SARNIA (ONTARIO, CANADA)
Sarnia Observer
September 28, 2020
By Paul Morden
Elementary and high school students in the Sarnia area are being encouraged to join others from across Canada in wearing orange shirts Wednesday to honour survivors and victims of residential schools.
Orange Shirt Day is a national event held on Sept. 30 to commemorate the experience of approximately 150,000 Métis, Inuit and First Nations children who were forced to attend residential schools between the 1830s and 1990s, where they experienced harsh discipline and conditions, suppression of their language and culture, and other abuse. It’s estimated 6,000 children died while attending the schools.
Orange Shirt Day originated with the story of Phyllis Webstad who, at age six, had a new orange shirt bought by her grandmother taken away on her first day at residential school in British Columbia.
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