September 30 is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day.   The statuary holiday is also known as Orange Shirt Day—inspired by the story of First Nations author Phyllis Webstad, who at the age of six, had her clothes, including her new orange shirt, stripped from her on her first day attending residential school.

This is a day to recognize and commemorate the legacy of residential schools, which more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were forced to attend beginning in 1920 under the Indian Act. The first residential school was established in 1831, and the last residential school closed in 1996. 

To learn more about the history of residential schools or to read the Memorial Register of children who went to residential schools and never returned home, visit the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation's website here.