Events happening in and around Winnipeg for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Canada's secondNational Day for Truth and Reconciliation will be marked this Friday.

Sept. 30 was set aside as a federal statutory holiday last year to honourthe children who died while attending residential schools and the survivors, families and communities still affected by that legacy.

More than 150,000 First Nations, Mtis and Inuit children were forced to attend church-run, government-funded residential schools between the 1870s and 1997.

The move to have an officialday to commemorate those affected by the schools came shortly after theTk'emlps te Secwpemc First Nation reported the discovery of what are believed to be more than 200 unmarked graveson the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. But the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had called for its creation six years earlier as one of its94 calls to action.

Sept. 30 is also known as Orange Shirt Day, whenpeople wear orange T-shirts toacknowledgehow residential schools affected and continue to impactIndigenous peoples.

A number of events have been planned in Winnipeg and beyondto mark the occasion in Manitoba this year. Here are some of them.

• The Manitoba Runners' Association will hold a reconciliation half-marathon runat 8 a.m. near the former Birtle Residential School in the western Manitoba community of Birtle, about 100 kilometres northwest of Brandon.
• The Wa-Say Healing Centre will hold a pipe ceremony and survivors walk starting at The Forks in Winnipeg at 10 a.m. and ending at the RBC Convention Centre, where the healing centre is also hosting the second annual Orange Shirt Day powwowat 1 p.m.
• An Every Child Matters youth event will be held at the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centreat 445 King St.from 10:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. The event will include a sacred fire, elder teachings, a feast, and a ceremony to unveil a memorial project.
• The Louis Riel Institute will host a Mtis moccasin and paper vest workshop at the Children's Museum from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• The Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq will host a day of special programming devoted to the day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• The non-profit Inuit resource organization Tunngasugit will host the Winnipeg urban Inuit feast at the Valour Community Centre from 1 to 5 p.m.
• The Winnipeg Blue Bombers orange jersey game willbegin at 7 p.m.
• Orange Shirt Daysat the Manitoba Museum will feature special, all-day programming focused on the history of residential schools. The museum is offering complimentary admission to its galleries and planetariumfrom Sept.30 to Oct.2, and encourages attendees to wear orange.
• APTN will showcase special programming throughout the day.