The Sisters in Spirit Walk attracted around 70 people. (Piwapan Women's Centre/Facebook)

By Derek Cornet

Coming Together

Awareness walks target missing and murder Indigenous women, exploited children

Oct 5, 2020 | 2:16 PM

Two walks were held in the tri-communities Sunday to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women, as well as child exploitation.

The 11^th annual Sisters in Spirit Walk was organized by the Piwapan Women’s Centre and began at 10:30 a.m. Northern Project Manager Jade Hartley explained about 70 people participated as the walk stretched from the band office to the urban reserve downtown. It included drummers, jingle dancers and a free lunch provided by Subway.

“It’s important to keep organizing this walk to remind the public there is still missing and murdered Indigenous women in our community and surrounding communities,” she said. “It is important for the general public to recognize there’s still a need for these women to come to us.”

A ceremony was also held following the walk, which included a teepee with sacred fire. It ended with a round dance where social distancing took place in the form of ribbons. All participants were also given face masks.

The second walk was called Save Our Children and was organized by Lac La Ronge Indian Band Coun. Ann Ratt, along with June Parade and Jude Ratt. The 40-minute walk began at 3 p.m. across from Home Hardware and ended at Keethanow Gas Bar. It attracted about 25 participants.

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“These days people have been kidnapping children or taking kids that don’t belong to them and the whole sex trade exploiting them,” Ann Ratt said. “Just more recently in our own community here, there was lots of Facebook posts about a couple of kids who were going door-to-door asking for food, water and a sleeping bag because they’re not going home. They’ve been sleeping in people’s shacks behind their houses or in people’s abandoned cars.”

The Save Our Children Walk had about 25 participants. (submitted photo/Kandis Riese)

Ann Ratt believes there isn’t enough awareness about exploited children. She hopes by organizing such a walk, residents can be pro-active if they are ever approached by a child needing help.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno