Why Do We Celebrate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?: A Fun, Educational, and Illustra

Learn why orange shirts carry a powerful message: Every Child Matters.

Why do people across Canada wear orange on September 30? Who was Phyllis Webstad, and why did the shirt taken from her become a symbol recognized across the country? Why Do We Celebrate National Day for Truth and Reconciliation? offers young readers a careful, honest, and age-appropriate introduction to this important day.

The observance honors the children who never returned from residential schools, the Survivors, and the families and communities harmed by the system. It also asks everyone to listen, learn, respect Indigenous rights, and help build better relationships.

Here is what you will discover inside:
- Indigenous Life and Learning: Discover how children learned languages, stories, skills, and values from parents, grandparents, and Elders long before Canada became a country.
- The Truth About Residential Schools: Understand how government-funded, often church-run schools separated Indigenous children from their families and tried to erase their cultures and languages.
- Phyllis and the Orange Shirt: Follow six-year-old Phyllis Webstad to her first day at the Mission school in 1973 and learn why the orange shirt taken from her came to represent every child's worth.
- From Orange Shirt Day to a National Holiday: Explore the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the growth of Orange Shirt Day, and Canada's creation of the federal holiday in 2021.
- Remembering and Honoring: Experience healing walks, hand drums, Round Dances, artwork, beadwork, reflection, stories from Survivors, and landmarks glowing orange.
- Culture, Language, and Strength: See how Indigenous communities are revitalizing Cree, Inuktitut, Ojibwe, and many other languages while carrying songs, art, and teachings forward.
- Visual Delight: Engage with thoughtful, minimalist colorful illustrations that approach difficult history respectfully while emphasizing family, courage, remembrance, and survival.
- Learning How to Help: Discover why reading Indigenous authors, supporting Indigenous creators, listening respectfully, and recognizing the nations connected to the land all matter.

Perfect for families, classrooms, homeschoolers, and thoughtful young readers, this book explains that reconciliation requires truth, respect, care, and continued work-not only on one day, but throughout the year.

Grab your copy today and help carry the message that Every Child Matters.