Barbara Jagodics spent Monday honoring people she knew and loved who went missing or were murdered, and she was far from alone.
“Every one of us Indigenous people knows someone who has gone missing or has been murdered,” she said at the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society’s Sisters in Spirit event Monday. Oct. 4 was the National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQ2+ People (MMIWG).
“That’s why we are here. Natives, non-natives, we are one people all together marching for this cause. We need people to know how dire this is,” she said. “It’s still happening.”
The walk and eventual vigil attracted dozens of men, women and children who walked along the highway and down to the bridge with signs showing pictures of Indigenous people who are missing or murdered.
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Red dresses were hung from the Ki-Low-Na Friendship society’s building, representing the spirits of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Marchers also stopped at the courthouse, where there was drumming and a discussion about loved ones who have been lost.
“On this day we wear red – it represents calling our ancestors back, “ she said.
She added the event was also to help make known what many Indigenous people still face.
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The Native Women’s Association published a document on MMIWG indicating that while they were always more likely to report experiencing both physical and sexual maltreatment and spousal violence, conditions worsened in the pandemic.
A national survey of 750 Indigenous women and gender-diverse people that NWAC undertook from May 1 to May 29, 2020 showed Indigenous women are more worried about domestic violence than they are about most COVID-19 issues.
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“Many more Indigenous women are experiencing violence during this pandemic than usual. Indigenous women are reporting more violence during this time of sheltering in place. In May 2020, 17 per cent have experienced violence (physically or psychologically) in the previous three months, compared to 10 per cent reporting violence from their spouse over the past five years in 2014,” reads the report.