Hundreds of people gathered outside of police headquarters on Friday where a commemorative statue was unveiled honouring missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
It’s a visual recognition of Canada’s painful truth and the lives that have been lost.
READ MORE: Missing and murdered indigenous women hearings to be ‘unlike anything the country has seen’
A life-sized bronze sculpture is said to be 10 years in the making but realistically it’s taken decades for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls to be honoured and recognized in a way they deserve.
“It’s our hope that this monument to missing and murdered aboriginal girls will serve as a beacon to all residents of Saskatoon that we must never forget those who have been the victims of violent crime,” Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill said.
“To all the families here – take solace that your loved ones are not forgotten.”
The meaningful memorial to pays tribute to mothers, daughters, sisters and nieces who are no longer with us or who have never been found.
“So many of them have no grave marker but Red Star Woman will be their monument forever more,” Lt.-Gov. Vaughn Solomon Schofield said.
READ MORE: They represent the unfinished lives’: memorial honours missing and murdered indigenous women
Chief Felix Thomas with the Saskatoon Tribal Council played an inaugural role in making the monument a reality and became emotional as he addressed the victims’ families.
“Your women made the ultimate sacrifice.”
For those who have lost a loved one, Friday’s ceremony and this symbol of love was bittersweet.
“My daughter died a gruesome death and when I think about it – it’s very, very hard to cope when you hear the other stories but when I think of my daughter she’s in my heart all the time,” Marilyn Napope said.
Her daughter, Shelley, was murdered in 1992 at the age of 16.
“The families who are left behind now have a starting point for their walks and vigils they hold but also they have place of reflection,” Wolfe’s mother Carol said.
In 2010, Karina vanished without a trace – Jerry Constant, 33 was sentenced to life in prison for her death.
Also present on Friday was Amber Redman’s mother, who says the statue holds a special place in her heart – her daughter was the inspiration.
“When she danced, she soared, she danced like an eagle and each step was so soft – it was like she was dancing on top of the clouds,” Gwenda Yuzicappi said.
The first hearing in a long-awaited inquiry into the root causes of this national tragedy will begin later this month and is expected to take two years.
“We can as a country, we must as a country do better,” federal Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould said.
“While we cannot change history, we can honour those that we have lost and those that have suffered and we can move forward together – laying the pathway for a better future.”
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