Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Fund approved projects
Search the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) Fund online database. These projects will honor the lives and legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and LGBTQ2S individuals and increase awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and LGBTQ2S individuals.
Strength and Remembrance Pole in North Vancouver
The North Vancouver RCMP and the North Shore Violence Against Women in Relationships Committee unveiled a special Strength and Remembrance Pole on Friday, October 25, 2019, before a packed Stella Jo Dean Plaza in North Vancouver. Read article.
The pole,which was done by local carver Sinamkin (Jody Broomfield), is meant to serve as a spiritual beacon for the victims, according to the committee, but also to give a place for them to come together and find strength and comfort.
“The pole is topped with the figure of a woman who represents all those who never came home. She is wrapped in a blanket to symbolize the love and care those gathered still feel for her and she stands atop an eagle, which has carried her home, with courage, to the creator.”
Alroy Baker, Squamish Nation elder
Women’s Commission leading monument project for the missing and murdered in Prince Albert
The Sisters in Spirit project was the idea of the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) Executive, who submitted a proposal to the federal government, and received the green light.
A project committee was formed with representatives from the women’s commission, as well as Prince Albert Indian Métis Friendship Centre, Mayor Greg Dionne, and Jason Stonechild, the deputy chief for the Prince Albert Police Service.
In addition to the names of names of MMIWG, the monument will also include LGBTQ2 individuals. At this stage, the final design is still being worked out, but Henderson said they hope to have the monument on the riverbank near the provincial courthouse.
Ontario MMIWGT2S Loved Ones Commemoration Committee (OLOCC)
The Ontario MMIWGT2S Loved Ones Commemoration Committee (OLOCC) consists of mothers, sisters, grandmothers, daughters, and aunties who have experienced the loss of a loved one.
One of the recommendations from the MMIWG National Inquiry was the establishment of a commemoration fund. In responding to this recommendation, the Government of Canada established the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Commemoration Fund (MMIWGCF).
Over two years, $10 million will be dispersed to Indigenous organizations to develop various activities and events across the country in memory of the hundreds who have been killed or gone missing over the past 30 years.
The committee’s goal is to have two Memorial Monuments in Ontario, one in the Northern region and one in the Southern region. The suggested unveiling date is Sunday, October 4, 2020.
For more information contact Maria Swain/Jessie McDonald at ONNorthMMIWG@gmail.com or Linda John/Jacqueline Gagnon at ONSouthMMIWG@gmail.com.
Read article: Ontario Loved Ones Commemoration Monument Deadline Approaching
MMIWG Memorial Stone in Grand Prairie
The Spirit Sisters Rock monument is unveiled Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 behind Grande Prairie Regional College.
Miranda Laroche (left) assists other speakers at the ceremony reveal of the monument. The ceremony, which also saw the monument blessed, was in line with the national day of remembrance for MMIWG.
Read article: ‘We’re a resilient people’: MMIWG remembered with memorial stone
Sagkeeng First Nation unveils MMIWG monument
An advocate working with the grandmothers and families explained the significance of the statue known as Kakigay-Pimitchy-Yoong Pimatizwin, which translates into “life flows forever.” It was unveiled on Thursday, August 1, 2019.
The design of the six-foot-high statue, representing an indigenous girl dressed in full regalia, was designed in consultations with families whose loved ones, male and female alike, have gone missing or been murdered.
The artist behind the metallic monument based it on a plaster model of his own daughter. Wayne Stranger spent 1½ years working on the monument.
A CBC analysis showed that Sagkeeng has the highest number of unsolved cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls from a single community in all of Canada.
Read articles:
- ‘Life flows forever’. Sagkeeng First Nation unveils MMIWG monument
- Grandmothers call for monument to honour Sagkeeng First Nation’s MMIWG
A special monument honouring Ontario sexual assault survivors as well as missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) was unveiled at Millennium Park in Peterborough on June 20, 2019 .
The pebble mosaic near the Otonabee River is part of the Countdown Public Art Legacy Project, which began in 2016 and features eight pebble mosaics across the province to date.
And while the monument is meant to be a sign of healing and hope, Stone said those who created the piece also want it to encourage critical conversations that will help prevent sexual harm in the future.
Read article: Peterborough monument honouring MMIWG, sexual assault survivors unveiled
Police headquarters in Saskatoon
Saskatoon police service unveils monument created by Lionel Peyachew, on Friday, May 5, 2017. Read article.
“When Lionel Peyachew was studying in Calgary, his roommate went missing. Her body was discovered years later, but the memories persist to this day.
The artist read many stories of aboriginal women before finding one which stood out to him. A mother was describing her missing daughter’s fancy dance, and the way she moved around the circle.
“When she watched her daughter dance, it was like watching an eagle in flight dancing on a cloud,” Peyachew said.
That image led him to design a dancer in movement above a cloud surrounded by stone pillars bearing the stories of missing and murdered women.
“So families can be able to tell their stories and have them read by the public,” he said.
Peyachew said he wants to encourage happier thoughts of the women’s lives and who they were in hopes of creating a better future.”
Monument at The Forks, Winnipeg
A monument honouring Manitoba’s missing and murdered women and girls was unveiled on Tuesday, August 12, 2014. It stands at The Forks in Winnipeg, the historic junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers that served as a meeting place for aboriginals for centuries.
The two-metre-high granite statue provides relatives a place to grieve loved ones who were killed or have disappeared. Read CBC article.
The monument, the first of its kind in Canada, is a joint project between the province and the Ka Ni Kanichihk aboriginal cultural centre. Leslie Spillett, executive director at Ka Ni Kanichihk, called the monument a “testament to the need and benefit of community engagement and government partnership.” Read Winnipeg Free Press article.
