Lindsey Kruger (PIB Youth), Amberlee Erdmann (SOVAS, Resource Development Coordinator), Darryl-Jean Cerenzie (ONTEH Community Outreach), Muriel Tanner (Osoyoos Indian Band) Emanuela Sheena (Ooknakane Friendship Centre, Executive Director), Cassie Lezard (PIB Youth)
Sisters in Spirit Vigil – Walk for Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Children
Sunday, Oct 4th, 2015
Join local organizations, community members and dignitaries for a nationwide movement honoring the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Please come show your support for families and friends who have lost loved ones to violence.
The event takes place at the Osoyoos Indian Band Community Hall, located at 6046 Sandpoint Rd, Oliver.
Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m., with keynote speakers starting at 6:30 p.m. The candlelight walk will start at 8:10 p.m. Keynote speakers will include a Dan Wilson a representative from the Louie family, Roger Hall (Roxanne Louie’s father), Laurie Wilson (Okanagan Nation Spokesperson for Missing & Murdered Women), Coola Louis (Union Of BC Indian Chiefs Women representative), Richard Cannings (NDP candidate in the federal riding of South Okanagan-West Kootenay) and closing remarks by Grand Chief Stewart Phillip.
People are invited to bring flashlights and drums for the candlelight walk. “This event is about raising awareness of the missing and murdered Aboriginal women and children, as well as the over-representation of female Aboriginal victims. We invite community members to stand in solidarity for the loved ones we have lost and to show your support to the friends and family of victims. Walk for Diane Stewart a mother of three whose body was found on the Penticton Indian Reserve, a few kilometers from where she was last seen. Walk for Olive Hill, an 85-year-old Penticton woman who died from asphyxiation. Walk for Roxanne Louie a mother of a three-year-old boy. Walk for the hundreds of missing and murdered aboriginal women” said Amberlee Erdmann, Resource Development Coordinator from the South Okanagan Victim Assistance Society (SOVAS).