Image Credit: Facebook / B.C. Native Womens' Association
January 06, 2016 - 9:00 PM
KAMLOOPS - In recognition of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls, the B.C. Native Womens' Association plans to host a red ribbon awareness campaign later this month.
On Jan. 15, the association will host a brief ceremony to tie the first red ribbon, followed by a song and prayer. A location for the 10:15 a.m. ceremony has not been announced yet and groups around B.C. are being encouraged to take part with their own ceremony.
Each ribbon represents a First Nations woman who either went missing or was murdered in B.C. The ceremony is to recognize and honour those who died on the Highway of Tears, in downtown Vancouver or throughout several communities across the province. The ribbons will also be a demonstration of support for the country’s pre-inquiry meetings set to be held this month in January.
The event is open to the public and the assocation’s ribbons will be marked with the hashtag #MMIW. If you would like to bring your own red ribbons, you’re welcome to. In Kamloops organizers plan to tie ribbons on the Overlander, Yellowhead, Red and Halston Bridges.
A group of women from the Opaskweyak Cree Nation in Manitoba started the campaign which has also spread to Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alaska.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016