Annually on September 30, we wear orange shirts to commemorate the survivors of residential school, and honour and remember those who did not make it home. It was the time of year when children were taken from their homes and sent to residential schools. The term “Residential School” refers to the education system that forced Indigenous children into mainstream “Canadian” ways of living. The practice removed Indigenous children from their families, languages, customs, and traditional teachings. There were 139 residential schools funded and operated by the federal government. Opened in 1828, the Mohawk Institute Residential School was the first and longest continually operated residential school in Canada. It closed in 1970, after 142 years. The Orange Shirt Story: Phyllis Webstad (Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation) started the Orange Shirt Society in 2013 based on her experience at the St. Joseph Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, British Columbia. Phyllis grew up on Dog Cre...