RALLYING AGAINST RACISM
Sask. residents fighting for justice make their voices heard
With many eyes fixed on events south of the border, Alex Nordin sees reason to look to our own problems in Saskatchewan as well.
“Me and my friend were talking about the events in the U.S. currently and the systemic racism that seems to be affecting Indigenous people here as well as people of colour here,” he said. “And we saw that this would be a great opportunity, with all eyes on the government, to bring more awareness to the ... missing and murdered Indigenous women here in Canada. We thought (this) would be a good time to give them a voice and make sure that their names are never forgotten.”
Nordin helped organize a small demonstration Friday in front of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building. Entitled the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Rally, the event was billed as a peaceful event intended to raise awareness. This week marked one year since the release of the report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).
Addressing those gathered, a Cree woman, Evening Star, had a message to share with those she called her “black brothers and sisters.”
“We know the hurt,” she said. “We’ve experienced the hurt. We live with the hurt every day.”
Star, who had marched earlier in the day during the Black Lives Matter rally that also met in front of the legislative building, held a symbolic red dress affixed to a pole.
“It’s time to rise together,” she finished, drawing applause.
Among those clapping was Joey Reynolds.
“I have a special connection to the cause,” he said, noting his cousin went missing from The Pas, Man., in 2015. Showing his support at events drawing attention to missing and murdered women keeps Reynolds connected to his cousin, as her case remains unsolved, he said.
The MMIWG report raised awareness about the ongoing tragedy, which has scarred multiple generations of Indigenous women, girls and those of diverse genders and sexual orientations. The inquiry produced 231 calls for justice to tackle health, child welfare, justice, policing, cultural revival, education and public education action that centred a decolonizing and self-determining framework.
Nordin noted Canadian history for Indigenous people “is a very dark one and one that we don’t very much talk about.
“It’s often forgotten the struggle that the Indigenous communities go through on a daily basis,” he said. “But we’re also hoping that the discussion of the past ... will be more brought to the forefront of people’s minds and hopefully have it that the next generation will learn about Canadians’ past and how Indigenous people have been hurt, and we can make moves to improve that for future generations.”
In a news release this week, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) executive and Saskatchewan First Nations Women’s Commission (SFNWC) called Ottawa’s foot dragging on implementing the action plan stemming from the MMIWG report “a dishonour” to First Nations women, girls and two-spirit and gender-diverse people.
“First Nations women experience higher rates of violence and are more likely to be a target of violence, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and assault. This widespread epidemic has persisted for hundreds of years and the root causes behind the violence needs to be addressed," the groups said in a news release.
“The issues that the Inquiry report brought to light did not stop when the world pandemic hit,” FSIN vice-chief Heather Bear said in the release. “In fact, the need for action has only been amplified. We have reports of First Nations women and families being turned away from emergency shelters because they are at capacity. We must continue with this important work.”
Earlier this week, the province announced the $300,000 First Nations and Metis Community Projects grant program will focus on locally-developed projects related to issues raised by the national inquiry into MMIWG.
The province outlined a number of existing supports and programs intended to address the issue, including the Provincial Partnership Committee on Missing Persons, family violence courts, victim services programs, missing persons liaisons and government-funded transition houses.
With files from Brandon Harder hpolischuk@postmedia.com