Honouring Orange Shirt Day

September 30 is being honoured as Orange Shirt Day in the City of Calgary, and the Indigenous Relations Office is marking the day by holding a moment of silence on the steps on the Municipal Building. The Office is also releasing a video to mark the day at 1 p.m. on The City’s YouTube channel.

Orange Shirt Day started in 2013 as a way to honour and remember the thousands of Indigenous children forced to go to residential schools, and the hundreds of children who never made it home. The Indigenous Relations Office is taking this opportunity to educate school children, youth and citizens about the impacts of residential schools on Indigenous communities, as told by two Métis Elders.

“Reconciliation can only happen when the truth is shared, listened to and learned from,” says Harold Horsefall, Issues Strategist with the Indigenous Relations Office. “The video we have created shares the truth of residential school, and the Indigenous Relations Office invites the community to learn and join The City on the path of reconciliation.”

The video will be live on The City’s YouTube channel at 1:00 p.m. The Calgary Fire Department will be joining the Indigenous Relations Office at 12:00 p.m. for a moment of silence to remember the more than 150,000 Indigenous children forced into residential schools, and the thousands of children died at these schools.

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