Phyllis Webstad
As Founding Member of Orange Shirt Day – Every Child Matters and Founding Member & CEO for Orange Shirt Society, Phyllis Webstad facilitates dialogue around the Indian Residential School system and creates space for education, awareness, and healing. Orange Shirt Day – Every Child Matters: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, recognized annually on September 30, is a day to honour Residential School Survivors and their families and to remember those that never made it home. It is a day for people to reflect, educate themselves, and commit to Truth and Reconciliation.
When Phyllis was just six years old in 1973/1974, she attended St. Joseph's Mission Indian Residential School, aka The Mission, near Williams Lake, British Columbia. Her grandmother bought her an orange shirt to wear on her first day of school, but upon arrival, her shirt was removed. No matter how much Phyllis cried or protested, her special new shirt was never returned. This cruel action, and her one-year experience at The Mission, resulted in Phyllis feeling unimportant; as if she did not matter. The colour orange has become a symbol of the effects of Indian Residential Schools and a physical symbol for ‘Every Child Matters’. The Orange Shirt Society was created in 2019 as a legacy to Phyllis’ Orange Shirt Story. The non-profit organization is located in Williams Lake, British Columbia, and the board of directors consists of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous members. Phyllis works full-time with the society as CEO.
Over Phyllis’s career, she has acquired diplomas in both Business Administration from Nicola Valley Institute of Technology and Accounting from Thompson Rivers University (TRU). She received the TRU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2017 for her unprecedented impact on local, provincial, national, and international communities through the sharing of her orange shirt story. As well, Phyllis is a recipient of the Meritorious Service Cross (Civil Division), three honorary Doctor of Laws, an honorary Doctor of Education degree; BC Reconciliation Award; Doris Anderson Women of the Year Award; UBC ILSA Courage in Law Award; and the 2024 Jim Brady Memorial Medal of Excellence.
A published author, Phyllis has eight books that share her story in her own words – The Orange Shirt Story; Phyllis’s Orange Shirt; Beyond the Orange Shirt Story; With Our Orange Hearts; Every Child Matters; Today is Orange Shirt Day; Decolonization and Me; and w7ec n7elye ey (We Are Still Here). Phyllis Webstad – Medicine Wheel Publishing.
Due to Phyllis' work, a simple orange shirt has become a conversation starter for all aspects of Indian Residential Schools across the country and beyond. Phyllis is Northern Secwépemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xget’tem First Nation (Canoe Creek Indian Band), and she currently resides in Williams Lake, British Columbia, with her husband. She has one son, five grandchildren, and one stepson.
Finding comfort in the outdoors, Phyllis can often be found in nature or going for walks outside as it allows her to feel grounded and connected to the land.
