September 30th is Orange Shirt Day!
Since 2022, when Canada established their National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, indigenous people in both the US and Canada take this day to acknowledge the survivors of boarding and residential schools and those who never returned. While boarding and residential schools are a part of Indigenous communities’ past, the effects of these policies still affect us today.
Orange Shirt Day is a time to educate others, reflect on the strength and resilience of indigenous people and celebrate the continuation of our people, language and culture. Boarding and residential schools were part of federal policies to eradicate the “Indian Problem” and although the effects of the abuse that many of our ancestors and elders experienced, we are still here!
Background
In 2022, the Canadian government established Truth and Reconciliation Day to acknowledge residential schools’ impact on First Nations people. This day also celebrates Indigenous resilience. While the US government has not reconciled with its own Native nations, this day of recognition and healing has been adopted here. During the boarding school era, there were 523 Indian Boarding Schools in the United States (1819 to 1969) and 136 in Canada (1831 to 1996) that were run or supported by each country’s federal government. Under the guise of educating and assimilating Native children, boarding and residential schools forcibly removed children from their families and homes, punished them for speaking their language and practicing their culture and abused and neglected them.
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