Events Calendar
Peel CAS Office closed - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
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Both the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day take place on September 30.
Peel CAS offices will be closed on Wednesday, September 30 to honour National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We will re-open on Thursday, October 1 at 9am.
The day honours the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.
The date September 30th was chosen because it was the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to be brought to residential schools. Today, the government recognizes September 30th as the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, and we encourage all workers to wear orange to support and honour the thousands of survivors of residential schools.
Wear Orange
Orange Shirt Day began as an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day to raise awareness of the inter-generational trauma caused by residential schools on Indigenous people and their communities. A survivor named Phyllis Webstad shared her story of attending residential school. Phyllis’ grandmother bought her a shiny new orange shirt for her first day at residential school and when she got there, they took her clothes from her, including the orange shirt. She couldn’t understand why they took it, and she never wore it again. She described how all the little children were crying, no one cared, and she felt like she was worth nothing.
From her sharing her story, the orange shirt became a symbol of the impacts of residential schools on Indigenous communities, honouring the survivors and that “Every Child Matters”.
