Orange Shirt Day ceremony at Royal Roads

Everyone is invited to participate in a ceremony to honour residential school survivors and their families and communities.

• Date: Monday, September 30
• Time: 12:30 to 1 p.m.
• Location: Sneq'wa e'lun

Orange Shirt Day, which brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in a spirit of reconciliation, is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission Residential School (1891-1981) Commemoration Project and Reunion events that took place in Williams Lake, BC in May 2013.

The original project brought together former students and their families, mayors and municipalities, school districts and civic organizations in the Cariboo Region to commemorate the residential school experience, witness and honour the healing journey of the survivors and their families, and to commit to reconciliation.

Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, one of the former students and Orange Shirt Society executive director, told her story of her first day at residential school when she was just six. Her grandmother bought her a new orange shirt to wear to school, which was confiscated by school authorities.

Everyone is encouraged to wear orange in support of the day. Orange shirts are on sale in the library bookstore or through the Orange Shirt Day website.