Wednesday, September 30, is Orange Shirt Day, a day for our community to come together to honour Indigenous survivors of Canada’s residential school system and acknowledge the trauma caused by our country’s history of anti-Indigenous oppression and discrimination.
Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity to begin discussions on the effects of colonialism on Indigenous communities and to reaffirm our Faculty’s commitment to address and act against racism. Canada exists because Indigenous Peoples have been, and continue to be, oppressed — that is why we must continue to actively participate in discussions on history and current realities for Indigenous Peoples.
As engineers, our work has historically failed to engage Indigenous communities, resulting in devastating effects for families and communities. Participating in Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity to engage in conciliation and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
U of T is hosting an Orange Shirt Day event online Wednesday, September 30 at 1 p.m. ET.
More information is available: https://indigenous.utoronto.ca/event/u-of-ts-orange-shirt-day/