THUNDER BAY — Keeping the conversation going to help those who have lost mothers, sisters, daughters and other member of the Indigenous family.
The Ontario Native Women’s Association held the Sisters in Spirit Vigil Wednesday to honour the stories, experiences, lives, and memory of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
“Violence doesn't have jurisdictional bounds,” said ONWA CEO Cora McGuire-Cyrette. “This is not just an indigenous issue [or] an indigenous women's issue, this is everyone's issue. Therefore, we all have a role in responsibility in addressing it as otherwise we're not going to be able to make an impact here.”
McGuire-Cyrette and the rother keynote speakers also addressed what they called a lack of action on several of the recommendations put forward following the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The inquiry was initially launched in September 2016 to end the disproportionally high levels of violence faced by Indigenous women and girls.
It was also the government's response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action #41, which states:
We call upon the federal government, in consultation with Aboriginal organizations, to appoint a public inquiry into the causes of, and remedies for, the disproportionate victimization of Aboriginal women and girls. The inquiry's mandate would include:
- Investigation into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls
- Links to the inter-generational legacy of residential schools
The work got an extension in June of 2018 and wound down the following June.
McGuire-Cyrette stated that ONWA did a report of their own in 2020 titled Reconciliation with Indigenous Women, which developed fourteen recommendations, which they propose can be implemented through a six-part strategy that is rooted in relationship and collaboration through safe spaces.
“We've been advocating for it to be included into the National Action Plan [and so far Federally] we have not received acknowledgement or recognition of our report that it has been included; Provincially, it has been included into their recommendations on what we're going to be looking at to address violence against Indigenous women.”
Anne and Rebecca McGuire were on hand to share the story of their sister Jamie McGuire, whose body was found in a rural area outside Winnipeg in 1994.
Anne McGuire said Jamie’s kids are now in their thirties and believes that the murder will remain unsolved for years to come.
Rebecca stated that it’s time for women to use their voice, stand up and say enough is enough.
“Don't stand for it no more. [This is] a call to action; It's time for women to actually stand up, be counted and say we're going to be the calls to action. That's my message to [every] woman [and girl] out there. Stand up, take the reins and move forward.”
The event also focused on a couple of recent events, including calls to search the Prairie Green Landfill in Winnipeg and the release of Brayden Bushby, who was granted day parole by the Parole Board of Canada.
Bushby was convicted of manslaughter for the 2017 death of Barbara Kentner and is serving a seven year and 11-month sentence.
