More than 100 people gathered outside the Comox Valley Art Gallery late Monday morning to honour and hold space for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
The annual Women’s Memorial March also served as the closing ceremony for the gallery’s installation of Noojim Owin/The Gift of the Healing Dance.
Organizer Kristy Bell invited Elders and community members to speak, share stories and experiences; the event concluded with a song prior to the march to Simms Park.
The first Women’s Memorial March began on Feb. 14, 1992 in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. The march was organized in response to the murder of a Coast Salish woman on Powell Street.
Courtenay’s first march started eight years ago to honour the life of Selina Wallace.
“Thirty years later, this march has become a nationwide event to honour the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls,” said Bell.
Scroll down below for more images from the event.
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Members of the crowd outside the Comox Valley Art Gallery listen intensely as Elder Trudy Smith shares her story about her murdered sister. Photo by Erin Haluschak
Elder Trudy Smith shares the emotional story of her abuse, murdered sister and experience at Christie Residential School northeast of Tofino at the Women’s Memorial March in Courtenay on Monday (Feb. 14). Photo by Erin Haluschak
The Women’s Memorial March event concluded with a drum song prior to the march to Simms Park on Monday (Feb. 14). Photo by Erin Haluschak
