Decolonization and Me: Conversations about Healing a Nation and Ourselves

It has been more than 10 years since the first Orange Shirt Day was held in Williams Lake, British Columbia. Since then, Phyllis Webstad, the founder of the Orange Shirt Day movement, Residential School Survivor, and award-winning Indigenous author, has shared her story on a global level and advocated for the rights of Indigenous Peoples to be honoured and respected. In doing so, Phyllis offers a unique perspective into the social consciousness on Orange Shirt Day and Reconciliation.

This book challenges readers through a series of sensitive conversations exploring decolonization, Indigenization, healing, and every person’s individual responsibility to truth and reconciliation. Centered around the Orange Shirt Day movement, and a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, these conversations encourage readers to unpack and reckon with denialism, biases, privilege, and the journey forward, on both a personal and national level. Within each chapter, Phyllis offers insights on these topics, and stories from her personal journey, which co-author and Métis scholar, Kristy McLeod, helps readers to further navigate.

Through empathetic truth-telling, this book offers an opportunity to witness, reflect, heal, and be intentional about the seeds we hope to plant for the future, together. This book is for everyone and invites you to step into a space of reflection on your personal relationship with truth, reconciliation, and Orange Shirt Day.