Orange shirts a powerful symbol for First Nations

Friday was Orange Shirt Day. It’s not an occasion that many outside the Indigenous community know about, but it is gaining ground and every year it grows in importance.

In 1974, a young girl, Phyllis Jack, was sent to boarding school at St. Joseph residential school outside Williams’s Lake, B.C. Before she left home her parents took her shopping for some school clothes. Among the few things her impoverished parents could buy her was a beautiful orange shirt that Phyllis treasured.

Unfortunately, when she arrived at the residential school the bright orange shirt was taken from her. Phyllis never saw it again.

So why did an orange shirt become controversial? The answer lies in the all-controlling world of a boarding school. They didn’t want anyone who stood out and dressed in bright colours. The children were supposed to wear school uniforms and melt together with everyone else. Individualism was strongly discouraged.

Phyllis realized that her feelings didn’t matter; in fact her individualism didn’t matter. She was just another child in a soulless institution. To Phyllis the colour orange always reminded her of the loneliness and lack of empathy and that she was worth nothing.

She dropped out in Grade 8 and for years she struggled. At 27, she sought treatment and healing.

She went on to earn diplomas in business administration and accounting. She told her story of her orange shirt and it became a powerful symbol of the repression people felt in the residential schools. In 2017, Phyllis received the Thompson Rivers University distinguished alumni award. Today, Phyllis Webstad is married and has a son and three grandchildren.

The orange shirt is a powerful symbol of the stories that thousands of children experienced at boarding school.

Her story has been told across the country and Sept. 30 has been designated orange shirt day. This year it was also observed on Friday the 29th so the schoolchildren and schools could participate.

The date Sept. 30 was chosen because this was the time of year when the trucks and busses would go to the communities and gather the children for the long lonely winter. They would not return home until the spring. In the north, the old bush planes would land and take the children away.

The residential schools were around for about a century and an estimated 150,000 students attended nationally. It is also estimated that 4,000 died at the schools, however that figure is suspect because many schools sent children home when they became sick. Many children contacted tuberculosis and were sent home to die so their death would not be recorded in the boarding school. By sending sick children home it spread tuberculosis throughout the family and the community.

Others contracted a horrible disease called scrofula which was a form of tuberculosis that attacked the lymph nodes in the neck. These unfortunate sufferers would have weeping sores on their neck and in the absence of antibiotics and proper care many died a painful death.

The orange shirt day has been chosen as a part of the reconciliation and healing process. Our people are encouraging all people to wear orange on Sept. 30 and many schools and offices are participating.

It is also an opportunity to honour the survivors of boarding schools and remember the pain they experienced.

A few years ago I was visiting an old friend who was reaching the end of his life. He told me about attending boarding school and the effect it had on him.

“That’s why I never amounted to anything,” he told me.

His words cut like a knife. I didn’t know what to say, anything would be shallow and trite. I felt a deep sense of sadness that someone would look back on his life and all the lost opportunities. I also wondered how many of our people have lived sad, unfulfilled lives because of the repression of the boarding schools.

So I will wear an orange shirt and honour those who survived residential school. But we must also look to the future and work collectively to create a world where the next generation can realize their hopes and dreams.