It is an acknowledgment of the ongoing harms of residential schools on Indigenous peoples as they continue to heal.
But some say knowing where you buy the shirts is just as important as recognizing the day.
“Right now, when we’re all learning and healing, and the truth really hasn’t been fully shared about residential schools and the history of genocide in Canada,” said Jessie Fiddler-Kiss, the founder of an Indigenous non-profit called The Moss Bag Project.
“I think Indigenous people should be leading the charge on this.”
Shirts are sometimes sold fraudulently
Fiddler-Kiss explained that the profits she makes from the shirts go to two-spirit aboriginal moms and dads for a scholarship. Her organization also uses the profits to make moss bags for the community. Traditionally, moss bags were used by the natives to keep infants well wrapped. “This is how we greet our babies when they come here,” Fiddler-Kiss said. Jessie Fiddler-Kiss, a Métis woman who owns a non-profit organization, says the proceeds from the shorts she sells go directly back into the community (Provided by Jessie-Fiddler Kiss) The idea of selling the shirts is to raise money for Indigenous-led initiatives and charities, but Autumn Eaglespeaker, co-founder of the Authentically Indigenous Craft Market, says the shirts are sometimes sold fraudulently. “It’s just completely wrong. Like, it’s just morally wrong, morally repugnant,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s good to show solidarity for issues like Every Child Matters, but [also] to ensure that the thing you’re buying to support is made by an Indigenous craftsman or Indigenous business, or that the proceeds from those sales go back to support movements within the community.”
Ask before you buy
Eaglespeaker said it’s important for buyers to ask questions of sellers to make sure the money is going to the right causes. “A group that uses their proceeds for something will not be afraid to say where the money is going or not be afraid to say how much money will go to support that cause,” he said. Eaglespeaker and Fiddler-Kiss said people can show support without buying an orange shirt by making a donation to a local Indigenous-led initiative.
