This week is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.

Across Canada, millions of students, teachers, and citizens will don orange shirts to remember the legacy of Canada's residential schools. The orange shirt tradition harkens back to the experience of Phyllis Webstad, of Stswecem’c Xgat’tem Nation, being sent to a residential school as a 6-year-old girl. On arriving at the school, Phylis was stripped of her orange shirt, and the colour orange came to remind her of all that she had lost.

Orange Shirt Day is a visual reminder of the legacy of residential schools -- however, reconciliation efforts must extend far beyond this one day event.

Here are a few resources for teachers, or for anyone who wishes to educate themselves on Truth and Reconciliation in Canada:

• Beyond September 30 -- Doing the Work. This resource is a compilation of actions non-Indigenous teachers can take toward reconciliation on an ongoing basis. It was compiled based on responses from a panel conversation with four members of the Aboriginal Education Advisory Committee.

• 215 Le Estcwicwéy: Honouring the Children buried at Kamloops Indian Residential School. This resource offers lesson plans for teachers wanting to educate their students on the legacy of residential schools in Canada. It also discusses allyship and showcases various responses to learning about residential schools.

• Shi-shi-et-ko by Nicola I. Campbell (of Nłeʔkepmx, Syilx and Métis descent) was named Aboriginal book of the year in 2018. It tells the moving story of a young Aboriginal girl in Canada closely attending to her experiences of home, family, and nature before leaving for residential schooling in four days. The story of Shi-shi-etko can be listened to on youtube here.