In the run-up to its annual Women’s Memorial March Feb. 14, the Women’s Resource Centre is planning a week-long series of events to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Starting Feb. 12, the centre will host a red dress pony bead keychain-making workshop from 5 p.m.-6 p.m. on a drop-in basis. Feb. 13 will see a sign-making workshop at the centre during the same hours as the keychain session, also at the centre and also starting at 5 p.m. The signs will be used for the memorial march Feb. 14.
The annual memorial march will take place starting at Pioneer Square and end at the centre on the southern portion of Main Street, starting at 5:15 p.m. Elder Margaret Head-Steppan will hold a blessing of the march at the square, along with music from the Northern Lights Women Singers.
Events will continue the day after the march, with red feather painting taking place at the centre from 5 p.m.-6 p.m., as well as a second outdoor public event. That event, a group round dance at Pioneer Square, will take place at 5 p.m. and will feature the Silver Evening Star Singers and Traditional Dancers.
More information about the march and events can be found at the centre or on its social media pages.
In Canada, Indigenous women are victims of murder almost six times more often than non-Indigenous women nationwide - rates in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan are even higher.
The Women’s Memorial March is a nationwide event held every Feb. 14 - Valentine’s Day - to pay tribute to women who have been victimized by gendered or racialized violence. The first such march was held in Vancouver in 1992 in honour of a Coast Salish woman who had been murdered in the city. The marches take place in dozens of communities across Canada each February.
