Orange Shirt Day, 2021

What Does Orange Shirt Day Mean to Our Company?

The Brothers Broadband Group – in partnership with National Fiber Solutions and Perimeter Traffic Control is invested in educating ourselves on the legacy of the Canadian Residential School System. This year, and every year moving

forward we are pleased to honor September 30th as a statutory holiday for our employees to take a day to reflect on the legacy of the Canadian Residential School System, mourn its victims and find active ways to participate in reconciliation.

What is Orange Shirt Day?

September 30th, 2013, Phyllis Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation, spoke for the first time about her experience at St. Joseph’s Residential School in Williams Lake, BC., where her brand-new orange shirt was taken away from her in place of the school’s uniform. This was the beginning of Orange Shirt Day in Canada. She was just six years old at the time. This is representative of the cultural genocide of Indigenous People’s through the Canadian Residential School System.

3 Ways to Actively Participate in Reconciliation:

1) Support Indigenous Owned Business

For us, part of being a socially responsible business is supporting Indigenous owned business like Indigen Artsy an Indigenous Women-Led Canadian Not-for-profit Organization that sells work exclusively from Indigenous artists (see above picture)

2) Familiarize yourself with Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: 94 Calls to Action

3) Familiarize yourself with the land acknowledgements in your area

Familiarizing yourself with land acknowledgments in your area helps to develop conversations about the history of colonialism and Indigenous-settler relationships.

Try this map and Territory Acknowledgement guide