On October 4th each year, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) holds a Sisters in Spirit Vigil to honour Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, declared that “the violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people is a ‘national tragedy of epic proportion’.”
According to Statistics Canada, between 2001 and 2015, “homicide rates for Indigenous women were nearly six times higher than for non-Indigenous women.”
Visit nwac.ca for more information about this year’s Sisters in Spirit Vigil.
Resources for Professional and Classroom Learning
The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls website:
Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
I Am a Change Maker. Are You? (videos, links to artworks and reading)
Their Voices Will Guide Us (Educator Guide for K-12)
ETFO’s Healing Conversations
Kairos Commemoration projects (videos, links to arts projects to generate discussion)
As part of the learning on this day, it is important to also view and reflect upon Tamara Bernard’s We Are More Than Murdered and Missing TEDx