‘Still ongoing’: Montreal rally raises awareness about crisis affecting Indigenous communities

A rally was held in Montreal Tuesday evening to honour the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls across Canada.

Supporters gathered in the city’s Cabot Square at 6 p.m. where guest speakers and performers addressed the crowds before setting out on a march along Ste-Catherine Street.

Among them was Cheryl McDonald, a Mohawk from Kanesatake, whose sister Carleen Marie McDonald is among the missing.

She disappeared from her parents’ home in Akwesasne on Sept. 4, 1988. Her body was found two kilometres away in the woods almost two months later.

McDonald said police at the time did little to help.

“They don’t have time to look for Indigenous women,” she said.” Oh, she drinks, oh she takes off. And they brush their hands and so do our leaders.”

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Macdonald was one of many who testified in Montreal during the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The report concluded that human rights violations are the root cause behind the staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women.

Organizers of Tuesday’s rally said they hope to draw attention to the ongoing crisis.

“People need to know that missing and murdered Indigenous women and Two-Spirit girls is still ongoing,” said Nakuset, executive director of the Montreal Native Women’s Shelter.

She pointed to the deaths of four Indigenous women in Winnipeg and and how the families of those women are waiting for answers.

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While Nakuset said everyone must take action to implement solutions, the burden often falls on front-line organizations.

Nakuset said she’d like the federal government to do more, especially when it comes to implementing the 231 Calls to Justice stemming from the National Inquiry’s final report.

“If they were to apply some of these Calls to Justice it would be easier for Indigenous women to just live freely and be protected,” Nakuset said. “I would like to see an action plan as to when they are going to implement it.”

To date, Nakuset said the government has only put in place one of the actions contained in the report.

“We still have to wait on the 230,” she said.

Marc Miller, the federal MP for Montreal’s Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs riding and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous relations says the government is trying to do better.

“You look at some of the pieces of legislation that we have put into place as a government, they are the first steps in addressing this.”

— with files from Global News’ Tim Sargeant