Every Child Matters A Multifaith Reflection for Orange Shirt Day

Every Child Matters A Multifaith Reflection for Orange Shirt Day
A multifaith call to justice, compassion, and healing on a day that reminds us every child matters.

By Anne Thompson — Canadian. Mudblood.
I write as one with no traceable ancestry — adopted, complex, and rooted in kinship.  I carry many heritages, known and unknown.  Whoever you hate is probably part of me.

Orange Shirt Day is a time of truth‑telling.  It is a day when Canada remembers the children taken from their families and communities, stripped of language, culture, and dignity in residential schools.  To wear orange is to say: never again.

Across the world’s great faiths, one truth resounds: children are sacred, and justice is our shared responsibility.

Christianity calls us to love our neighbour as ourselves.  Islam teaches that to save one life is as if to save all of humanity.  Judaism commands, justice, justice shall you pursue.  Hinduism and Buddhism remind us that compassion and empathy are the highest forms of union.  Sikhism insists that we recognize all of humanity as one, while the Baháʼí faith proclaims that the earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.

Jainism’s vow of nonviolence, Taoism’s harmony with the flow of life, and Confucianism’s golden rule all point us toward gentleness and responsibility.  Zoroastrianism’s call to good thoughts, good words, good deeds echoes in the work of reconciliation.  Indigenous teachings remind us that all our relations are bound together in a sacred circle, while Shinto reveres the divine spark that dwells in every child.

Though these traditions differ in language and practice, they converge on a single truth: every child matters.

Orange Shirt Day is not only about remembrance; it is also about transformation.  It is a summons to protect children, to honour diversity, to pursue justice, and to heal what has been broken.

May we be communities where children grow strong in love.  May we honour the Creator’s gift of diversity.  May we stand firmly for justice, remembering the past, healing in the present, and building a future where every child matters.

🧡 Every Child Matters. Every Faith Affirms It. 🧡