Orange the colour of the day as Prince Rupert and area observes Orange Shirt Day

At schools across the city and North coast region, students, teachers, staff members and parents are taking to the spirit of reconciliation by wearing Orange shirts, part of the annual campaign of remembrance for those who attended Indian Residential Schools in Canada.

The actual calendar day for the commemoration this year falls on September 30th, which is a Sunday, so in order to mark the event for this year, the schools of SD52 have been hosting events through the day today, with some of the student activities being shared through the SD52 twitter feed.

Individual schools across the SD52 system are also sharing some notes on today's events, you can check out the school nearest you through the SD52 website.

The community has also taken up the spirit of the day, sharing their support towards Orange Shirt Day with many wearing orange to work, or while on their daily activities.

Orange Shirt Day has its roots from a commemoration event of 2013, held to honour the survivors of residential schools and their families in the Williams Lake area.

September 30th became the day that was chosen for what has became a national event of remembrance, inspired in part by the story of Stswecem'c Xgat'tem First Nation elder Phyllis Webstad. 

As a young girl in 1973,  the then six year old girl had her orange shirt taken way from her on her first day of attendance at St. Josephn Mission residential school in the central cariboo city.

Some background to her story and how the day of remembrance has evolved can be found here.

More items of interest from School District 52 can be explored here.

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.