Manitoba launches Orange Shirt Day Fund for initiatives that reflect on residential schools

Manitoba is launching a new grant program to support activities that reflect on the impact of the residential school system.

Premier Wab Kinew, also Manitoba’s minister responsible for Indigenous reconciliation, announced Wednesday that the Orange Shirt Day Fund will provide one-time grant funding for projects this year that advance the goals of truth and reconciliation.

Eligible recipients could include Indigenous communities and leadership organizations, educational institutions, daycares, municipal governments, and grassroots or non-profit organizations. The province has allocated up to $800,000 in funding the initiative.

“I want every child and every family in Manitoba to have the opportunity to reflect on the legacy of residential schools, the children who didn’t come home and the profound impacts of that trauma on families that still exists today,” Kinew said in a statement.

“Our government is proud that Manitobans will be able to observe it as a provincial holiday for the first time this year and we’re supporting projects that will help bring more Manitobans together to mark Orange Shirt Day.”

Orange Shirt Day, Sept. 30, was established as a statutory holiday in Manitoba last year and is intended as a day to reflect on the history and legacy of residential schools, as well as the lives of survivors and those who never made it home.

Applications for the Orange Shirt Day Fund are due Aug. 1.

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