Premier Caroline Cochrane issued the following statement on Orange Shirt Day and the legacy of the Residential School system:

Phyllis Jack Webstat was six years old when she went to residential school in Mission, B.C. She lived with her grandmother who didn’t have very much money. Her grandmother spent what little she had to buy Phyllis a new outfit for school, one she got to pick out on her own.

She picked out an Orange shirt with string laces in the front. It made her excited to be going to school. When she arrived on her first day, they took her clothes and she never got to wear that orange shirt again. The colour orange reminds Phyllis of how her feelings didn’t matter, how no cared about her and her worth.

In the Northwest Territories, most of us know someone who attended a residential school, and we have all felt the impact of the legacy it left, and will for generations to come.

Orange Shirt Day is about respecting the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry Calls to Justice, to make right the decades of colonial oppression against Indigenous people across Canada because of the residential school system.

It’s not only about that: this day is about standing with survivors, and committing ourselves to meaningful reconciliation. It’s our duty to ensure we support healing, respect the rights of Indigenous people, and work towards a future where Indigenous languages and cultures are able to thrive.

The Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to working with and respecting the rights of Indigenous governments, and ensuring we remain partners as we move forward with reconciliation. As part of our mandate, we will work with Indigenous governments to create and implement an action plan to implement the principles set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and work to settle all outstanding land claims in the NWT.

The future health and prosperity of the Northwest Territories depends our ability to do this work to advance reconciliation, recognize and affirm Aboriginal and treaty rights, support program and service delivery by Indigenous governments, and set the stage for further economic development in the NWT.

On behalf of Cabinet, I encourage everyone to wear Orange today and stand with the right side of history as we work to right the wrongs of the past and blaze a new path forward.