Did You Know?
When demand for official orange shirts outstripped supply in 2017, designer Carey Newman made his own, commemorating his father's residential school experience, and it sold out in under two days.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
🇨🇦 Canada
- Public Holiday
- Countrywide
- Fixed date
Overview
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a Canadian day of memorial recognizing the atrocities and multi-generational effects of the Indian residential school system. Held every September 30, it is also still widely known as Orange Shirt Day, a name that reflects the grassroots observance from which it grew.
What It Is
Each September 30, people across Canada wear orange shirts and take part in commemorative and educational events about the residential school system. The day is a statutory holiday for federal government employees and for private-sector workers covered by the Canada Labour Code. It is also a statutory holiday for all workers in British Columbia, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island and Yukon, and for provincial government employees in Alberta, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Many communities mark it with reading, listening to survivors' stories and learning.
Why It Matters
The residential school system was designed to isolate Indigenous children from their own cultures and religions and assimilate them into Euro-Canadian society. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which ran from 2008 to 2015, concluded that this effort amounted to cultural genocide. The day's orange shirt symbol comes from Phyllis Jack Webstad, whose new orange shirt was taken from her on her first day at residential school and never returned. September 30 reflects the time of year when children were historically taken from their homes, so the date itself carries that memory.
Holiday in Context
Orange Shirt Day began as an observance in 2013, growing out of a commemoration event in Williams Lake, British Columbia. Federal legislation created the statutory National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2021, after years of proposals in Parliament. Today the two names are used side by side, joining a grassroots symbol with an official holiday.
Countries Celebrating
1 country
See what else is celebrated today around the world.
Discover other holidays and observances happening right now.