Meanings
proper nounOrange Shirt Day (plural Orange Shirt Days)
plural Orange Shirt Days
- CanadamemorialsgovernmentSeptember 30th; A national observance in remembrance of the time of year that Indigenous children were forcibly removed from Native homes to be forced into schools to assimilate into the colonizer's culture and lose their birth culture; and the cultural genocide and deaths of children at the schools, caused by the residential school system. Observers frequently wear orange shirts to stand in solidarity with survivors of the residential schools. First observed in 2013.
Origin
From orange + shirt + day. From the colour of the shirt worn by a survivor of the residential school system, which was forcibly removed by Christian missionaries, who desired to assimilate indigenous children forcibly enrolled at the schools.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French Journée du t-shirt orange, Jour du chandail orange
- Journée du t-shirt orangeCanadian day of observance
- Jour du chandail orangeCanadian day of observance
Cite this entry
APA
Orange Shirt Day. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Orange%20Shirt%20Day
MLA
“Orange Shirt Day.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Orange%20Shirt%20Day. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Orange Shirt Day,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Orange%20Shirt%20Day.
Source: Orange Shirt Day on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.