National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Canadian day of remembrance for victims of residential schools / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (sometimes shortened to T&R Day) (NDTR; French: Journée nationale de la vérité et de la réconciliation), originally and still colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day (French: Jour du chandail orange),[1] is a Canadian holiday to recognize the legacy of the Canadian Indian residential school system.[2]
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Journée nationale de la vérité et de la réconciliation | |
---|---|
Also called | Orange Shirt Day T&R Day |
Type | National |
Significance | National day to recognize the impact of the Canadian Indian residential school system |
Date | September 30 |
Frequency | Annual |
First time | 2013 (Orange Shirt Day) 2021 (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation) |
Started by | Phyllis Webstad |
Related to | National Indigenous Peoples Day |
As of March 2023,[update] NDTR is a statutory holiday for:[3][4]
- federal government employees and private-sector employees to whom the Canada Labour Code applies;
- provincial government employees in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.[5]
- all workers in British Columbia,[6] Manitoba,[7] Northwest Territories,[8] Nunavut,[9] Prince Edward Island,[10] and Yukon.[11]
Orange Shirt Day was first established as an observance in 2013, as part of an effort to promote awareness and education of the residential school system and the impact it has had on Indigenous communities for over a century. The impact of the residential school system has been recognized as a cultural genocide.
The use of an orange shirt as a symbol was inspired by the accounts of Phyllis Jack Webstad, whose personal clothing—including a new orange shirt—was taken from her during her first day of residential schooling, and never returned. The orange shirt is thus used as a symbol of the forced assimilation of Indigenous children that the residential school system enforced.
The day was elevated to a statutory holiday for federal workers and workers in federally-regulated workplaces by the Parliament of Canada in 2021,[12] and named "National Day for Truth and Reconciliation", in light of the claims of over 1,000 unmarked graves near former residential school sites.[13]