Memorial Park hosted the first event of the year, the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Memorial March, on Monday.
Yale First Nation, Hope and Area Transition Society (HATS), Trails Crossing Friendship Centre and Indian Residential School Survivors Society put together the event that saw First Nations leaders speak to about 100 people at the bandstand before marching to the Hope and District Recreation Centre. Event organizer Margaret Peters said that this event came about because many people could not attend the one in Vancouver.
“There's some family members that are affected by the murdered and missing here in the valley as well,” said Peters. “With the (national inquiry into MMIWG), we wanted to bring more awareness and more attention to the cause and how it affects the families of the missing and murdered.”
Organizers decided that they wanted to include missing and murdered men and boys into the march too.
“You don't hear about it very much, but it has been happening about it for a while,” said Peters.
Read the full story in the March 23 edition of The Standard.