Women who have been lost to violence were honoured during a Sisters in Spirit Vigil and Walk Friday evening in downtown Williams Lake.
“We want to show some solidarity with sisters that we’ve lost to violence,” said Cora Fraleigh, the Aboriginal Wellness Co-ordinator for the Cariboo Friendship Society who organized the event. “Throughout Canada today there are various vigils being held in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities as well as rural and urban centres.”
Sisters in Spirit Vigils are a movement for social change that centres on families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and those of two-spirited people, Fraleigh said.
“We acknowledge that division exists around the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and respect families choices to participate in whichever way is meaningful for you,” she said. “Even if you choose not to participate we respect that as well.”
Fraleigh encouraged everyone to listen and if necessary advocate on behalf of others by contacting politicians, signing petitions, or showing up at court dates to support women, families and children that are affected by violence in relationships.
Before the walk from the Purple House to the Eagles Nest began, Fraleigh encouraged participants to write the name or initials of someone they know who was lost to violence on one of dozens of red rocks that are placed inside the shape of a large heart on the lawn. She also said if people want, they can write what love means to them instead.
Fraleigh moved back to Williams Lake with family in February from Fort St. John where she was part of similar vigils there for 12 years, she said.
As she bent down to write on a rock, Linda Hunlin said she was there to honour her sister who is a survivor of a violent relationship.