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What is National Day for Truth & Reconciliation?

At six years old Phyllis (Jack) Webstad left her grandmother’s home in Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation to attend her first day of boarding school. Like many other children her age, she was ecstatic. Vivid in her memory is the orange shirt she had picked out with her grandmother for that day. 

“Bright and exciting,” she says. “Just like I felt to be going to school.” 

But when Phyllis arrived, she was stripped of her clothing and barred from seeing her family. Phyllis is one of 150,000 Indigenous and Métis children who went to residential school. This mandatory, live-in education system was initiated by the Canadian government to separate Indigenous children from their parents and families in an attempt to disconnect them from their language, culture and spirituality. “Our feelings didn’t matter, we didn’t matter,” says Phyllis, of the conditions at residential schools. 

In 2013, Phyllis started Orange Shirt Day—which falls on September 30—in honour of survivors of residential schools, to mark the day when many Indigenous children were taken from their families and into residential schools. For Phyllis, reclaiming the orange shirt is an opportunity to say that “every child matters” and to bring awareness to the intergenerational effects of residential schools. 

In response to the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #80 which came out in 2015, the federal government passed a legislation marking what used to be Orange Shirt Day as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and a federal holiday.  

Orange Shirt Day offered an opportunity to create meaningful discussion about the effects of residential schools and the legacy they have left behind on survivors and their families. The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation continues this work and calls upon local governments, schools and communities to listen with open ears to the stories of survivors and their families and remember those who didn’t make it. 


In addition to wearing orange, we encourage you to use the time leading up to September 30 to learn the call-to-actions put forward by the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. 

About the sticker

Survivors

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

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Egg BB

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

About the sticker

Comet Crisp

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

About the sticker

T-Rex and Baby

Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

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Buddy the T-Rex

Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

About the sticker

Geodessy

Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

About the sticker

Science Buddies

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

About the sticker

Western Dinosaur

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

About the sticker

Time-Travel T-Rex

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.