The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council will mark the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls National Day of Action with a walk on Thursday, May 5 in Port Alberni. The event is being organized by the NTC’s Teechuktl/Mental Health team.
Called “Making Waves for Our Sisters,” the MMIWG event will start at 10 a.m. at the n’aasn’aas?aqsa totem pole at Victoria Quay, and the walk will commence shortly afterward.
The walk ends at 12 p.m. at Char’s Landing, 4815 Argyle Street (at the corner of Argyle and Fifth Street), with a barbecue to follow. There will be a table for family or organizations to share photos, poems, songs or other memorabilia.
READ: Keeping the hope fire burning: Island First Nation honours missing and murdered women
Walkers are encouraged to wear red to honour sisters, and may bring signs or photos for the walk.
READ: Red dresses hang across Vancouver Island to keep missing women front of mind
The walk will begin within sight of a red dress, hanging from a tree along the end of Roger Street across from the Riverside Motel. It marks the site where Nicola-Cree Belcourt died recently under suspicious circumstances.
Belcourt, from the Lower Nicola Indian Band near Merritt, had been staying in the Alberni Valley for the past two years.