How do you make Truth and Reconciliation, residential schools, and allyship engaging and interesting to young athletes? This was the challenge PathWise Solution embraced with the Orange Jersey Project.
If you’re not familiar with the Orange Jersey Project, it’s an amazing program designed to encourage action for Truth and Reconciliation by educating young athletes about the true history of the Indian Residential School system in Canada. Teams are given orange jerseys to wear at games and practices as a way to build awareness and foster conversations about building a more just and inclusive Canada.
While we’ve created impactful eLearning experiences before, this was our first time designing a course specifically for children and youth. The goal wasn’t just to educate—it was to create a meaningful, age-appropriate, and engaging experience for young athletes. To do this, we decided to create courses for three distinct age groups: children aged 7–11, junior youth aged 12–14, and youth aged 15 and up.
We also embraced a multi-sport framework, creating tailored versions for hockey, lacrosse, and football. This connection to sports allowed us to meet learners in spaces they’re passionate about, creating a deeper and more personal connection to the material.
Instructional Design: Using stories and interviews
Previous courses associated with this program emphasized a traditional eLearning approach; presenting information and assessing with quiz questions. However, PathWise saw an opportunity to try a different route—particularly because the target audience included children and youth.
We decided to create a learning experience that not only informed but deeply engaged young learners, fostering an emotional connection to the material and a personal understanding of the importance of Truth and Reconciliation.
1. Telling the Story of Orange Shirt Day
At the heart of the course is the story of Orange Shirt Day, an account rooted in Phyllis Webstad’s personal experiences. To reinforce the legacy upon which the Orange Jersey Project is built, we told this story in unique ways for each version of the course.
For the youngest learners, we used simplified language and visuals to make the story approachable and easy to understand. For junior youth and youth, we used more advanced language and imagery and added a puzzle component to increase engagement and encourage critical thinking.
This layered approach to storytelling ensured that learners of all ages understood that the colour orange symbolizes the loss of identity and freedom experienced by Residential School students, as well as the ongoing commitment to being on a path of reconciliation.
2. Learning Through Storytelling
To bring the themes of Orange Shirt Day to life, we developed three tailored versions of the course, each centred on a compelling narrative. These stories gave learners the opportunity to engage emotionally with the content while exploring critical topics like reconciliation, resilience, and allyship.
Each version of the story features a young person who initially feels uncertain or uncomfortable about wearing an orange jersey. Through the course of their journey, they visit a residential school, learn about its history, understand the significance of Orange Shirt Day, and discover the ways sports provide resilience for many Residential School Survivors. By the end of the journey, these characters—and the learners—explore what it means to be an ally, how to process their emotions, and how to engage in conversations about the value of the orange shirt or jersey. Along the way, learners not only gain knowledge but feel empowered to make a difference and affirm that “Every Child Matters.”
The stories used in each version of the course do more than teach—they help learners relate. They immerse learners in the world of Residential Schools, exploring their historical and cultural impact while highlighting the strength and resilience of those who endured them.
3. Voices That Matter
In addition to fictional stories, we integrated powerful video interviews into the course that were based on lived experience. Conversations with high-profile Indigenous sports figures such as former NHL player Scott Daniels, Olympic Silver medalist Brigette Lacquette, and former PHF player Sidney Daniels provided real-life role models who shared their experiences with teamwork, resilience, and allyship. Conversations with Phyllis Webstad, the founder of Orange Shirt Day, whose personal story inspired the project brought authenticity, fostering a direct connection between learners and the message of Truth and Reconciliation.
4. Navigating Sensitivity and Engagement
Balancing the sensitive subject of Residential Schools with age-appropriate engagement was a critical challenge. By consulting educators, cultural experts, and Indigenous voices, we created courses that inform, inspire, and respect the emotional safety of our learners.
At the same time, we had to compete with the sophisticated entertainment young people encounter today. While our course took a lower-tech approach, we relied on storytelling, compelling interviews, gamified elements, and interactive educational activities to create an experience that is both engaging and deeply meaningful.
5. Building Vocabulary Through Interactive Exercises
A key part of helping learners engage with the Indigenous experience was ensuring they became familiar with relevant vocabulary. To achieve this, the course incorporated spelling exercises and word searches, tailored to each age group, as a way to reinforce key terms and concepts in an interactive and age-appropriate manner.
By incorporating these activities, the course provided an additional layer of engagement while ensuring learners built a strong familiarity with the language of Truth and Reconciliation, empowering them to discuss these important topics with confidence.
Visual Approach: Bringing the Story to Life
A key part of engaging learners in the Orange Jersey Project was ensuring that the visuals were as compelling as the story itself. The design team made thoughtful choices to create an immersive and authentic experience.
– Unique Animations
The course combined GIFs, photorealistic backgrounds, and illustrations to create a distinctive visual feel. This blend allowed for dynamic, engaging visuals while maintaining the storytelling focus.
– Sport-Inspired Design
One font used throughout the course was chosen to resemble those commonly seen on sports uniforms, evoking a sense of familiarity for young athletes. One of our designers, who played hockey and lacrosse as a youth, drew on their lived experience to guide the design of scenes involving equipment and uniforms, ensuring they felt authentic and relatable.
– Power of Orange
Recognizing the importance of the colour orange in the course’s message, the palette was carefully designed to make this colour prominent without overwhelming the overall design. Orange was used to symbolize resilience, hope, and the central theme of reconciliation.
– Professional Narration
To ensure authenticity and emotional resonance, narration was provided by renowned Indigenous actor Simon Baker. Baker is known for his roles in Smoke Signals, North of Sixty, Hey, Viktor!, Steven Spielberg’s hit mini series Into the West and Ron Howard’s The Missing, among others. He also recently hosted APTN’s Native Planet. Baker’s performance brought a depth and sincerity to the project that resonates powerfully with learners.
– Gamification
To make the learning process engaging for young audiences, learners collect trophies and hidden “eagle feathers” as they progress. This adds an element of achievement and discovery. Each trophy marks a learning milestone, encouraging learners to pause and reflect on what they’ve gained and how it relates to understanding Residential School experiences.
A standout gamified feature is the Day in the Life activity, which allows learners to step into the shoes of a Residential School student. Through this simulation, learners make choices about their actions throughout the day, with each decision impacting their energy, mood, and educational experience. This interactive activity gives learners a visceral sense of the hardships and challenges faced by Residential School students, fostering empathy and a deeper understanding of the experience.
Making an Impact
The Orange Jersey Project is one of our most significant and rewarding endeavors. By evolving the Orange Shirt Society’s approach—through storytelling, gamification, age-specific design, and the voices of respected figures—we created a course that not only educates but inspires.
We’re proud to have brought Phyllis’s story and the spirit of Orange Shirt Day to life, helping young learners understand, connect, and take steps toward reconciliation. Together, we can foster understanding, allyship, and hope for future generations.
The Hockey Course for Kids, Junior Youth and Youth is now live and available on the specially redesigned Orange Jersey Learning Management System, which we tailored for this initiative. The Football and Lacrosse courses are set to launch in 2025. Additionally, future plans are underway to expand the program to include other sports, ensuring even more young athletes can engage with this vital content. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to build on this important project, fostering education, awareness, and action through the power of sports.
