On Wednesday night, several red dresses were hung around Galt Gardens to represent Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit, transgender and gender-diverse people.
The 17th annual Sisters in Spirit Walk and Vigil started at Lethbridge City Hall and ended at Galt Gardens, with members from the community coming together to hear and share stories. Selena Medicine Shield was the MC of this year’s event and says seeing the candles lit up around the square brought almost a healing energy to the event.
“Being able to have the community come together and spread that awareness is very important, especially to Indigenous people, so that they are aware of their surroundings and they are aware this is an ongoing effect.”
Medicine Shield shared her connection to the movement, as her grandmother Gloria Blackplume was murdered on March 6, 1999 in Calgary, and the case has never been solved. Over the years, Medicine Shield says she and her family have travelled to different schools in Alberta to share their story and bring awareness to the issue.
“Hearing tonight’s stories about everyone, it’s not just one person and it doesn’t just affect one person. It doesn’t just affect the person who has gone missing or been murdered; it affects the families and the communities as well.”
Jr Miss Piikani Lenn Crowshoe spoke at the event and says as a sexual assault survivor and having lost someone in their family, events like the Sisters in Spirit Walk and Vigil are important.
“Like I said in the end, take home this last piece of information; what I want people to know and take out of my speech is we can not be silenced. As a First Nations person, we are still here, we are still thriving and we are still dealing with this trauma.”
A handful of those who took to the mic spoke about Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew being elected the province’s first Indigenous Premier and his promise to have the Winnipeg landfill searched for the missing and murdered. Medicine Shield hopes this is a promise other communities and governments follow.
“I think it is very important as Indigenous peoples to have a leader and to have someone carry on what we have been lost to.”
