Orange Shirt Day founder says her truth is being 'pushed aside' by controversial shirts

Orange shirts with slogans like 'Dig deeper' and 'Still no proof' being sold online Creeson Agecoutay · CBC News · Posted: Sep 10, 2026 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 hours ago Play article Estimated 8 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results. Phyllis Webstad, the founder of Orange Shirt Day, says she would travel to Ottawa and advocate for the creation of laws that combat residential school denialism if she needs to. (Lenard Monkman/CBC) The founder of Orange Shirt Day says she was sick to her stomach when she learned orange shirts with slogans like "Dig deeper" and "Still no proof" were being sold online. Holding back tears and speaking from Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc in B. C., which announced a discovery of potential unmarked graves near a former residential school site in 2021, Phyllis Webstad said her campaign was being used in a "hateful way." "I've been trying to understand why they believe that it's OK to hurt people," she said. In 1976, Webstad wore a present from her grandmother, an orange shirt, on her first day at a residential school at St. Joseph's Mission, in Williams Lake, B. The shirt was taken from her .  Webstad founded Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 30, 13 years ago, to honour Indigenous children who were forced to attend residential schools. C. regional chief speaks on residential school denialism: ‘Denialism is not an academic debate. Indian Residential School survivors are not liars. Have some respect and give us the space and time to do what we need to do as individuals, as family, as a community, as a nation." The orange shirts available on the Rebel News website are listed in youth sizes as well as adult. "That is a whole new level of every word in the book: disgusting, unbelievable, sickening. Where are their minds?" said Webstad about the youth sizes. MPs and ministers condemn shirts Last week, the Liberal Indigenous Caucus published a statement that said merchandise "that mocks survivors' experiences and dismisses their truths is reprehensible and beneath any organization."   A request for comment from Conservative MP Billy Morin, the party's shadow minister of Indigenous Services, was not returned . Morin told APTN News last week, “I find it racist and I find it absolutely disgusting that they’re attempting to make a profit off the pain and suffering of residential schools." Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty, who is a member of the Waswanipi Cree Nation in northern Quebec, said people across the country have raised concerns about the shirts to her.  "Not just people living in my riding but also from Canadians who are appalled about this really disgraceful and grotesque attempt to exploit human suffering for financial gain," said Gull-Masty.