wasn't in the distant past; the effects of cultural genocide exist today. According to UNESCO, "75 percent of Canada's Indigenous languages are endangered, with some being only spoken by a handful of elders." Further, the numbers are only declining.
Drummers from the Indigenous Women Rise group perform traditional songs, as a sense of healing and solitude.
Other forms of white assimilation included the gradual civilization act of 1857, the sixties scoop, and the Indian act of 1876. The day was made a federal statutory holiday last year following a recommendation made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Today, the message is clear for reconciliation. Striving forward, we cannot forget and will continue to foster sustainable relationships with Indigenous communities across Canada.
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