Youth hockey teams across Canada will have the opportunity to practice in orange jerseys sparking dialogue about residential schools and inter-generational impacts on Indigenous individuals, families and communities.
It’s called the Orange Jersey Project (OJP) and is a collaboration between the Orange Shirt Society and Keener Jerseys.
“The Orange Jersey Project was born from the idea, ‘what if we could use the power of sport to serve as a vehicle toward educating today’s young athletes about the history of the residential school system and strengthen the path toward truth and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples’,” said Jeremy Boston, Coordinator of the Orange Jersey Project.
“We look forward to sharing the message and spirit of Every Child Matters through the shared love of sports.”
The intention of the OJP is to educate youth about residential schools and how they impacted Indigenous Peoples; to understand the meaning of Truth and Reconciliation; and to promote physical and mental wellness of Indigenous youth through sport.
Each jersey has a QR code directing players to an Orange Jersey Project learning and sharing portal online where youth can participate in educational programming to learn more about the Orange Shirt Society and the history of residential schools.
For sports teams that want to become involved in the initiative, the Orange Jersey Project has a website for sports facilitators to register their youth sports team, request orange practice jerseys and access the learning management system.
Registrations will be placed on a waitlist for the fall 2022/23 season.
Once teams have registered, the Orange Shirt Society encourages them to wear their jerseys throuhough several partices and participate in off-the-ice building activities to work through the curriculum.
The Orange Shirt Society works to create awareness of the intergenerational impacts of residential schools and the concept of ‘Every Child Matters’
The non-profit organization is based in Williams Lake and was founded by Phyllis Webstad in 2013.
At six years old, Webstad who is Northern Secwépemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation, attended her first day of school at the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School where her brand new orange shirt was taken away and never returned. Phyllis tours the country sharing her story and raising awareness about the impacts of the residential school system.
