A memorial march took place Wednesday evening, starting at Cabot square in downtown Montreal, to draw attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, trans, and two-spirited people across Quebec, and the rest of Canada. Organizers of the event say they want to make sure these missing women and girls are never forgotten.
“Almost every single province does something on this day whether it’s a vigil or a march it’s super important that we remember missing and murdered women, girls 2splus,” said Nakuset, the executive director of the Montreal Native Women’s shelter. Many of those participating Wednesday evening have lost sisters, daughters and mothers and are committed to preserving the memories of the victims.
“We want to bring awareness, we want to put pressure on the government, we want to put pressure on the police to do their jobs in a good way and we want to give hope to the families,” said Nakuset.
Indigenous women make up 16 per cent of all female homicide victims, and 11 per cent of missing women, yet Indigenous people make up only five per cent of the population of Canada.
“It’s a collective responsibility to ensure that there is action so that we can live in Canada, we can feel safe, live with dignity and justice as Indigenous women, girls and two spirited gender diverse people in Canada,” Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, chair for the National Family and Survivors Circle, said. Organizers also use the event to call on all levels of government to work together
“All of them have an equal responsibility on implementing the 231 calls for justice so that impact is felt on the ground,” Anderson-Pyrz said.
The 231 calls for justice aimed at ending genocide, violence and improving the quality of life for Indigenous women were released in 2019, yet not much progress has been made. The march is a reminder to keep pushing.
“There are a lot of different things that are supposed to have been done and we’re still waiting. So it’s these kinds of things that help. It pushes the community to want more to demand more,” Nakuset said.
The event has been happening across Canada for nearly 2 decades, and has been steadily growing every year.