With tears in their eyes, prayers in their hearts and signs in their hands, about 100 people walked Athabasca’s streets Oct. 4 for the Sisters In Spirit march, honouring missing and murdered Indigenous women.
The group walked via Main Street from the Athabasca Seniors Drop-In Centre to Riverfront Park, where a ceremony was held to commemorate First Nations, Métis and Inuit women locally and nationally who have been murdered or gone missing.
The event was hosted by the Athabasca Native Friendship Centre, and its executive director Laureen Houle said the turnout was excellent.
“We anticipated having a little bit more people this year, so that’s why we went with the bigger venue, the bigger space,” she said.
The centre hung red dresses from trees in River Frontpark, each symbolizing a missing or murdered woman. People also pinned miniature red dresses made of felt to their chests.
After the walk, stew and bannock were served at the seniors centre while videos played at the front of the room.
Despite moments of mourning and loss, an undercurrent of power and justice ran through the evening, with a speech before dinner by Bigstone Cree Nation Councillor Josie Auger and a presentation by Ralph Cardinal, a family information liaison with the Alberta Family Information Liaison Unit.
“We need to continue with these walks,” Auger said. “We need to continue with the awareness, and we need to continue to heal the hurts that are inside. And that’s why when I (saw) you walking, I followed, and I’m glad I did.”
“This issue does hit close to home, and we have to continue to do these things, and to help our young women, our children, so that this cycle can stop,” Auger added. “We continue to encourage our children and our young women to go to school ... To deal with mental health and addiction issues as well, and of the historic trauma, the intergenerational trauma.”
Auger also said it is not just an inquiry that is going to make the difference, noting that “this didn’t happen overnight.” She said it will take generations to undo.
“In our Bigstone Cree Nation, you know, we’re also missing people, and we’ve had horrific stories of things that have happened to our women,” Auger said. “And enough is enough.”
After dinner, Ralph Cardinal spoke about his work to provide support for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Originally from Wabasca in Bigstone Cree Nation, Cardinal was an RCMP officer for 29 years.He said he mostly worked in western Canada in First Nations communities.
“I worked on the other side of the Crown, the Crown’s side, for 30 years,” he said. “And I’ll tell you right now, I’ve seen so much with these eyes that it’s hard to repeat ... A lot of that stuff that I’ve seen, is also, the Indigenous people being treated – mistreated. So I was a strong an advocate as I could be during the service with the mounted police.”
Working with the Family Information Liaison Unit (FILU), he said his job is to help people navigate the justice system and connect them with trauma counselling and supports.
His words resonated with some members of the crowd, who then asked about their own family members’ situations.
“They need a voice,” he said in a later interview. “They need a voice where they can be provided the answers that they’re looking for, because they’re frustrated. And who wouldn’t be? When you’re asking questions and nobody wants to give you any answers. You don’t know which way to turn.”
