Head to Barrie City Hall tonight for the 5th annual Sisters In Spirit Vigil for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Tonight at 5 p.m., the Sisters In Spirit will be holding a vigil at Barrie City Hall for the thousands of MMIWG in Canada. The SIS of the region is based out of the Barrie Native Friendship Centre and is a group whose goal is to research and raise awareness about the very high rate of violence against Indigenous women and girls in the country. Vanessa Partridge is with the BNFC and is part of the group heading the vigil tonight.
“Tonight will be a few hours of raising awareness to the struggle our women face all the time,” said Partridge. “There are thousands upon thousands of Indigenous females missing, abused and murdered and we want to not only know why, but we want it to stop.”
SIS is a branch of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, an organization that has dedicated over 40 years to being the national voice for Indigenous women and their plights. Partridge and her team have been working hard to organize tonight’s vigil and the BNFC Aboriginal Family Support Worker says it will be more of an honouring and informative ceremony than a rally.
“We will be out to inform people who don’t really understand how bad it is and has been for so long,” said Partridge. “It isn’t a rally type mentality but rather a night to remember and respect through healing and information. This truly is a national tragedy and when it’s not in the public eye, people seem to forget. We hope more than just Indigenous people will come out tonight as this area is full of Aboriginal people and history; it is and should be prevalent to everyone living in Simcoe County.”
The SIS compiled information over a span of five years (2005 to 2010) and found that there were 582 cases of missing and/or murdered Indigenous women or girls over the previous 20 years. An RCMP report was released in 2013 confirming that 1,181 Indigenous woman and/or girls had actually suffered the fate that has been long over-looked. Despite a national inquiry being launched in late 2015 by the federal government, the NWAC released a quarterly report card on the issue from the start of this year and gave the promised inquiry a failing grade. Despite the inactivity that the NWAC sees occurring, the SIS of Barrie are not using tonight as a protest but rather will be full of cultural healing and significance.
“We start in the rotunda of city hall with guest speakers, smudge and prayer,” said Partridge. “We will then continue outside for a candle light vigil and jingle dress healing ceremony.”
The vigil goes from 5pm to 9pm at city hall and guests are encouraged to bring hand drums and shakers.
