KAMLOOPS — More than a thousand Indigenous women and girls have been murdered in Canada since 1980, a grim reality that has sparked calls for answers and a national inquiry.
Tonight (Feb. 14), people will gather at Spirit Square in Kamloops to recognize and honour the women who were taken too soon.
This year’s march for missing and murdered Indigenous women has been organized by fourth year Social Work students at TRU.
Organizer Eric Guglielmi-Wheeler says the march focuses on the alarming number of Indigenous women, girls, transgender, and two-spirited individuals who have gone missing or been murdered over the last two decades.
Marchers will gather at Spirit Square at 5:30 p.m. before walking towards the river and back as they remember those who have been lost.
A national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women began in September 2016, but Guglielmi-Wheeler says the march is necessary to keep attention on the ongoing issue.
“It’s for the over-representation of of that population within the missing and murdered population, and just kind of the lack of response to it. So, this is trying to draw attention to that lack of response. Right now there’s a national inquiry into the causes and possible solutions to this, but there’s not much attention being paid to it, there’s not much that’s actually being done. So, we just want to keep it in the public eye, keep people aware that this is still an issue, and it has not been solved.”
