A group of people from Treaty 6 Territory are on a walk across Canada in honour of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIWG2).
The team started in Victoria, B.C., and have arrived in Saskatoon.
It started with a 53-year-old grandmother’s idea.
Krista Fox from Treaty 6 Territory and her team are walking to St. Johns, Newfoundland.
Lindsey Bishop joined in on the walk to raise awareness about her sister, Megan Gallagher, who has been missing since Sept. 2020.
“We’re walking across Canada to help raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous people and to bring some of the families together,” said Bishop.
On Friday, the team walked along Highway 16, ending at the Saskatoon Indian and Metis Friendship Centre.
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Come Saturday, they will be recognizing the birthday of Megan Gallagher.
“The other connection is a little bit challenging. My daughter Megan Gallagher is one of the missing women,” said her father, Brian Gallagher.
“It kind of shattered my whole world, our whole family’s world, and since then, we’ve been trying to figure out ways to keep making noise, to keep her name alive,” Bishop said.
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Megan was a Saskatchewan Polytechnic student aspiring to be a chef when she was last seen in Saskatoon.
According to an RCMP report, the homicide rate for Indigenous women and girls is four and a half times higher than all other women in Canada.
“An Indigenous woman is 12 times more likely to go missing than a non-Indigenous woman. Having two daughters, our family would be 24 times more likely than mainstream society to have to experience this,” Gallagher said.
The walkers have been receiving plenty of support from locals.
“I think that that’s something once you do, if you feel inclined to do it and do it for the other people, just to show some support,” said a walker and family friend, David Cook.
This is not an inexpensive journey.
Organizers have set a $100,000 fundraising goal and as of Friday morning, they were just over one quarter of the way there.
“Every time we make noise, something shakes free, people start talking,” said Bishop.
On Tuesday, the team will be making their way to Regina, and they hope to arrive in St. John’s by December 2022.
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