Every year on February 14th, Women’s Memorial Marches take place across Canada to honour the lives of murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ folks. Many marchers are family members, friends and loved ones of those who have gone missing or have been murdered. This year, our world has changed and the global pandemic impacts the ways that we can gather.
Melanie Omeniho, President of Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak (LFMO) / Women of the Metis Nation, is encouraging Metis Women, Girls, 2SLGBTQQIA+ folks and allies to honor our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ folks from a safe distance this year.
“The marches we have participated in are important opportunities for healing and for creating sacred space to honour those we have lost, and we want to encourage virtual ways to gather in unity,” says President Omeniho. “The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our ability to gather in large groups to honour our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls this year. We are encouraging honouring safely from a distance, and honouring our loved ones in special and sacred ways from our own homes.”
Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak (LFMO) / Women of the Metis Nation is encouraging safe, socially distanced honouring ceremonies on February 14, 2021. LFMO encourages you to light a candle, hang a ribbon, say a prayer, light medicine for a smudge or honour in the way that feels most meaningful to you. Please join us, share a photo on LFMO’s social media channels and let us unite from a distance in support and remembering our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
On this day, LFMO is also launching a social media campaign to encourage love and respect across the Métis Motherland and to honour our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ folks. On its social media channels, LFMO is encouraging individuals to share a memory that they have of a loved one and to tag them.
LFMO speaks as the national and international voice for Métis women across the Motherland. LFMO aims to consult, promote and represent the personal, spiritual, social, cultural, political and economic interests and aspirations of women, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people of the Métis Nation across the homeland.
-30-
Media Requests
Lisa Pigeau
Senior Political Advisor
Lisap@metiswomen.org
613-404-4481