Uko Akpanuko
Daily Herald
Staff and students of the Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Prince Albert Campus held the Empowering Your People Round Dance to create awareness on the issue of missing or murdered indigenous women, and girls, and two-spirited, transgender, and gender-diverse individuals.
Roughly 500 people attended the event on Thursday. This was the first time the school has hosted a Round Dance to honour the individuals who are missing or have been murdered.
“We’re proud as a team that we were able to host such an event,” said Deanna Kematch, the Director, Indigenous Student Success at Saskatchewan Polytechnic. “This is a current life standard with Indigenous people throughout Canada.”
The event began in the afternoon with a feast and pipe ceremony that included knowledge keepers and elders. One local family attended the round dance to share pictures and stories about their loved one who was murdered last year.
“We want women to walk away with that voice, and (know) that we see them, we stand with them, and no story will go untold,” Kematch said. “The men stood with us…. We had over 50 singers in the circle this evening, and I think we’ve had 32 lead singers over 80 songs sung tonight with the true intention of MMIW (missing and murdered Indigenous women) to honour these songs and honour the women who have gone before us.”
Kematch said Saskatchewan Polytechnic has students and staff from a number of Indigenous backgrounds who have been impacted by the high number of missing and murdered women.
Kematch said she’s seeing more and more people who are comfortable talking about the number of women who are missing and murdered.
“It’s not untold stories anymore,” she said. “We’re bringing it to light and people are being more vocal and open about it…. This is a major issue and a true cause that we need to address and speak about, and not put to the side.”
In 2023, Statistics Canada released a report showing Indigenous women and girls were six times more likely to be murdered than other groups of people. In 2021, Indigenous women and girls made up three per cent of Canada’s population, but were seven per cent of all homicide victims.
–with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
