Honouring the lives Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans, and Two-Spirit People

October 4 is National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans & Two Spirit People (MMIWG2S+).

In Montreal, the Native Women’s Shelter and the Southern Quebec Inuit Association invited the community to Cabot Square for a vigil and march to honour MMIWG2S+ and demand action.

To raise awareness of this ongoing crisis, red dresses were displayed in Cabot Square, and many participants wore red to honour those lost to violence.

“We want to call attention to several cases where women have been murdered around Cabot Square,” said Simone Page, Project Coordinator for Iskweu Project. “These murders were ruled as suicides by the police. However, there’s many suspicious circumstances.”

The Iskweu project hopes this day will urge the city of Montreal, the province, and the federal government to take action. They are asking leaders to follow the National Inquiry’s recommendations and to provide safety and shelter for unhoused Indigenous women amid the housing crisis.

“Very, very frequently myself and my coworkers are left with a situation where we’re calling upwards of 20 shelters every night trying to find spaces for women who may have even been through serious situations such as having just been assaulted or mugged. And even in those very serious situations, we’re having a very hard time finding housing,” said Page.

“It’s very important to support those fights. It’s not talked about enough. We get documentaries on Netflix, on Gabby Petito, which in itself is important, but where are those documentaries for all the missing Indigenous women and girls?” said Emilie Aubin, one of the attendees.

Since the launch of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2019, the Government of Canada has taken steps on 115 of the 231 Calls to Justice, including only two fully completed.

“Unfortunately, what we’re seeing is even with the new federal government, they’re putting through bills like Bill C2 that are violating indigenous land rights. That is a major, major part of MMIW. And then when it comes to the urban indigenous community, a huge issue here is the lack of housing, the lack of emergency shelters, and the lack of second stage housing, as well as very culturally unsafe and potentially racist or discriminatory healthcare services,” added Page.

“The only thing that keeps me going is hoping that one day, everyone who commits these crimes against Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women faces the consequences of that, and are held accountable in our societies, by our governments and our legal systems,” said Siibii, an Eenou-Eeyou singer-songwriter.

“The biggest thing that we all need for healing, is knowing that, yes, we will experience violence in our lifetimes, unfortunately, but we should also experience justice as well.”