TIMMINS - The founder of Orange Shirt Day will be in town this fall, just ahead of the annual event.
Quilts for Survivors, a Timmins-based organization dedicated to supporting residential school survivors, is hosting its third-annual ‘Orange You Glad We’re Sewing’ retreat from Sept. 27 to 30.
Phyllis Webstad, the founder of Orange Shirt Day and the Orange Shirt Society, will be in town as its honorary guest.
Webstad’s story inspired the creation of Orange Shirt Day, which is observed on Sept. 30 to recognize residential school survivors and their experiences. At the retreat, Webstad will share her journey as a survivor and speak about truth and reconciliation.
“I think Sept. 30 should be a day of education, training, learning about our people and the different nations that live on this land. And I think that’s what Phyllis will bring to Timmins, is some education,” said Vanessa Génier, founder and CEO of Quilts for Survivors.
“She’ll shine some more light on Orange Shirt Day, and it’ll just be amazing to hear her story.”
Génier and Webstad met last year when they were both in Toronto for different events.
“Phyllis messaged me on Facebook and goes, ‘Hey, I’m in town too.’ … We didn’t get to hear her speak, but we did get to meet with her, and she thanked me for what we’re doing. And then she said, ‘I’m coming to Timmins next year,’” she said.
“Things just worked out that she was coming east anyway for something else, and she’s going to do a stopover in Timmins before she goes and does something on the 30th in Winnipeg.”
The sewing retreat is an opportunity for survivors to share their truth, which is their story, said Génier.
“We encourage everyone to wear orange. We sew a lot with orange thread, and all our labels are orange. It’s about recognizing this history and working toward reconciliation together.”
The retreat will include quilting workshops led by Brandy Maslowski and Suzanne Gauthier, daily teachings from Indigenous elder Grandma Cheryl, and opportunities for participants to connect and reflect.
The event will take place at the Quilts for Survivors studio, with 40 spaces available for in-person participation.
A gala evening, open to the public, will feature Webstad as the keynote speaker. Tickets are limited to 300.
“Anyone can buy a ticket to attend that and hear her speak and share her story. I think, for us in Timmins, we know about Orange Shirt Day. We know what we know. We know what we’ve read. We know what we’ve been told. But how many of us have actually met the person who started it,” Génier said.
“She’s a very well-known survivor, and for our survivors to be able to have a chance to meet her and hear her story is really important. And even though now we have the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we still need to remember that that’s Orange Shirt Day, and what that means to survivors as well, because that was a survivor-started initiative, survivor-led, and it’s very important to the education in this country.”
Génier also highlighted the personal connections to residential schools that persist in the region.
“There are local survivors. There were schools within a few hours of us, like St. Anne’s school up the coast, and then my great grandparents attended Chapleau school before it burned down, and so that one’s not that far away either,” she said.
“The impact of these schools on people who still live in the area is significant. This retreat helps support survivors and reminds us of this part of our history.”
Quilts for Survivors has created and shipped over 6,570 quilts to residential school survivors since the organization was founded.
Tickets for the retreat and the gala will be available for purchase today (Feb. 1).
For more information or to purchase tickets for the retreat, visit www.quiltsforsurvivors.ca or contact Quilts for Survivors at 705-262-1853.