Wear an orange shirt on September 30 to show your support. Every child matters.
Overview
Join us for a virtual event on Orange Shirt Day, a national movement in recognition of the experiences of survivors of residential schools in Canada. In the spirit of reconciliation and healing, Canadians are asked to wear an orange shirt on this day to acknowledge that every child matters.
Whether you are working or going to school online or in-person, wear your orange shirt on September 30 to show your solidarity with Indigenous people.
Other ways to participate
We also invite and encourage all members of the U of T community to use the Orange Shirt Day icon as their profile photo and use the virtual backdrop (available for download below) on Teams or Zoom calls the week of September 27.
Download assets
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Download Orange Shirt Virtual Backdrop Image(png:229KB)
Agenda
Hart House Farm Video
Opening Remarks
Shannon Simpson
Director, Indigenous Initiatives, Office of the Vice-President & Provost, and the Office of the Vice-President, People Strategy, Equity & Culture
Opening Ceremony
Land Acknowledgement
Anna F-M
Founder & Executive Director, The Indigenous Support Project
Welcome Remarks
Kelly Hannah-Moffat
Vice-President, People Strategy, Equity & Culture
Phyllis Webstad Video
Keynote Address: Truth Before Reconciliation
Lee Maracle
OC, Author
Closing Ceremony
Guests
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Lee Maracle
OC, Author
Si’Yam Maracle is the author of a number of critically acclaimed and award-winning works including:
- Ravensong
- Bobbi Lee
- Daughters Are Forever
- Celia’s Song, long listed for Canada Reads and short listed for the Re-lit award
- I Am Woman long listed for Canada Reads
- Talking to the Diaspora
- Memory Serves and other Oratories
- My Home as I Remember (award winning)
- My Conversations with Canadians short-listed for the Toronto Book Award continues to be a bestselling non-fiction work
- Sundogs and Sojourner’s Truth and other Stories
- Bent Box
- Will’s Garden
- Hope Matters
- First Wives’ Club
Maracle is an instructor at the University of Toronto in Indigenous Studies and First Nation’s house. Maracle served as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Universities of Toronto, Waterloo, and Western Washington and Guelph University. Maracle received the J.T. Stewart award; the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts; the Blue Metropolis First Nation’s literary award; the International Festival of Author’s award; the Anne Green award. Maracle received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from St. Thomas University, and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from University of Waterloo. She is the recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal and is an Officer of the Order of Canada. Recently, Maracle was shortlisted for the Neustadt International Award.
The Story of Phyllis Webstad
Orange Shirt Day is based on the story of Phyllis Webstad, who in 1973, entered the St. Joseph Mission Residential School at the age of six. She was stripped of the orange shirt she was wearing and forced to wear the institutional uniform.
September 30 was chosen to mark the date when trucks and buses would arrive in communities to take children to residential schools. These schools operated in Canada between 1831 and 1996.
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