{"id":2574,"date":"2025-09-30T17:27:35","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T17:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/?p=2574"},"modified":"2025-09-30T17:27:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T17:27:37","slug":"every-child-matters-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2025\/09\/30\/every-child-matters-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Child Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:4px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Every year on September 30th, people across Canada come together to observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which is also often known as Orange Shirt Day. It\u2019s a day of reflection, remembrance, and commitment\u2014a time to honour the survivors of residential schools and acknowledge the deep and lasting impact these institutions have had on Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the 1830s to the 1990s, more than 150,000 First Nations, M\u00e9tis, and Inuit children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in church-run residential schools. These schools were designed to assimilate Indigenous children into mainstream society, by stripping them of their languages, traditions, and identities. The legacy of this system continues to affect generations, and Orange Shirt Day serves as a powerful reminder of the healing still needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:4px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"531\" height=\"698\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/image-12.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2575\" style=\"width:269px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/image-12.png 531w, https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/image-12-228x300.png 228w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 531px) 100vw, 531px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"762\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/image-13.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2576\" style=\"width:404px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/image-13.png 960w, https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/image-13-300x238.png 300w, https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/image-13-768x610.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:4px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The phrase <a href=\"https:\/\/bookclubs.scholastic.ca\/en\/-every-child-matters-\/66231730-cec-ca.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Every Child Matters<\/em><\/a> is at the heart of Orange Shirt Day. It was inspired by Phyllis Webstad (n\u00e9e Jack), who is Northern Secw\u00e9pemc (Shuswap) from Stswecem&#8217;c Xget&#8217;tem First Nation (Canoe Creek Indian Band). As a child, Phyllis had her new orange shirt taken away on her first day at residential school\u2014a moment that symbolized the loss of dignity and identity experienced by so many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In her book <a href=\"https:\/\/bookclubs.scholastic.ca\/en\/-the-orange-shirt-story-\/3569029-cec-ca.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Orange Shirt Story<\/em><\/a>, Phyllis writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cWhen we wear our orange shirts on Orange Shirt Day, we reaffirm that every child matters\u2014the children from every nation around the world, the residential school survivors, and the First Nations children who didn\u2019t come home.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her story sparked a movement that now reaches across the country, encouraging all of us to listen, learn, and take action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Orange Shirt Day is not just about wearing a colour\u2014it\u2019s about making space for truth, fostering understanding, and committing to reconciliation. It\u2019s a call to recognize the resilience of Indigenous Peoples and to ensure that the injustices of the past are never repeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more resources and discussion guides, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scholastic.ca\/reconciliation-resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sharing the Message of Truth and Reconciliation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every year on September 30th, people across Canada come together to observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which is also often known as Orange Shirt Day. It\u2019s a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[5,6,124,125,138,7,34,48],"class_list":["post-2574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whats-happening-this-month","tag-book-clubs","tag-book-fairs","tag-indigenous-stories","tag-indigenous-voices","tag-national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation","tag-parents","tag-september","tag-teachers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Every Child Matters | Scholastic at School Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2025\/09\/30\/every-child-matters-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Every Child Matters | Scholastic at School Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every year on September 30th, people across Canada come together to observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which is also often known as Orange Shirt Day. 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