The Tsilhqo’tin Women’s Council in Williams Lake gathered today (May 5) for a sacred fire ceremony.
It was held in honor of National Awareness Day for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and a call for meaningful action to end the violence.
The final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls was released on June 3rd, 2019, and TNG Women’s Council member Joyce Cooper says it’s disheartening to see the lack of progress so far.
“It will be going on 3 years since the report was released and there have been some actions that have been called out and I honestly think we’re a little bit behind time. The government needs to start speeding up the process because as we speak every day we have women going missing or being murdered. We need to have, probably feet on the ground and making sure that there are programs that are being funded to make sure that this doesn’t occur.”
Cooper added that domestic and sexual violence has no nationality.
“We need to make people aware that when we’re fighting for some of these things it’s not just Indigenous people it’s all people as well. We do ceremonies for everyone to make sure that to bring awareness that these things need to end. While today is a national day of awareness, we must remember them every day and continue to fight for justice for them and for the future generations of women and girls.