An upcoming walk through Sarnia will help to provide a voice to those who can no longer speak for themselves.
The Sarnia-Lambton Native Friendship Centre is hosting the 32nd annual Women’s Memorial March on February 14 beginning at 9 a.m.
The event, which originated in Vancouver in 1991, is held in remembrance of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The march is also a protest against class disparity, racism, inequality and violence.
The march will begin at the Sarnia-Lambton Native Friendship Centre on Lochiel Street and head toward Seaway Centre Park where a flag-raising will occur. The procession will then continue the march to City Hall where red dresses will be hung to symbolize the mothers, daughters, and sisters who have been lost.
“The red dress symbolizes the violence against Indigenous women,” said Nicole Roegiest, the urban aboriginal healthy living coordinator with the friendship centre. “It’s presented as an empty dress for the missing sisters and girls that have been taken and kidnapped. [They are] left as a reminder that this is still happening even today.”
Roegiest says attendees are also encouraged to wear red in solidarity.
“As a female and an ally for the Indigenous community, I think it’s really important that all of us come together, in all of our backgrounds and communities, and support the women who still need to have their voices heard [and] didn’t get the chance to speak up.”