CRD’s Orange Shirt Day resolution successful at FCM

Editor's Note -- Phyllis Webstad also serves as my Area Alternate Director.  Many thanks to her for sharing her story and to my colleague, Area F Director Joan Sorley, for her many efforts, in concert with many others to get Orange Shirt Day recognized on a number of planes (local, provincial, national and international)

The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) continued its resolution success for 2016 at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Conference and AGM which was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba from June 2-5. The CRD submitted one resolution regarding a proposed National Orange Shirt Day.

The resolution calls upon the federal government to officially declare September 30th, National Orange Shirt Day, a national day to honour residential school survivors, their families and their communities, to ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.

“The Cariboo Regional District was extremely proud to present this important resolution on the national stage at the FCM Conference,” states CRD Chair Al Richmond. “It is important that we all learn from the events which occurred at the residential schools and that we are able to heal together, move forward in collaboration, while acknowledging our past.”

Orange Shirt Day was developed to recognize the experience of survivors of Indian residential schools and show a commitment to remembering the history and legacy of those schools, and that every child matters. The inspiration behind the orange shirt is based on the experience of Phyllis Webstad, a First Nations woman who, upon her arrival at the St. Joseph Mission Residential School in 1973 at the age of six, was stripped of her new orange shirt and forced to wear the school’s institutional uniform. The date, September 30, was chosen to commemorate the time of year that Aboriginal children were taken from their communities and delivered to the harsh realities of residential schools.

National Orange Shirt Day Resolution

WHEREAS, Recommendation #80 in the Truth and Reconciliation summary report calls for "a National Day to honour survivors, their families and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process"; and

WHEREAS, September 30th has been celebrated as Orange Shirt Day across Canada and beyond, as a day to commemorate the survivors of residential schools, to remember those who did not survive, and to reaffirm our commitment to ensuring a better future for all children; and

WHEREAS, The Assembly of First Nations, at their national conference in 2014, unanimously passed a resolution in support of Orange Shirt Day; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That FCM call upon the federal government to officially declare September 30th, National Orange Shirt Day, a national day to honour residential school survivors, their families and their communities, to ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.