BC Lions team up with Orange Shirt Society to raise awareness about residential schools

For the second year in a row, the BC Lions will host an Orange Shirt Day in honour of residential school survivors and all the children who didn’t make it home from the institutions which were scenes of horrific abuses against Indigenous children.

"It takes a while after I present to actually be OK again,” Phyllis Webstad, the society's founder, said with a shaky voice as she took the podium at the team’s announcement.

When she was six-years-old, Webstad’s grandmother took her shopping for a new outfit before her first day at St. Joseph’s Residential School near Williams Lake.

Webstad picked out a shiny orange shirt which was immediately confiscated when she arrived at the school.

As an adult, she started Orange Shirt Day, which takes place every Sept. 30, and founded the dedicated to helping residential school survivors.

“What happened to us is Canadian history. It’s not just Indigenous history,” Webstad said.

“There’s no longer an excuse for Canadians to not know what happened.”

Following the confirmation of 215 suspected unmarked children’s graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, the federal government made Sept. 30 a holiday called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

It’s intended to provide an opportunity for Canadians to learn about, and reflect on, the dark legacy of residential schools.

Recounting stories of physical, psychological and sexual abuse takes an emotional toll on survivors.

As more Canadians learn the truth, some people and organizations, including the BC Lions, are trying to ease the burden by taking an active role.

“Kamloops is like a second home for us because that’s where we’ve had our training camp for so many years,” said Jamie Taras, the team’s director of community partnerships.

“We really felt like with the voice that we have in this community that we could raise awareness so that’s why we wanted to get involved.”

At their home game against the Ottawa Redblacks on Sept. 30, the Lions will hand out 10,000 orange shirts with a special team logo designed by Corrine Hunt, a Kwakwaka’wakw artist from Alert Bay, B.C.

The team will also wear helmets with the Indigenous logo for the game and sell hats, T-shirts and hoodies featuring the artwork – with all net proceeds going to organizations that work with residential school survivors.

Those who wish to learn more about what survivors endured at the can begin by reading reports compiled by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action intended to pave the road towards reconciliation.