One of, if not the, largest Orange Shirt Day distributors began as a way for a daughter to honour her mother's experiences as a Residential School Survivor.

Michelle Cameron began making and selling orange shirts first created by Phyllis Jack Webstad as a promise to honour her mother and her mother's siblings after they survived residential school. Now, she is one of the biggest distributors of the shirts in Canada, reaching from coast to coast to coast.

"I think we bought up thousands and thousands of shirts early on in the year," Cameron says. "To me, if you are wearing an orange shirt it means you have heard our story. You have heard the history of what has happened in residential schools and it shows that you are part of the solution."

Not only does she sell these shirts in Headingley, Manitoba and at INAC, her store in Polo Park Mall in Winnipeg, but she also reaches approximately 600 First Nations reserves, companies such as MAC and Boeing, prisons, and Canada Border Services with her company Dreamcatcher Promotions.

Dreamcatcher Promotions has partnered with The North West Company to reached rural and remote communities in Canada. 

"It is very, very busy," Cameron laughs. "It has actually been busy since May. We have been steady in 'orange shirt mode."

This Canada Day, many people opted to wear orange instead of the usual red and white as the news of unmarked graves began. Cameron's mother was working part-time in Cameron's store leading up to this, handing the orange clothing to people who unknowingly would be wearing it to show their support for her. Cameron's mother does not talk about residential school but did after seeing the orange.

"She said 'you know Michelle, seeing everybody wear orange,' she said, 'it made me cry today.' And I said why. She said 'I see everybody. They hear it, and they understand what we went through."

Cameron and her staff love seeing both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people wearing an orange shirt, knowing it means they understand what happened at Residential schools.

"It just goes to show everybody that they are an ally to us. They have heard our story and they want to be part of the solution and moving forward. And I think that is really important."

For Residential School Survivors in need of support, the Residential School crisis line is 1-866-925-4419.