The Western Development Museum was packed on Sept. 30 and everyone was wearing an orange shirt.

The Central Urban Métis Federation Inc. hosted the community pancake breakfast to honour Orange Shirt Day. People received Reconciliation Saskatoon orange t-shirts as they arrived.

“Great turnout,” said one attendee as he surveyed the massive hall with tables full of Elders, families and friends eating pancakes, sausages, oranges and bannock. All the seats were full and the queue for food lined the room.

Rhett Sangster, the OTC’s director of Reconciliation and partnerships, and his family were among the hundreds who attended the event.

“It is great to see so many people wearing orange,” he said.

“It makes me hopeful as people come together, form new relationship, and learn more on our path to truth and Reconciliation.”

Orange Shirt Day is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission (SJM) residential school commemoration event held in Williams Lake, BC, in the spring of 2013. It started with the story of Phyllis, who had her new orange shirt taken away on her first day of the school and has become a time to raise awareness of the devastating impact of the residential school system on Indigenous people and their descendants.

The date was chosen because it is the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to residential schools, and because it is an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year. 

The phrase "Every Child Matters" has been used as part of the movement to recognize the value of every child and for communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for future generations.**

Across Saskatchewan events were held in the week leading up to the Sept. 30 date.

(**information from orangeshirtday.org)