" ...the feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the (residential school) affected the way I lived my life for many years. Even now, when I know nothing could be further (from) the truth, I still sometimes feel that I don’t matter. Even with all the work I’ve done ..."
That's an excerpt of Phyllis Webstad's biography on the Orange Shirt Society website. Webstad is the founder of the society. The Indigenous woman from B.C. is a mother, grandmother and author. She holds two post-secondary diplomas, one in accounting and one in business administration, and has a Distinguished Alumni Award from Thompson Rivers University.
But more than all of that .. and perhaps owing to all of that ... she is a survivor.
She was just six in 1973 when she attended St. Joseph Mission School in Williams Lake. Her granny had took her to the local Robinson's store just a few days before where Phyllis picked out a shiny, orange blouse — something nice and bright and new for the excited youngster to wear for her first day of school. When she got to the school, the shirt was stripped from her and she was given a uniform. She never saw the shirt again. But she never forgot it ... or the feeling of that day.
Webstad's orange shirt origin is a similar backdrop for an estimated 150,000 Indigenous people who attended any one of 130 residential schools across Canada. The direct and multi-generational impacts have lasted for more than 150 years — and some would argue since colonization centuries before that. In too many lives, that darkness remains prevalent today. In Webstad's own words, she sometimes feel like that six-year-old child; abandoned, alone, and stripped of her innocence along with her culture.
As Canadians prepare this week for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 30, it's important to remember the stories of the six year-olds, of their mothers and brothers, dads, aunts, uncles and grandparents ... and of their descendants who live with that legacy today.
While the world moves ahead, while promises are made, apologies given, compensation awarded, and commemorative days celebrated, the truth of those stories remain, along with their legacy for young families, elders and communities across the nation. The idea behind Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day is not to make these stories go away, it's to share them — one story after another — with as many people as possible. The isolation felt by that six-year-old girl, helpless as her beautiful shirt is ripped away, will never fade — but with more people aware of her story, she can feel less alone.
Special events are taking place across the Lakeland this week in local schools and at community gatherings. Guest speakers at many of these events will share their own stories. See the Orange Shirt Day pages in this edition of Lakeland This Week for more details.