Orange Shirt Day is an event, created in 2013, designed to educate people and promote awareness in Canada about the Indian residential school system and the impact it has had on Indigenous communities for over a century—an impact that continues today.

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 St. Joseph Mission residential school, 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.