To honour the lives of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, communities across Canada unite to honour the lives of sisters, daughters, mothers and grandmothers with candle light vigils this Sunday, October 4.
The Sisters in Spirit Vigil and Potluck is being held by the families that coordinated the Embrace Her With Love Music Concert in the hopes of raising awareness of murdered and missing indigenous women.
A vigil and potluck will be held in Veterans Park at 6 p.m. with guest speakers, a video, and hopes participants will bring lawn chairs.
The idea of the candle light vigil was created by the Evidence to Action Team of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), and has been funded through the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, the National Union of Public and General Employees, and the Status of Women Canada.
“It started with a daughter’s vision. Bridget Tolley was worried people were forgetting about her mother Gladys, who was killed in 2001 in Maniwaki, QC,” says the home page of the Sisters in Spirit Vigils Site.
“A vigil can take many forms,” wrote the Native Women’s Association of Canada, “From a moment of silence to a rally, to a community feast. All that is important is that you take some time on or around October 4th to mark the day. We firmly believe that the October 4th Sister in Spirit Vigils are a movement for social change, the number of SIS vigils has grown from 11 in 2006, to an impressive 216 vigils in 2014. These gatherings serve to raise awareness and to provide support to families who have lost a loved one,” they wrote.