By Chelsea Laskowski

10 years of solidarity for murdered and missing brothers and sisters

Jun 18, 2014 | 3:29 PM

There is strength in numbers – that’s one of the messages to take away from Prince Albert Grand Council's (PAGC) Honouring Our Brothers and Sisters Memorial Walk on Thursday.

“The goal is to stop or reduce violence against women, men and children. We’re targeting all walks of life here because it happens in all walks of society,” said Shirley Henderson.

As the chairperson of the Grand Council’s women’s commission, she is no stranger to people dealing with violence.

“They definitely need that help right away, they need someone to talk to. The Women’s Commission, ourselves, just last week I got a call from an individual that was in a family violence situation. I spoke with her and tried to comfort her as best I could. So we all get those calls,” Henderson said.

The walk started a decade ago after the release of an Amnesty International report detailing the murdered and missing aboriginal women in Saskatchewan.

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“That kind of gave us the initiative to come up with something that we could do for women in northern Saskatchewan,” she explained.

People all the way from Wollaston Lake and Fond du Lac plan to come out for the event, including the family of Jack St. Pierre who went missing several years ago. People from Regina and Saskatoon will join as well.

Henderson points out events like this can provide some comfort for those with a shared experience of losing someone or being affected by violence.

“Talking to one of my own band members from my First Nation, he said he comes to the walk so he gets to talk to other people. And feels that he’s not isolated, he’s not alone. He has other people that have gone through the same thing that he’s gone through,” Henderson said.

She noted several chiefs and members of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian First Nations will attend and speak at the event.

“It feels really good, knowing that our leaders are involved too – our chiefs are very concerned,” Henderson added.

One of the speakers is Chief Edward Henderson from Montreal Lake Cree Nation. This is the First Nation that Marlene Bird grew up on. She was assaulted violently in Prince Albert on June 1.

In addition to the walk, Henderson said the Women’s Commission wants to renew the call for a federal inquiry into murdered and missing aboriginal women.

With recent violence against Bird sparking outrage across the country, Henderson said issues like this will still require work for a multi-agency response.

“We need to come together, especially with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, with Vice Chief Kim Jonathan’s office. We’ve been kind of talking and saying we need to meet on this. Because of so many things going on right now we just haven’t met. But we will be meeting and coming up with some type of solution,” Henderson said.

The event starts at City Hall at 9:30 a.m. with speeches, with the walk kicking off at 10:30 a.m.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk