Orange Shirt Day founder visits Wolastoqey immersion school in Fredericton

This is part of a series called Ann's Eye, featuring the work of Ann Paul, a Wolastoqey content creator. You cansee more Ann's Eye pieces by clicking here.

In the 1970s, Orange Shirt Day creator Phyllis Webstad was forced into a residential school. Last month, she visited the Wolastoqey immersion school in Fredericton, which stands against everything residential schools stood for.

As a child, Webstad was stripped of her clothing, including the orange shirt she was wearing, when she was forced into a residential school in B.C.

As an adult, this experience inspired her to found theOrange Shirt Society.She travels the country sharing her story.

While in New Brunswick in May, Wolastoq members including Elder Maggie Paul, Chief Ron Tremblay and CBC New Brunswick contributor Ann Paul received Webstad at Kehkimin, a Wolastoqey immersion school in Fredericton that hopes to revitalize the language and culture in young children.

Scroll through the photos and watch the video to see what Ann saw.

WATCH | Phyllis Webstad has sharing circle with Indigenous educators at the Kehkimin immersion school in Fredericton

Orange Shirt Day creator visits Wolastoqey immersion school in New Brunswick

1 year ago

Duration 3:26

Phyllis Webstad, from the Stswecemc Xgattem First Nation in British Columbia, had her orange shirt taken away at a residential school. Decades later, the founder of Orange Shirt Day visited a Wolastoqey school in Fredericton.

WATCH |A look inside Fredericton's first Wolastoqey immersion school

First Wolastoqey immersion and land-based school underway in Fredericton

2 years ago

Duration 3:16

Kehkimin which translates to teach me is aiming to help revitalize the Wolastoqey language in New Brunswick through land-based immersion education.

Ann's Eye

Photographer Ann Paul brings an Indigenous lens to stories from First Nations communities across New Brunswick.Click hereor on the image below to see more of her work.