Sisters In Spirit Candlelight Vigil Held in Akwesasne

On Sunday, October 4th Akwesasne took part in the annual Sisters in Spirit and it was held at the Tewatahita Walking Trail at Generations Park.

The candlelight vigil was a collaboration of several people and programs to honor the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada.

Organizers included Jonel Beauvais, Amie Barnes, Kawenniiosta Jock, Sarah Konwahahawi Rourke, Amber Montour, Jessica Danforth and Abe Francis.

It was a collaborative effort of the Seven Dancers Coalition, Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Akwesasne Family Wellness Program, Walking With Our Sisters and the Native North American Travelling College.

The vigil began at 6:30pm and everyone received tobacco and the Ohenton Karihwatehkwen was recited.

Jonel Beauvais, Seven Dancers Coalition, spoke first, "We want to create a foundation on healing, that's what this circle is about. We are at a place of death, anger, sadness and despair and I don't want us to stay there. The thousands of missing women, what would I tell them if I could talk to them? I would tell them they are not forgotten. We appreciate you coming and showing your support."

Jessica Danforth from the Native Youth Sexual Health Network spoke about the history of Sisters in Spirit. How she remembered the list of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women growing.

"Today the number is 2,008 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada," she said. "We have always been fighting, we aren't victims, we are people who resisted before an October 4th existed. And you don't have to be missing or murdered, if you have experienced domestic violence or sexual assault, this is about all of us, how we live and use our voices everyday. Today there are 178 vigils in Canada, the US even Costa Rica and Colombia."

Everyone who attended the vigil received a "Violence No More" bag. The "Violence No More" red bags came from the national Sisters In Spirit Vigil on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Krysta Williams of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network shared, "These red bags are from an initiative called It Starts With Us - which is a website and coalition of people working on responding to issues of missing and murdered women in our Indigenous communities. In addition to a database of names submitted by family members, it has tributes and resources to support dialogue and change from non-victim blaming/shaming perspectives that again do not blame women for the violence committed against them."

The event also incorporated the REDress Project and organizers hung red dresses around the walking trail. A Winnipeg-based Metis artist Jaime Black created The REDress Project five years ago, describing it as an "aesthetic response" to the issue of violence against aboriginal women."

It serves as "a visual reminder of the staggering number of women who are no longer with us. Through the installation I hope to draw attention to the gendered and racialized nature of violent crimes against Aboriginal women and to evoke a presence through the marking of absence," said Black's website.

Kawenniiosta Jock, SRMT SSD Traditional Support said, "I saw a red dress in Cornwall and on Rt. 37. This year we brought it to Akwesasne. I want to do it every October 4th and next year have them all over the place."

Sarah Konwahahawi Rourke, Co-lead of Walking With Our Sisters Akwesasne, spoke about the installation coming to Akwesasne and how it ties to the vigil.

"This is my eighth Sisters in Spirit and it's a sad thing we have to be here. But it's a beautiful thing in Akwesasne that when we need our people they are there. I do this for the next generations."