Hundreds gathered in Behchokǫ̀ today for a march and ceremony to remember Missing and Murdered Indigenous Girls, Two Spirit persons, LGBTQIA+ persons, Boys and Men.
“There’s a high number of Missing men as well, Missing Men and Boys,” said Rachel Rebecca Zoe, Coordinator with the Justice and Victim Services with the Tłı̨chǫ Government.
Typically the march has been held in honour of Indigenous Women, Girls, Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ persons but this year organizers saw a need for more inclusion.
Zoe explained that while it is important to recognize the that Indigenous women, young girls, Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ people are facing disproportionate levels of violence, so are Indigenous boys and men.
“We have to be aware that there’s men there that are going missing on a daily basis. They’re getting murdered, there’s racism against them. And they are also getting targeted, so we have to let people know that our men matter, we need them around, we care for them and we need them to know that. We have to take care of each other,” said Zoe.
Zoe explained there are supports in place that are meant to be open to everyone in the community.
Before the march the community gathered for a Feed the Fire ceremony and Drumming outside the Kǫ̀ Gocho Centre. The Tłı̨chǫ Drummers performed prayer songs to remember the Missing and Murdered.
The crowd of hundreds gathered in a large circle. Grandparents, Elders, aunties, grandchildren, mothers, Chiefs, parents, uncles, sisters, great-grandparents, nephews, brothers — took part in the ceremony, reflecting in silence and moving in a clockwise circle to the beating sound of the drums. Children splashed their boots in the puddles of water and earth, patches of melting snow, signs of a new spring.
The march begun led by a group of youth and Elders, community leaders including Grand Chief Jackson Lafferty. The Tłı̨chǫ drummers among them, walked together through the streets of Behchokǫ̀, into the centre of the community. The community marched for about 30 minutes before making it back to the centre.
One of the last comprehensive counts of the Missing and Murdered documented 5,271 Indigenous Women and Girls lost from across the country, said Zoe. However, that count took place about 10 years ago, explained Zoe. Since that time the number of Indigenous people who have gone missing or who have been murdered has increased substantially.
Zoe explained that a database could help raise awareness and could help acknowledge the loss that loved ones are enduring. That acknowledgement could help strengthen and rally support around family who grieve, so that they would not feel alone in their struggle.
“Those missing people they matter. We can’t just forget about them. We have to remember them. There’s a mother out there who is crying for their son, their daughter, their sister, their relative, and she feels like she doesn’t matter, she feels like she’s left out because no one knows about it,” said Zoe.
“You’re missing your child. We know that you’re hurting. We want you to know that we’re here for you, and we want to hear you out. We want to listen to you,” continued Zoe.
Gracie Shed, Justice and Victim Services Manager, said having resources coming directly to local programs would be more beneficial. This would bring more culturally centred and culturally sensitive support to communities.
Shed explained that many Indigenous people have been under-represented in a lot of ways. When families and loved ones are still searching for answers or when crimes go unpunished, they feel the system has not done justice.
“There are better ways of [using the justice system] in the future so that we can support the justice system and get proper outcomes and verdicts and help them implement the law all the way through the end of the process,” said Shed.
That means talking with communities and asking how to better support justice.
“Is it restorative justice? How do we bring the communities in so that we have a sense of community law and justice for those that we’ve lost,” asked Shed.
“One of the things we hear frequently that’s not working is they feel a large disconnect from Canadian legislation and laws and the judicial system. It’s very separate from the way the community wants to see matters handled in-house and to restore the community back to a whole after a crime has been committed. So we’re seeing a big push for restorative justice and different types of justice services the community for all levels of crime so that we can have a more culturally sensitive and historically appropriate justice approach.”
One of the areas that gets overlooked is capacity building, said Shed. When communities have to start programs from the ground up, the resources the federal government allows for leave out capacity building.
“The project is less than effective when we can’t also build in a capacity as well for it. So it has to have stable structure, stable staff and a stable promise of continuing to run,” said Shed.
Many community programs are left to make the most of the “ bare minimum” and “build up as much as possible” but that leaves many gaps where support is needed.
“That is a definite hardship whenever you’re looking at something and going – you’re giving me enough to do a band-aid, but not enough to fix the break,” explained Shed.
Zoe said that community leaders would like to see more safety nets in place for community watches, including a toll free phone contact number and more security cameras.
“We’re right on the highway, you know, people coming in out. There’s been reports of unknown vehicles coming around to the playgrounds,” said Zoe.
In response the community has been working on designing strategic safety plans and programs.
“Last summer, we had a few of those reports and we as Justice and Victim Services.”
Zoe said the community has implemented safety training programs, but being in a more remote location versus somewhere like Yellowknife it’s more difficult to access needed resources.
Zoe emphasized that no matter what people should not feel isolated or left out, something she said the march also brings home.
“They shouldn’t be alone,” said Zoe, no matter what their struggle whether that is grieving the loss of a loved one or feeling targeted and not knowing where to turn. “They need to know that community is here for them.”
