OSSTF/FEESO recognizes September 30, 2019 as Orange Shirt Day and encourages all members to take part in observing this event. Orange Shirt Day is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission residential school commemoration event held in Williams Lake, BC, Canada, which was first held in the spring of 2013.

It grew out of an account by a former First Nations student who had her orange shirt taken away on her first day of school at the Mission, and has evolved into an opportunity to keep the discussion on all aspects of residential schools going on an annual basis. The end of September was selected as the date of recognition, as it represented the time of year when First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were taken away from their homes to be placed in residential schools.