By Bryan Eneas

Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation hosts third annual Walk A Mile in Her Shoes gathering

Aug 21, 2018 | 5:00 PM

For the third year, the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation honoured and raised awareness about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls – not just from their home community.

Walkers gathered roughly one mile east of the community’s gas bar and convenience store as the men donned red high heeled shoes and an Elder held a brief prayer to honour women and girls from across Canada.

“It has been a problem, it’s still ongoing, we always see women or young girls go missing. It’s not only Indigenous, it’s all women in general,” organizer Marcel Thomas said. “As men, we need to start stepping up, just to support the women… we all come from women and we need to respect them.”

Thomas noted he may not get a chance to participate in this year’s walk due to the number of shoes available. He said men from the community and organizations within Ahtahkakoop had been calling for the last week in order to acquire a pair of heels in their size.

Through the walk, women leading the procession from the community wore red dresses, a symbol acknowledging their missing and murdered sisters, daughters, aunties and grandmothers.

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Leigh-Anne Isbister carried a sign bearing the text “Am I Next?”

“I’m a woman, I’m an Aboriginal woman, so right then and there, I’m at risk,” Isbister said, noting she had four daughters, and female friends of her family had gone missing or were murdered in the past.

Isbister said she was proud of the men who came out to show their support at the Walk A Mile in Her Shoes event.

“I’m just proud of the men for getting this started. Just proud that they took that initiative to get it started,” she said.

Leslie Opekokew, another participant in the walk, was there as part of his healing journey. His daughter Candice Sheila Rose Opekokew was killed by a drunk driver near Lloydminster five years ago.

He said he’s done a lot of personal healing and soul searching over the years; Opekokew and his family participated in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry hearings in Saskatoon, but he’d never walked in high heeled shoes before.

“Oh it’s gonna hurt, they say, but I’ll do it, I’ll do it for [Candice], for anything,” Opekokew said.

Men women and children from the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation are Walking A Mile In Her Shoes in support of and raising awareness for #MMIWG for the third time today. More on @princealbertnow later this afternoon. #indigenous #firstnations #redhighheels pic.twitter.com/luNztNXvxB

— Bryan Eneas (@BryanEneas) August 21, 2018

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas