Orange Shirt Day is a legacy of the 2013 St. Joseph Mission residential school commemoration event, held in Williams Lake, B.C. It grew out of a former student’s account of having her brand-new orange shirt taken away on her first day of school. Wearing an Orange Shirt is meant to recognize the harm done to residential school students, and show a commitment to the principle that every child matters.

A date in September was chosen because it is the time of year when children were taken from their homes to residential schools, and because it is an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year.