The Every Child Matters movement was born from the need for the truth about residential schools to be heard, and the children who attended these schools to be known. On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Sept 30th, we wear orange shirts to stand with all those children who were taken, who could never come back the same, and those who never got to go home. We wear orange to honour a truth, a tragedy, a genocide of Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island. We wear orange as a commitment to ourselves and to each other, to protect our Indigenous children.
 
"I went to the Mission for one school year in 1973/1974. I had just turned 6 years old. I lived with my grandmother on the Dog Creek reserve. We never had very much money, but somehow my granny managed to buy me a new outfit to go to the Mission school. I remember going to Robinson’s store and picking out a shiny orange shirt. It had string laced up in front, and was so bright and exciting – just like I felt to be going to school! When I got to the Mission, they stripped me, and took away my clothes, including the orange shirt! I never wore it again. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me, it was mine! The color orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying and no one cared." - Phyllis Webstad, Founder of the Orange Shirt Society
 
"By wearing an orange shirt on September 30th, you commit to the enduring truth that EVERY CHILD MATTERS, every day and everywhere." - Orange Shirt Society