By Nigel Maxwell

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Awareness campaign receives big boost from federal government

Feb 4, 2019 | 4:07 PM

The federal government is investing $10 million over two years for a new commemoration fund, which will assist groups organizing events related to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

The Piawapan Women’s Centre in La Ronge runs an awareness walk in October, and also has a special “hearts” event in February. The centre’s Executive Director Karen Sanderson said the extra money will help their events.

“They are not very expensive but they are things that we’ve taken it upon ourselves to do with other funding so having something there that will aid in that helps us use different resources for different programs,” she said.

The Commemoration Fund responds to recommendations from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Interim Report. In the report, members of the National Inquiry highlighted the need to fund commemoration activities to help honour the lives and legacies of Indigenous women and girls and LGBTQ2S individuals. Sanderson said she thinks the fund will help encourage more individuals to get involved.

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“I think it’ll be a good start to doing some preventative measures and more awareness programs,” she said.

(File photo/paNOW Staff)

For the past three years, the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation hosted a special “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event. The first event raised over $3,700 for the women’s shelter in Prince Albert. Event organizer Garth Peekeekoot said they’ve been looking at ways to expand and he thinks this fund may help them achieve that dream.

“Something bigger and better and maybe in some way give back to our community, like help build a shelter for women and kids just as a safe place,” he said.

Peekeekoot said like many other communities, their community has been affected deeply by the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, adding staff members are directly affected. He said any support to raise awareness is welcomed.

“It’s an everyday thing here. It’s something that never goes away,” he said.

Organizations can find more information about the commemoration fund and submit an application to the Call for Proposals by visiting women.gc.ca. The deadline to submit is March 28, 2019 at 2 p.m.

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell