Sue Caribou displayed a banner featuring an image of her niece accompanied by the message “Bring Me Home” as she guided hundreds of individuals dressed in red at the Red Dress Day rally in Winnipeg on Monday.
The procession started at Memorial Park and concluded at The Forks to observe Red Dress Day, an event honoring and commemorating MMIWG2S which has been acknowledged since 2010.
Caribou mentioned that the past year has been an emotionally turbulent time for her family. Her niece, Tanya Nepinak, was last spotted in Winnipeg back in September 2011. Police think that after this sighting, her remains were placed in a trash container and transported to the Brady Road landfill.
Manitoba pledged to conduct a search at that landfill for the remains of Ashlee ShingOOSE, who was
recently identified
One of the four First Nations women slain by Winnipeg serial killer Jeremy Skibicki was her. The remains of the other two victims killed by Skibicki—Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran—were also found.
discovered at the Prairie Green landfill earlier this year
, north of Winnipeg.
Caribou has been advocating for the search for Shingoose to also encompass rescue operations for her niece. In October 2012, a quest began to locate Nepinak’s remains at the Brady Road landfill; however, it did not proceed as planned.
cancelled after six days
with no evidence found.
Each evening, I pray for the Brady landfill, along with every other landfill, to be thoroughly examined. Our dear family members should not end up as waste,” Caribou shared with the audience gathered at The Forks. “This pains me deeply. It keeps me awake throughout the nights.”
Elizabeth McMechen, a social work student, attended the Monday rally as she believes that MMIWG2S represents an “unfolding emergency that ought to concern everyone.”
A part of the truth lies in being present here today and listening, which is why I’ve come.
Garrison Settee, the Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, expressed his gratitude for the large turnout at the rally on Monday, acknowledging the crowd for their stance against MMIWG2S.
“The road ahead is difficult, yet this process will assist those families. It has the potential to foster healing and ideally provide them with some sense of closure,” he stated.
“As we do this for them, we ensure their spirits continue to be respected and their names aren’t erased from memory,” Settee stated. “We have an obligation to them.”
Aboriginal women in Canada are 12 times more likely to disappear or become victims of murder than non-Aboriginal women, as reported by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.
Manitoba’s Families Minister, Nahanni Fontaine, indicates that family members of MMIWG2S individuals in Manitoba will shortly have access to funds aimed at assisting their efforts to locate their loved ones.
The five Indigenous-led groups will disburse $350,000 from the Manitoba MMIWG2S+ healing and empowerment endowment fund to family members, enabling them to obtain various forms of easy-access and immediate assistance, as stated by Fontaine.
The funds originate from an endowment established by the province one year ago on Red Dress Day. According to Fontaine, eligible expenses that this financial resource might cover could include search fees, fuel, accommodation charges, burial costs, gravestones, meals, and even education-related expenditures.
Fontaine stated during the press briefing, “I believe it’s crucial for people in Manitoba to recognize and take pride in the reality that ours is the sole region in all of Canada to establish an MMIWG2S+ endowment fund designed to function indefinitely for the benefit of families and communities.”
Regardless of which party holds office, this endowment fund will continue to exist for many years.
A year ago, the province established the fund with an initial investment of $15 million, which yielded $650,000 within just half a year, as stated by Fontaine.
Each year, community organizations will assume the duty of disbursing two-thirds of the fund’s income. The remainder will be allocated by the province towards initiatives led by Indigenous groups.
The MKO, the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, and Giganawenimaanaanig — which is the province’s MMIWG2S+ implementation committee — will each get approximately $90,000 according to what the province stated.
The Manitoba Métis Federation’s Infinity Women’s Secretariat is set to receive approximately $40,000, while the Tunngasugit Inuit Resource Centre in Winnipeg will be granted $25,000.
Fontaine mentioned that the endowment fund, overseen by the Winnipeg Foundation, is presently close to $25 million. The objective is ultimately to increase this amount twofold, potentially leading to approximately $2 million in annual income generation, as she stated.
