Content warning: The following story contains references to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, please take care reading.
On May 5, shíshálh Nation will host its first march for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and is inviting the community to join in the day of honouring and healing.
Leading the march will be the family of Cheryl Ann Joe. Joe was a 26-year-old shíshálh woman and mother of three who was brutally murdered in East Vancouver in 1992. Her murder sparked the annual Valentine’s Day Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver that marked its 33rd year this February.
“This is for every missing and murdered Indigenous woman out there,” said Joe’s youngest son, Calvin Joe-Mayes. He and his cousin Alfonso (Sito) Salinas are organizing the march on the Coast. “It’s just really important to spread awareness because I feel like every Indigenous female, woman and girl has a target on their back.”
Indigenous women are four times as likely to be victims of violence compared to non-Indigenous women, according to statistics from the Assembly of First Nations. From 2001 to 2014, “the average rate of homicides involving Indigenous female victims was four times that of those involving non-Indigenous female victims,” said the website.
The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls that closed in 2019 concluded that Canada had carried out genocide against Indigenous peoples. The report found “that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people.” It released 231 calls for justice directed at “governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians,” most of which have yet to be meaningfully addressed.
“This event, it’s very meaningful. It’s going to be heavy. It’s going to take a lot of strength, especially from the family,” said Salinas, who is also the traditional wellness coordinator for the Nation.
Whereas the march in Vancouver began when the two men were very young and without heavy involvement from them as family members, they now want to take the lead here.
“[Before now], I don’t think we were ready,” said Salinas. “Calvin’s mom, my relative, she passed away when we were toddlers and no one really guided us in the way of healing. We honestly didn’t know what to do. It was a huge loss we didn’t really understand as children.”
Now, this march is a part of their healing.
“We want to provide that strength,” said Salinas. “And doing it here where Cheryl’s roots are, and just letting everyone learn about it, be aware – this literally happened to someone from where we live.
“The world is ugly place but it’s up to us to make it a better place.”
The march will start at the corner of Ocean and Cowrie at 10 a.m. and end at Lower Hackett Park. Following the march, there will be a welcome prayer and speeches, the Butterfly Spirit Dancers, a jingle dress performance and singing and drumming, with the event closing at about 2 p.m. All are welcome to join and participants are encouraged to wear red to show their support.
The march and speeches will commemorate and honour Joe, her family, as well as other missing women from this territory. Speeches will mention the names of all the missing and murdered women from this territory the organizers know of and from whose families they have permission, said Donna Tack, manager of the Wellness Centre.
“We absolutely want to honour all of the women from this territory,” she said. “Part of what we’re doing is not just for the women of this territory but for all of the murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls across Turtle Island.
“It’s important for the greater community to understand some of the things that we face as Indigenous people and especially as Indigenous women,” said Tack. “This is still happening. It’s not like this is something that has stopped or is in the past. Indigenous men and women are going missing.”
May 5 is National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, so the event is part of the greater ceremony. “We’re really hoping it’s going to be a beautiful, amazing, powerful day,” said Tack.
There will be supports on hand, including the Nation’s counselling team. “As much as it’s a really beautiful, powerful day, it’s also very emotional. It’s something that is not easy to talk about. There’s some very, very personal emotional trauma to a lot of our families.
“It’s not a parade, it’s not a party. It’s an honouring ceremony and a march to bring awareness to community about what we face as Indigenous people, that loss,” said Tack.
Salinas said he’s often asked by non-Indigenous people how they can help with reconciliation. “You can come learn, come participate and support. We have a lot of healing to do, not only as Indigenous people, but the non-Indigenous as well,” he said. “We need to build relationships and learn how to respect each other.”
Joe-Mayes also notes that for every missing and murdered Indigenous woman and girl, there are dads, uncles, cousins, grandfathers, nephews mourning as well. “We’re still going through this, we’re still grieving every single day,” he said.
“It’s a sad reality, because I look at my future and my kids don’t get to have a grandmother, they don’t get to have that love in their life," said Joe-Mayes.
Joe-Mayes now has two young daughters who are four and six years old who will be with him, leading the march, in red dresses. “I just want to do everything I can to arm them with information and to spread awareness,” he said. “So they know how much of a target is on their backs.”
He doesn’t want to scare his daughters, but he is all too aware of the dangers for Indigenous women in Canada.
“I remember thinking my mom was still gonna come through that door. I kept waiting. I kept waiting for my mom to come. And that day was never going to happen. And I’m not the only one.”
