If you want to get technical, Orange Shirt Day is typically recognized on September 30. But if you were at the Curve Lake powwow last weekend, you might have been a little confused. Amid the thousands of people milling about, it was easy to spot the orange shirts that give the day its name. Mostly T-shirts, but there was also the occasional sweatshirt or hoodie. All featured the phrase “Every Child Matters” written in black. There was a stall selling orange swag with that logo: backpacks, bumper stickers, baseball caps, mugs. There were even rumblings about hiring a large blimp to carry the message over powwows.
Anybody familiar with Indigenous culture is familiar with that saying. Its meaning is self-evident. Orange Shirt Day has been a fixture in our communities since 2013, when it was instituted as part of an effort to promote awareness and education regarding the residential-school system and the impact it has had on Indigenous communities for more than a century. Thank you, Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Its origin harkens back to the 1970s and a woman named Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, whose new orange shirt was taken from her on her first day of residential schooling. It was never returned. As a result, the orange shirt has become a symbol of the forced assimilation of Indigenous children epitomized by the residential-school system.
In 2021, the day was elevated to national-holiday status in Canada and renamed the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. But it’s not limited to a single day — its message is bigger than just 24 hours. I’ve seen people wearing orange shirts on Canada Day, Victoria Day, Labour Day, and pretty much any day of the week. My partner alone has five T-shirts and a sweatshirt. I’ve seen it at sports events, movies, stores, and barbecues and on city streets.
It’s also loosely affiliated with the MMIWG movement. For those not tapped into the darker side of our culture (post-colonial), that acronym stands for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which has its own National Day of Awareness, on May 5: Red Dress Day. Wearing or prominently displaying a red dress honours those women and girls who have been forcibly taken from us physically, but not spiritually or emotionally.
I mention it here because, at our powwow, I saw two individuals with a red handprint painted across their faces. This has become a symbol for the MMIWG cause. Pop-culture fans who watched the Emmy Awards a few weeks ago may be familiar with what I’ve described: Reservation Dogs actor D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, nominated for lead actor in a comedy series, wore the vivid imagery — making a statement while looking stylish.
(Drew Hayden Taylor)
“Every Child Matters” has become an omnipresent battle cry. My partner and I saw the familiar slogan in, of all places, a sports bar in Ixtapa, Mexico, on a flag pinned to the ceiling amid a sea of sports logos. At another resort, we saw a similar flag flying high above a margarita bar by a pool. Not where you would expect to find those who support your cause, but any support is good support.
But that’s a wonderful thing about Orange Shirt Day: it’s inclusive in nature. It started as a means to rally support for Indigenous children, but everybody can fit underneath that umbrella.
There was a time, not too long ago, when any show of pride or defiance from the Indigenous community regarding their culture was punishable. Here’s a fact few Canadians know: it used to be illegal for a lawyer to represent a Native person without government consent. Today, you can't swing a dead muskrat without hitting an Indigenous lawyer.
So I have my orange shirt ready. T-shirts have been a fixture of expression pretty much since the introduction of the graphic version in the 1960s. Gone are the days of simple white shirts. Now they’re billboards of change and protest. We’ll be wearing ours today as we fly down to Mexico.
If you haven’t noticed, that seems to be one of the more interesting places to make a statement. All the best political agitators protest there.
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