Messages of honour and remembrance were front of mind for Yellowknifers who gathered at the City Hall amphitheater Thursday for the Tree of Honour ceremony. 

The ceremony, hosted by the Status of Women Council of the NWT, invited residents to tie red ribbons to a tree in Somba KSA国际影视传媒檈 Park in recognition of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).  

Be'sha Blondin, elder advisor with the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation, said the ceremony is a way of connecting with the women and acknowledging them for their families.

SA国际影视传媒淭o come together like this in prayer is really, really important,SA国际影视传媒� she told SA国际影视传媒. SA国际影视传媒淭hey could still be here, alive, but we're not sure. So what we do is through the ceremony we connect with them.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淭his has been going on for centuries and centuries,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淚t didnSA国际影视传媒檛 start with this generation or the generation before. It's ever since Europeans first stepped into this land. There's been a lot of our people missing, not just the girls.SA国际影视传媒�

The ceremony was the second of six Tree of Honour events in the NWT starting with Aklavik and Behchoko on Tuesday. Following YellowknifeSA国际影视传媒檚 Thursday ceremony, the Status of Women Council will host events in Fort Simpson and Hay River on Oct. 3 and 10 respectively.

Among the speakers was City Councillor Stacie Smith. 

She told attendees that she was SA国际影视传媒渉onouredSA国际影视传媒� to be at the event as a councillor, but also as a mother, a daughter, and as an Indigenous woman. 

SA国际影视传媒淭here are very few indigenous people who have not been touched by violence,SA国际影视传媒� she said, and told the story of how she SA国际影视传媒渃ould have been one of them.SA国际影视传媒�

As a student in Winnipeg she described once having gone to see a local artist play at a coffee house and being followed, and eventually chased, by two men in a truck on her way home. 

Smith was able to lose the men hiding in a crowd at a bus stop nearby, but she remembers fearing the men would SA国际影视传媒渃atchSA国际影视传媒� her, SA国际影视传媒渄ragSA国际影视传媒� her out of the crowd, and that SA国际影视传媒渘obody would have cared.SA国际影视传媒�

She calls the MMIWG movement SA国际影视传媒減rofound,SA国际影视传媒� but said that SA国际影视传媒渨ords mean nothing without action.SA国际影视传媒�

The 2019 National InquirySA国际影视传媒檚 final report found SA国际影视传媒減ersistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses to be the root cause behind CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women.SA国际影视传媒�

The report includes 231 calls for justice.

Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek, also responsible for the status of women portfolio, said SA国际影视传媒渢here is a lot of work happening behind the scenes.SA国际影视传媒�

Wawzonek said that the provincial, territorial, and federal governments are working to address the calls to justice through the creation of a national core working group, and sub working groups. She said the GNWT has SA国际影视传媒渟tarted to engage with Indigenous governments and stakeholders across the Northwest Territories.

SA国际影视传媒淭he NWT was the only jurisdiction in Canada that developed an initial response to the national inquiry's report,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淭hat was a good start. We are now working hard to create a framework for our own action plan, one that will do work to prevent further tragedies and violence to improve the lives and safety of Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQS2 people in the Northwest Territories safe.SA国际影视传媒�