Hundreds of people came to the MMIW march on Tuesday afternoon

By Tommy Osborne

MMIW

Hundreds march in solidarity for MMIW

Feb 14, 2024 | 4:42 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Hundreds of community members gathered for a march to remember and raise awareness about the continuing issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). Marching from the Prince George Native Friendship Centre to the courthouse, the march brought the community closer together, but also revealed the grim truth of just how much MMIW continues to impact Prince George.

“I grew up in Prince George and a lot of I know a lot of women that have gone missing or have been murdered. and yeah, it hits really hard,” said Katherine Morris, a member of the Women’s Memorial March Committee.

Many marchers had signs and flyers of loved ones who have gone missing, and everyone marched in solidarity for the same goal: raising awareness and trying to find solutions for a tragedy that still impacts many today.

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One of several flyers being handed out. This one is raising awareness for Colten Fleury, who has been missing since 2018

“You don’t understand it until it happens to you. You always think, ‘that happens, but not here.’ You don’t realize the huge impact that it’s actually having in our community and how it happens to you, and you’re the one sitting in there and going through all these things, trying to find your loved one or trying to get justice for your loved one,” said Charity West, a marcher today and someone who walked across Canada for MMIW alongside her husband Cameron.

“I have two daughters that are young and I won’t let them walk around by themselves or anything like that. And I, too, hitch hiked on the Highway of Tears when I was young and I could have been one of them,” added Morris.

Awareness marches help shine the light on this problem, and it certainly can play a big role in finding solutions. However, an issue as complex and deep rooted as this doesn’t have any easy answers, but the marchers all agreed on one thing: a solution takes all of us.

“These issues are just not being handled properly. There’s various levels of government that need to get involved in order to get this dealt with. But it starts here. It starts with us as coming together as a whole,” said Charity.

Cameron added one thing that would help a lot is seeing more businesses step up. He explained that events like these marches are difficult to put on, so any help from businesses or community members would go a long way towards continuing to raise awareness and finding solutions.

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