How you can get involved on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Southern Chiefs' Organization has launched an Orange Heart Awareness campaign, including billboards, bus boards and transit shelters in Winnipeg and Brandon, and billboards in Portage la Prairie, Dauphin, Minnedosa, and Winkler. (Source: CTV News Winnipeg)

WINNIPEG — With the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation next week, the Southern Chiefs' Organization (SCO) is calling on Manitobans to reflect and honour those who were forced through the residential school system.

“September has been a traumatic month for First Nation people, because it was the month the children were stolen from our communities,” Grand Chief Jerry Daniels of the SCO said in a news release in early September.

This September, SCO has launched an Orange Heart Awareness campaign, including billboards, bus boards and transit shelters in Winnipeg and Brandon, and billboards in Portage la Prairie, Dauphin, Minnedosa, and Winkler.

Manitobans can join in by making their own signs, hanging an orange shirt in their windows, or contacting SCO's Dublin office at 204-946-1869 about picking up a free lawn sign.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is Sept. 30.

The SCO is calling on all Canadians to use the month of September to honour residential school survivors, their families and communities, and recognize the impact residential schools.

More information can be found on the SCO website.