City council unanimously proclaims Oct. 4 as Sisters in Spirit Day
By Jensen, Randy on September 10, 2020.
Women from the Blackfoot Confederacy Straight Up Headdress Society help lead the march as part of last year's Sisters in Spirit Vigil. Herald file photo by Ian Martens @IMartensHeraldTim Kalinowski
Lethbridge Herald
tkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com
City council has unanimously voted to have Oct. 4 proclaimed Sisters in Spirit Day in Lethbridge.
Sisters in Spirit is an organization which honours the lives and raises awareness of the violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited individuals in southern Alberta and across the country.
The proclamation motion was brought forth by Coun. Belinda Crowson during Tuesday’s public meeting on behalf of the city’s Sisters in Spirit Committee to recognize the importance of the Sisters in Spirit vigil, which takes place on Oct. 4 each year.
“Sisters in Spirit Day is all about the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls,” explained Crowson. “It is a day to honour the women who have been lost to support their families, and to change our world so we stop having missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. We know this is a vulnerable group, and it is a powerful group. It is the women who are such an amazing voice, but that has been lost over the years because of colonization, and because of how society has treated Indigenous women and girls.”
“It is vital,” she added, “that council support changes and make sure that we give voice to the voiceless, and help where we can. I was honoured to bring this resolution forward on behalf of the committee, and I am so proud we have passed it and shown the support we can.”
The Sisters in Spirit annual vigil will take place on Oct. 4 at 6:30 p.m. in front of Lethbridge City Hall. There will be a street march from city hall to Galt Gardens followed by the memorial and vigil in the park.
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City Council spends entirely too much time and money on Indigenous issues, and not nearly enough time on making our City a safer and better place to live. Let’s move on here, enough already!
Citi: No surprise. It is a low/no cost motion of little interest to the community at large which may garner a very few votes for its supporters. No one likes violence so it draws generic support even though it is unduly narrowly focused. Of course, the issue of who is responsible for most of the violence against indigenous women cannot be discussed as you would be labelled a “racist”. Not sure how 2 spirited folk snuck into this group though.