The slogan for Orange Shirt Day – Every Child Matters – is a declaration that no matter how much they were ignored and dismissed during Canada’s residential school era, the lives of Indigenous children matter.

The unofficial day has been observed since 2013 and is called Orange Shirt Day in memory of a piece of clothing then-six-year-old Phyllis Webstad had taken from her on her first day at a residential school in 1973.

The former Mission, B.C. residential school student had gone to school wearing a brand new bright orange T-shirt from her grandmother. When Webstad got to school, educators forced her to remove the clothing in favour of mandatory uniforms.

“When my clothing, including my new orange shirt, was taken, it didn’t matter how much I protested or told them (the nuns and priests) I wanted it back, they didn’t listen,” said Webstad during an online launch for the book Beyond the Orange Shirt in September 2021. “This was the beginning of that feeling that I didn’t matter. We could be crying, we could be hungry, we could be sad, we could be lonely and our feelings did not matter. That’s where ‘Every Child Matters’ comes from. They were children. They mattered. And the ones who never made it home; they mattered. And in this day of reconciliation, every child matters.”

In 2017, Georgina Jolibois, an NDP MP from Saskatchewan, sought to make Orange Shirt Day an official holiday focused on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and introduced a private member’s bill.

September 30th has now been made a federal government holiday in Canada, called Truth and Reconciliation Day.

Facts About Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women
There is widespread anger and sadness in First Nations communities. Sisters, wives, mothers, and daughters are gone from their families without clear answers. There are families whose loved ones are missing—babies growing up without mothers, mothers without daughters, and grandmothers without granddaughters. For Native Americans, this adds one more layer of trauma upon existing wounds that cannot heal. Communities are pleading for justice.

“The National Crime Information Center reports that, in 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, though the US Department of Justice’s federal missing person database, NamUs, only logged 116 cases.”

The MMIW Red Hand
A red hand over the mouth has become the symbol of a growing movement, the MMIW movement. It stands for all the missing sisters whose voices are not heard. It stands for the silence of the media and law enforcement in the midst of this crisis. It stands for the oppression and subjugation of Native women who are now rising up to say #NoMoreStolenSisters.

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𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚'𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲?
I have often written about my Native-American heritage. Native American blood runs in our family in my mother's and father's lineage.The ancestors of living Native-Americans arrived in North America about 15,000 years ago. As a result, a wide diversity of communities, societies, and cultures finally developed on the continent over the millennia.The population figure for Indigenous peoples in the Americas before the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus was estimated at 70 million or more.About 562 tribes inhabited the contiguous U.S. territory. The ten largest North American Indian Tribal Nations were: Arikara, Cherokee, Iroquois, Pawnee, Sioux, Apache, Eskimo, Comanche, Choctaw, Cree, Ojibwa, Mohawk, Cheyenne, Navajo, Seminole, Hope, Shoshone, Mohican, Shawnee, Mi’kmaq, Paiute, Wampanoag, Ho-Chunk, Chumash, Haida.A tribal map of Pre-European North America, Central America, and the Caribbean by Michael Mcardle-Nakoma (1996) is featured below. It is an important historical document for those of us who have Native-American blood running through our veins.This map gives a Native-American perspective on the events that unfolded in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean by placing the tribes in full flower ~ the “Glory Days.” It is pre-contact from across the eastern sea or, at least, before that contact seriously affected change.Stretching over 400 years, the time of contact was quite different from tribe to tribe. For instance, the “Glory Days” of the Maya and Aztec came to an end very long before the interior tribes of other areas, with some still resisting almost until the 20th Century.At one time, numbering in the tens of millions, the Native peoples spoke close to 4,000 languages.The Americas’ European conquest, which began in 1492, ended in a sharp drop in the Native-American population through epidemics, hostilities, ethnic cleansing, slavery, and the Indian Removal Act of 1830. An estimated 60 million Native-Americans were killed by this combination of events.When the United States was founded, established Native American tribes were viewed as semi-independent nations, as they commonly lived in communities separate from white immigrants.Today, American Indians and Alaskan Natives account for 9.7 million people, according to the 2020 Census.

Step up your boring blank walls with the standard poster. Quality decor on a budget, perfect for bedroom, studio, or home office. Vivid, lifelike images are similar to traditional silver halide prints. Luster photo paper delivers rich colors and a wide range of colors. Whether you’re creating a video background or collaging a gallery wall, the standard poster surely will enhance any space.
Clean with a dry cloth when needed.
Hang with tape, tacks, or attach with clamps
Last up to 200 years color.
Clean with a dry or damp cloth when needed
Shipped in protective tube
Printed in the USA.

This remarkable piece of illustrated cartography was designed by Michael Mcardle-Nakoma and published in 1996. According to the author’s text below the title, “This map gives a Native American perspective by placing the tribes when they were in full flower – the ‘Glory Days’.”

Portraits of indigenous leaders and representative profiles are noted throughout the image and within the borders. Other vignettes highlight important architectural sites, various forms of habitation, and objects of cultural relevance like body looms and peace pipes. Blocks of text provide descriptive information and historical background for various regional groups ranging from Mesoamerica to the Arctic Circle. From Rumsey;

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