Phyllis Webstad | |
---|---|
Born | Phyllis Jack 1967 (age 56–57) Dog Creek, Cariboo Regional District, British Columbia |
Nationality | Canadian |
Genre | Historical |
Subject | Canadian Indian residential school system |
Years active | 2018 to present |
Notable works | The Orange Shirt Story |
Phyllis Jack Webstad is a Northern Secwepemc (Shuswap) author from the Stswecem'c Xgat'tem First Nation, and the creator of Orange Shirt Day, a day of remembrance marked in Canada later instated as the public holiday of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. She is a First Nations residential school survivor. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] She has written multiple books, including a picture book depicting her experience with the Indian residential school system. [8] [9] [10] [11]
The inspiration for the Canadian public holiday National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, originally called Orange Shirt Day, came from Webstad, who shared her story at a St. Joseph Mission (SJM) Residential School Commemoration Project and Reunion event held in Williams Lake, British Columbia, in April 2013. Webstad recounted her first day of residential schooling at six years old, when she was stripped of her clothes, including the new orange shirt her grandmother bought her, which was never returned. The orange shirt now symbolizes how the residential school system attempted to take away the Indigenous identities of children. [3] [4] [5] [6] [12] It is held annually on September 30 as a national day of remembrance in Canadian communities, where people are encouraged to wear an orange shirt. It was elevated to a statutory holiday for federal employees by the Canadian government in 2021. [13]
Orange Shirt Day exists as a legacy of the SJM Project, and September 30 signifies the time of year when Indigenous children were historically taken from their homes to residential schools. The official tagline of the day, "Every Child Matters", reminds Canadians that all peoples' cultural experiences are important. [4] [6]
In addition to simply wearing an orange shirt, Canadians are encouraged to learn more about the history of residential schools and their assimilation practices, drawing from Phyllis' experience in particular. For instance, many communities have held memorial walks, film screenings, and public lectures to raise awareness about Indigenous history. [14] Accordingly, school boards across Canada have begun to use this event to teach children about the historic system. [15]
She is profiled in Sean Stiller's 2021 documentary film Returning Home . [16]
Phyllis was granted an honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree from Simon Fraser University on October 6, 2023.
Webstad is Northern Secwepemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem'c Xgat'tem First Nation and was born on Dog Creek Reserve, near Williams Lake, British Columbia. [19]
Phyllis Webstad is married, and has one son, a step-son and five grandchildren. She had her son in grade 8. [19]
The CanadianIndian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school system was created to isolate Indigenous children from the influence of their own culture and religion in order to assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. Over the course of the system's more than hundred-year existence, around 150,000 children were placed in residential schools nationally. By the 1930s, about 30 percent of Indigenous children were attending residential schools. The number of school-related deaths remains unknown due to incomplete records. Estimates range from 3,200 to over 30,000, mostly from disease.
Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc, abbreviated TteS and previously known as the Kamloops Indian Band, is a First Nations government within the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, which represents ten of the seventeen Secwepemc band governments, all in the southern Central Interior region, spanning the Thompson and Shuswap districts. It is one of the largest of the 17 groups into which the Secwepemc (Shuswap) nation was divided when the Colony of British Columbia established an Indian reserve system in the 1860s.
J. Wilton Littlechild, known as Willie Littlechild, is a Canadian lawyer and Cree chief who was Grand Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations and a member of Parliament. A residential school survivor, he is known for his work nationally and internationally on Indigenous rights. He was born in Hobbema, now named Maskwacis, Alberta.
The Secwépemc, known in English as the Shuswap people, are a First Nations people residing in the interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. They speak one of the Salishan languages, known as Secwepemc or Shuswap.
The Kamloops Indian Residential School was part of the Canadian Indian residential school system. Located in Kamloops, British Columbia, it was once the largest residential school in Canada, with its enrolment peaking at 500 in the 1950s. The school was established in 1890 and operated until 1969, when it was taken over from the Catholic Church by the federal government to be used as a day school residence. It closed in 1978. The school building still stands today, and is located on the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation.
The Esk'etemc are a First Nations people in the Cariboo Regional District of the Canadian province of British Columbia. They are a subgroup of the Secwepemc people and reside around the community of Alkali Lake, an unincorporated settlement and Indian Reserve community on the Cariboo Plateau south of the city of Williams Lake.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
The First Nations nutrition experiments were a series of experiments run in Canada by Department of Pensions and National Health in the 1940s and 1950s. The experiments were conducted on at least 1,300 Indigenous people across Canada, approximately 1,000 of whom were children. The deaths connected with the experiments have been described as part of Canada's genocide of Indigenous peoples.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, originally and still colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day, is a Canadian holiday to recognize the legacy of the Canadian Indian residential school system.
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is the archival repository for all of the material collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, purposed to compile the complete history and legacy of Canada's residential school system.
Marianne Boelscher Ignace is a Canadian linguist and anthropologist. Married into the Shuswap people, she is a Full professor in the departments of Linguistics and Indigenous Studies at Simon Fraser University (SFU), and Director of SFU's Indigenous Languages Program and First Nations Language Centre. In 2020, Ignace was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for her work in revitalizing and preserving indigenous languages.
The Kuper Island Indian Residential School, also known as Kuper Island Indian Industrial School, was a Canadian Indian residential school located on Kuper Island, near Chemainus, British Columbia, that operated from 1889 to 1975. The school was operated by the Roman Catholic Church, with funding from the Department of Indian Affairs.
St. Joseph's Mission was a Roman Catholic mission established near Williams Lake, British Columbia in 1867. The mission was operated by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. It is primarily known for the notorious St. Joseph's Indian Residential School located on the property, a part of the Canadian Indian residential school system that operated on the Mission from 1891 to 1981.
The Marieval Indian Residential School was part of the Canadian Indian residential school system. Located on the Cowessess 73 reserve in Marieval, Saskatchewan, it operated from 1898 to 1997. It was located in Qu'Appelle Valley, east of Crooked Lake and 24 km (15 mi) north of Broadview.
The Canadian Indian residential school system were a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. Directed and funded by the Department of Indian Affairs, and administered mainly by Christian churches, the residential school system removed and isolated Indigenous children from the influence of their own native culture and religion in order to forcefully assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. Given that most of them were established by Christian missionaries with the express purpose of converting Indigenous children to Christianity, schools often had nearby mission churches with community cemeteries. Students were often buried in these cemeteries rather than being sent back to their home communities, since the school was expected by the Department of Indian Affairs to keep costs as low as possible. Additionally, occasional outbreaks of disease led to the creation of mass graves when the school had insufficient staff to bury students individually.
Morgan Asoyuf is a Ts'msyen artist from Prince Rupert, British Columbia. She is Eagle Clan from the Lax Kw’alaams community. A multidisciplinary artist, Asoyuf works primarily in goldsmithing, jewelry, gem-setting, and engraving.
Returning Home is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Sean Stiller and released in 2021. The film is a portrait of Phyllis Webstad, an Indian residential school survivor who founded Orange Shirt Day, and depicts both her national speaking tour about the residential schools and the activism of her home Secwepemc community around the decline of the Pacific salmon.
Rosanne Casimir is the Kúkpi7 of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc. She is the third woman to serve as Kúkpi7. During her tenure, 200 targets of interest were discovered with ground-penetrating radar on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Some researchers have speculated that the targets may possibly indicate unmarked child graves, but forensic investigation with excavation has not been done to confirm these claims.
Pope Francis visited Canada from July 24 to 29, 2022, with stops in the provinces of Alberta and Quebec and the territory of Nunavut. The trip mainly focused on apologizing for the Catholic Church's role in the Canadian Indian residential school system and on reconciliation with the country's Indigenous peoples. It was the first papal visit to Canada since 2002, when Pope John Paul II visited Toronto for World Youth Day.