‘Still ongoing’: Montreal rally raises awareness about crisis affecting Indigenous communities
Global News
"People need to know that missing and murdered indigenous women and two-spirit girls is still ongoing," said Nakuset, executive director of the Montreal Native Women's Shelter.
A rally was held in Montreal Tuesday evening to honour the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls across Canada.
Supporters gathered in the city’s Cabot Square at 6 p.m. where guest speakers and performers addressed the crowds before setting out on a march along Ste-Catherine Street.
Among them was Cheryl McDonald, a Mohawk from Kanesatake, whose sister Carleen Marie McDonald is among the missing.
She disappeared from her parents’ home in Akwesasne on Sept. 4, 1988. Her body was found two kilometres away in the woods almost two months later.
McDonald said police at the time did little to help.
“They don’t have time to look for Indigenous women,” she said.” Oh, she drinks, oh she takes off. And they brush their hands and so do our leaders.”
Macdonald was one of many who testified in Montreal during the National Inquiry intoMissing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The report concluded that human rights violations are the root cause behind the staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women.
