Indigenous and Sikh motorcyclists in Manitoba made a third annual trip Saturday to honour children who died in residential schools, as well as survivors of the residential school system.

The rumbling motors of the bikes roared down Pembina Highway as the Every Child Matters ride left from Dhillon Automotive Group in Winnipeg on Saturday morning, beginning a day-long trip across southern Manitoba.

The trip's first leg was expected to take riders to Portage la Prairie, about 85 kilometres to the west. From there, they planned to continue west to the Brandon Residential School site, followed by a stop at Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, before returning home late.

More than a dozen riders left Winnipeg on Saturday — fewer than the 50 or so who participated last year, but that didn't bother Bava Dhillon, whose family owns Dhillon Automotive Group.

"If it's one rider, if it's two riders, it doesn't matter," he said Saturday morning. "We're gonna continue this ride until justice is served."

The theme of this year's event was "we have not forgotten," and also honoured the memory of Raymond Mason, a residential school survivor and longtime advocate who died in 2022.

Part of the focus of the ride was to draw attention to the fight for compensation for "day scholars" — survivors who attended residential schools during the day but went home at night, and were left out of the federal government's initial 2006 residential schools settlement that provided compensation for survivors.

Some of those survivors have been fighting for recognition for years, said Dhillon, whose father is from India and whose mother is a residential school survivor from Sapotaweyak Cree Nation.

The ride is a chance to bring both Sikh and First Nations cultures together, he said.

"We're here to shine light on the injustice that's happening, just to show that it's still happening to this day."

The first annual ride was held in 2021, after the discoveries of what are believed to be hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and brought together riders of different faiths — Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Christians — in memory of children who died while being forced to attend the schools.

Mike Muswagon, a day school survivor from Norway House Cree Nation, said Saturday he hopes the ride keeps raising awareness for survivors.

"I think we need to get more acknowledgement and recognition from government," he said.

"I think that programs and services are required to make things happen for it, they should take it seriously and listen to the people from the grassroots that are raising awareness."

Members of Winnipeg's Royal Riders motorcycle group were also on hand again for this year's ride. The Royal Riders — a mostly Sikh motorcycle group — have been involved with the ride since the first event in 2021.

"It really means a lot — this is Canada, and it shows big diversity," Gurpreet Sidhu said of the cross-cultural nature of the ride.

"It also shows we are together in hard times and we show support to Indigenous people."

Dhillon said organizers want to continue the Every Child Matters ride in Manitoba next year, but are also planning a cross-Canada trip beginning in Vancouver next summer.

"We want to make sure that people know that those schools did do damage to our elders, and our elders need to have justice," he said.

"They need to go to bed at night and know that what happened to them is not OK."