Piwapan Women’s Centre hosted the annual Sisters in Spirit Walk beginning at the La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) Band Office and walking to the kiskinwuhumatowin Urban Reserve in downtown La Ronge on Oct. 4.
The crowd included women and men from community organizations and the general public.
Piwapan provided t-shirts for members of the crowd that came to participate in the Walk.
Following the walk, Chief Tammy Cook-Searson offered a prayer, Aleisha Charles, of the New Dawn Drum Group, sang an Honour Song and everyone was served hot chilli and bannock on a cool day, weather wise, and a change to visit,
In 2004, Amnesty International released a report: Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada.
The report highlighted the high number of Indigenous women, who are either missing or murdered over several decades. The report began with the murder on Helen Betty Osborne, who was reported missing on Nov. 12, 1971 in The Pas, Manitoba.
“She was abducted by four white men I the Town of The Pas and then sexually assaulted and brutally killed,” reads the report.
Three decades later, on March 25, 2003. Helen Betty Osborne’s cousin, Felicia Solomon, 16, “failed to return home from school in Winnipeg, Man.”
Body parts were found in June of that year and later identified as Solomon’s.
“Her killer has not been found,” reads the report.
The report outlined many areas of concern regarding Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada and recommended some actions.
Concerns raised in the report, gave impetus to The Native Women’s Association of Canada to respond to the report and part of that response began in 2005 with the Sisters in Spirit initiative.
Sisters in Spirt walks and awareness event are held across Canada, quite often on Oct. 4, the anniversary of its beginnings, or at other times throughout the year.
While there has been some action taken over the years, the number of Indigenous women and girls, who are missing or murdered remains much higher than the national numbers for non-Indigenous women and girls and Gender Diverse People.
The aim is to get to a place where enough is enough, an end to the discrimination and violence against Indigenous women and girls.
