Every year on September 30th, we pause to remember the children who were taken to residential and boarding schools: the ones who never came home, and the ones who did and carried that weight for the rest of their lives. At EnerTribe, we hope to do a little more and learn a little more each year. This year, we did both.
One Day, Two Names, One Meaning
In Canada, September 30th is a federal holiday officially called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Here in the United States, the day is recognized as the National Day of Remembrance for US Indian Boarding Schools. Across Turtle Island, most of us still know it by the name that started it all: Orange Shirt Day.
The orange shirt comes from the story of Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, a Survivor whose brand-new orange shirt was taken from her on her first day at residential school. That shirt stands for everything that was taken from the children sent to these schools: their clothes, their hair, their names, their language, their families. It also stands for a promise. Every Child Matters.
Our First Pop-Up Shop
This was the first year EnerTribe ran a pop-up shop to fundraise for Orange Shirt Day. For a limited time, we offered t-shirts and other gear so people could have their items in hand before September 30th.
Something many people don’t know is that “Every Child Matters” is a trademark of the Orange Shirt Society. To use it on our merchandise, EnerTribe applied for and received an official license. Licensed proceeds go toward the Society’s mission: supporting reconciliation, raising awareness of the individual, family, and community impacts of residential schools, and sharing the truth that Every Child Matters. You can find EnerTribe listed in their official License Finder directory, right alongside other licensed sellers.
To everyone who bought a shirt, wore it, and shared it: thank you. It was a meaningful way for our team to give back, and it’s something we plan to build on. If you missed the shop, you can still donate directly to the Orange Shirt Society.
A Night in My Hometown: Our Names, Our Children
Last night I attended an Orange Shirt Day gathering in my hometown. They handed out free orange shirts, and we opened with a prayer and drumming. We shared an amazing feast, watched a film about boarding schools, and listened to a guest speaker. One story from last night has stayed with me. The speaker talked about children from his Tribe who were buried at a boarding school far from home, and about the work to bring them back. He read aloud their last names, names still carried by families in his community today.
At one grave, he saw a girl’s name that was the same as his niece’s. It brought him to tears. When he went to view the remains of the children from his Tribe, he wept again, because to him, they were his children. It was heavy for him, and it was heavy to hear. I think that’s what makes remembering boarding schools so hard. Whether or not you’re a parent, many of us are aunties, uncles, brothers, and sisters too. We can all feel what it would mean to see something like that.
Stories like his are shared all across Indian Country. Every Tribal community has one, and they all tell a similar story. What I took home with me is this: all Tribal people are connected to this day. Every one of our histories is tied to residential and boarding schools. There are children who never came home. Some were buried in unmarked graves. Others were buried in marked graves at the schools themselves, far from their families. The children who did come home had most often endured a lot of trauma. That trauma didn’t end with them. It became a long line of historical trauma that we still feel today.
The speaker also talked about love. Many of those children grew up away from their families, and no one ever told them they were loved. He never attended boarding school himself, but its effects still reached his family. Growing up, his parent didn’t hug him or tell him “I love you.” Once that was brought to his parent’s attention, it changed. That was the case for so many families. When those children grew up and had children of their own, many didn’t know how to say it either, and that is how it was passed down from one generation to the next.
What We Still Carry
Many of us today don’t speak our language or know our culture the way our ancestors did. What little we do know is a blessing, because so much was taken from us. Every word we keep, every song, every story passed down is an act of survival. That’s why this day matters. It isn’t only about looking back. It’s about honoring the children who never came home, the Survivors who did, and the families who are still healing. And it’s about making sure the next generation grows up knowing they are loved.
Moving Forward Together
As a Native-owned company, EnerTribe knows that truth and reconciliation don’t fit into a single day. We will keep listening, keep learning, and keep finding ways to give back each year. We invite you to do the same:
- Wear orange on September 30th, and share why you’re wearing it.
- Attend a local gathering in your community and listen to the stories being told.
- Support the Orange Shirt Society by donating or buying from a licensed seller.
- Tell the people you love that you love them. Many children sent to these schools never got to hear it.
Every Child Matters.