National Day of Action for MMIWG to be marked in Yellowknife with vigil, new monument

A candlelight vigil, discussion panel and monument unveiling are all part of the National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls on Wednesday in the Northwest Territories.

The N.W.T. Native Women’s Association is hosting a candlelight vigil and discussion at the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre in Yellowknife beginning at 3 p.m. MT.

The discussion at the friendship centre will include guest speaker Melissa B. Hardisty, whose 12-year-old daughter Etandà was killed in Fort Resolution in 2015.

Joanne Krutko, Arlene Hache and Kathy Meyer will also take part in a panel discussion. Members of the public will also be invited to share their stories.

“The purpose of this panel is to have support for each other and to share with each other and reflect and be together,” association consultant Marie Speakman told CBC Radio’s Trailbreaker.

She said getting stories from the public is important because some incidents are never reported and don’t end up counted in the MMIWG data.

“I’m passionate about the work that I do, and I’m really hoping with this that people will come out to support,” she said. “It would be really, really good to see people there, even just their presence.”

Also today, a MMIWG monument will be unveiled at the Legislative Assembly building at 11 a.m.

In its initial request for proposals, the territorial government said the monument will serve to “commemorate the lives lost and the lives that continue to be lost in the MMIWG crisis, to bring awareness to the MMIWG crisis, and to provide a space for people to go when they would like to remember lives lost to this crisis.” 

The monument was designed by N.W.T. Inuvialuit artist Myrna Pokiak, who will speak with CBC Radio’s Trail’s End this afternoon about her vision for the piece.