THUNDER BAY — The Nishnawbe Aski Nation Women's Gathering is wrapping up after another successful year.
The gathering is touted as "a safe space to empower women, youth and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people from all NAN communities to learn, network and make new connections," according to a Facebook post for the event.
Brenda Fox is on the Women's Council representing the west side of NAN's territory.
She said the gathering is about "understanding what being a woman is in our sacred roles."
"One of the things is a lot of mental health [talks] and well-being and balancing ourselves out to support each other, to create the support systems and networks and to share ideas with each other; what works and what will not work."
Fox went on to say that they are there to bring awareness to the impacts of residential schools and to address the statistics surrounding missing and murdered Indigenous women.
"I'm going to keep going about the strength in women because that is our duty as women, that we have to prepare our children and our young people, but also to support their men and their elders, you know, to be that balance.
"We've got to make sure that we balance that out, and to be able to get that message out is to communicate and make sure we create those safety networks and those boundaries for First Nations people.
"Be who you can be - be anything you want to be," Fox said as a message to other First Nation women.
"Take that dream and grab it and run with it. Make sure that you always have the support of the older women that are around you and make sure that it's done in a safe way.
"Make sure they come and check out these kinds of gatherings to listen to what us older ladies do think. Because we need to hear them to prepare what they are going to be facing. A lot has changed from when we were younger."
The three-day event was held at the Best Western Nor'Wester Hotel & Conference Centre, where attendees could visit and connect with vendors and various service providers.
