Two local events are coming up this weekend in the tri-community, focusing on the national epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two spirited people (MMIWG2S+). The MMIWG2S+ Family Wellness Weekend and the Annual Remembering Kendara Memorial Walk are being held in conjunction and are giving the families and friends of MMIWG2S+ an opportunity to spend time with others who have experienced the same kind of loss.
The MMIWG2S+ Wellness Weekend is being hosted through a partnership with KB Memorial and MKO MMIWG2S+ Liaison Unit.
“During the Red Dress event, we had a debriefing and were talking about how the energy was and how we needed more events in the community for impacted families going forward,” said event organizer Lorraine Ballantyne-Packo. “When we were talking with MKO, this came into the plans. We started planning the MKO MMIWG2S+ Family Weekend in June. We met on a regular basis and starting talking about what we would like to see happen with the event and what we would like to see people take away from it as well.
“Bringing MMIWG2S+ families together can be heavy at times, and we wanted this event to be an atmosphere where people felt comfortable being at, so we called it a Wellness Gathering. “It’s so important to us that MMIWG2S+ families do not feel alone. We’ve had to go through this alone and we know what it feels like. We want to make sure families know we are there for them and can connect them with the supports they need.”