A movement calling for federal government action on missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2-spirit people will be holding its latest protest on Saturday at Simms Millennium Park.
For the last two weeks, MMIWG2S TAKES BACK CANADA has been protesting the need for government action to be taken immediately.
The March 27 event in Courtenay is one of several across the country, with locations as far as Whitehorse and St. John’s. There are several locations across B.C. taking part too.
The group is asking the Canadian government and Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett to enforce the 231 individual calls for justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians. These were contained the final report of the national inquiry into Canada’s disproportionate rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
“We need for her to stop sitting on this,” says Logan Clifford, who co-founded the group and is organizing the local event.
She adds that while this is a longstanding issue, the pandemic has complicated it even more, and Indigenous woman are as much as 10 times more likely to go missing and unreported. The protest on Saturday is aimed at being a call for the government to look into those who are missing and bring justice for the survivors.
The organizers are encouraging people to come out at noon on Saturday, though with some parts of Canada on lockdown, some might only be able to show red in support online or take part at home by hanging a red dress in their driveways.
For those who can attend safely, there will be drumming, prayers and singing, all in the hopes, as Clifford puts it, in coming together as a community.
mike.chouinard@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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