
Dear Families,
This Wednesday is Orange Shirt Day. Orange Shirt Day (September 30th) is a day when we honour the Indigenous children who were sent away to residential schools in Canada. September 30th falls during the time of year when Indigenous children were taken away to residential school.
The “orange shirt” in Orange Shirt Day refers to the new shirt that Phyllis Webstad had given to her by her grandmother for her first day of school at St. Joseph’s Mission residential school in British Columbia. When Phyllis got to school, they took away her clothes, including her new shirt. It was never returned. To Phyllis, the colour orange has always reminded her of her experiences at residential school and, as she has said, “how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying and no one cared.”
At SWE this week, we are focusing on inclusion and students are engaged in activities that help them to understand Every Child Matters. This Wednesday, students are invited to wear an orange shirt with their uniform bottoms to honour the indigenous children who experienced residential schools and to remember that Every Child Matters.