Orange Shirt Sunday – Sun. Sept. 26

Like many Anglican parishes across Canada, St. James has designated this Sunday, Sept. 26th as “Orange Church Sunday.”  You are invited to wear an orange shirt to church (or when you tune in online) to honour residential school survivors and the children who did not survive Canada’s painful residential school system.

Help raise awareness of the need for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope. If you don’t have an orange shirt, see if there is something else that is orange that you can wear – a hat, a bracelet, a brooch, etc.

For more information visit orangeshirtday.org

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – Sept. 30

Orange Shirt Day is held annually on Sept. 30 which is now the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a new federal statutory holiday. It grew out of a residential school student’s experience of having her shiny new orange shirt taken away on her first day of school. The date was chosen because it is the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to residential schools.

St. James members are encouraged to wear orange on September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation too.

The day recognizes the colonial legacy of residential schools, honour Indigenous survivors, and is vital to the ongoing reconciliation process.