‘This is a systemic issue in Canada’: Marchers pay tribute to memories of murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people

Calgarians pay tribute to murdered and missing at 18th annual march Saturday night.

A large gathering of Calgarians walked Saturday night to pay tribute to missing and murdered women, girls and two-spirit people.

Saturday night at Scarboro United Church in the city’s southwest, the 18th Annual Valentine’s Day Memorial March drew a large crowd who came out to honour the memories of “the disproportionate numbers of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit who are no longer with us,” according to a media release issued by Chantal Chagnon, the event organizer and founder.

Chagnon said in a Saturday interview with CTV News that the need to march remains as strong as ever.

“We walk today to honor those families, to honor those that we have lost, but also to honor those that we’re still looking for,“ Chagnon said. ”It reminds us to take it out of a realm of statistics and put it into a realm of stories, because we’re all connected."

Participants gathered at 6:30 p.m. inside the church to share stories and music, with the march departing at 7:30 p.m.

Many walkers marched with red cut-outs and frames with the names of missing and murdered women on them.

“This march always attracts a huge array of families that have been affected by murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people or families who have been exploited, but also allies from around the community,” Chagnon said.

“It’s important to realize that this is an issue,” she said. “This is a systemic issue in Canada, and we need to come together, not just as indigenous people, but as all people, we’re all connected, and we’re all family.”

In a media release, Chagnon said recent statistics estimate that 1,200 Indigenous women and girls are missing or have been murdered over the years.

She said Indigenous women are five times more likely to die as a result of violence than any other group of Canadian women, whether by intimate partner or assaulted by a stranger.

She said that the Canadian government in recent years has made significant cuts to programs that were originally established to combat violence against women, most notably the 2010 decision to stop funding Sisters in Spirit, a database of cases of the missing and murdered women.

With files from CTV’s Darren Wright