Orange shirt day symbol depicting a feather and birds

Recognizing Orange Shirt Day and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

On September 30, we come together to mark Orange Shirt Day—to remember the more than 150,000 Indigenous children taken from their families and forced into Canadian residential schools. Indigenous-led, the day recalls the experience of six-year-old Phyllis Webstad, who was stripped of her orange shirt at St. Joseph Residential School in 1973 as part of the school’s mission—and a national system—to suppress Indigenous identities, cultures and languages. “The colour orange,” as Webstad says, “reminded me of… how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared, and how I felt like I was worth nothing.” Orange Shirt Day recognizes this pain and truth as we commit to living its opposite: every child matters. 

September 30 also marks National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, created by the Canadian federal government in 2021 to answer Call to Action 80 of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The day honours publicly the survivors of Canada’s residential school system, commemorates the Indigenous children who never came home, and recognizes the impact on families who continue to live with this trauma and legacy today. It also urges Canadians to listen, learn and act, including through resources like those shared by UTM’s Indigenous Centre.

U of T will recognize September 30  in several ways, including at an in-person event at Hart House, which we’ll also livestream on YouTube from 10:00am to 11:00am. Dr. Brenda Wastasecoot, Professor at U of T’s Centre for Indigenous Studies, will lead the keynote address: The Nikis Story is the Story of Canada: Reflecting on the Impacts of the Indian Residential Schools. I invite you to join.

I also encourage you to take other opportunities offered at U of T: read the calls to action of Wecheehetowin and annual progress reports from the Office of Indigenous Initiatives; attend learning sessions and community building events at UTM’s Indigenous Centre and Indigenous Creation Studio; enrol in UTM courses focused on Indigenous arts, histories and ways of knowing. Build toward values held at the centre of our Strategic Framework—truth, openness and reciprocity—to make UTM a more deserving home for Indigenous students, faculty, staff, librarians and community, including for the Huron-Wendat, Seneca, and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, on whose traditional land we have the privilege to work.

September 30 is a day of remembrance, mourning and reflection. It’s also a day for hope and meaningful action—for listening to the truth that comes before reconciliation; building relevant, reciprocal, and respectful relations; and promoting a world where every child matters. Miigwetch.


Alexandra Gillespie
Vice-President and Principal
University of Toronto Mississauga