‘We’re fighting’: B.C. woman brings MMIWG2S crisis to doorstep of the Vatican

In Rome, B.C.'s Lorelei Williams found an attention-grabbing way to raise awareness of the crisis of violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in Canada.

Lorelei Williams raised her fist high in the air in front of the Vatican, with St. Peter’s Basilica glowing by lamplight as the hour approached midnight.

Dressed in a stunning red cape with a trim of black hands, she called on Pope Francis to acknowledge and act on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in Canada.

“If he starts to say this is an issue in Canada, maybe people will actually start listening,” the Skatin and Sts’Ailes First Nations woman from Vancouver told Global News.

“In Canada, Indigenous women are at the very bottom and we’re fighting. I’m struggling, trying to survive.”

Since she arrived in Rome last week, Williams has worn her cape and draped herself in the genocide flag of Canada to take photos in front of both sacred and historic sites.

It’s a powerful reminder of the strength, culture and identity that Canada’s colonial government, in partnership with the Roman Catholic Church and others, sought to wipe out. Pope Francis may not have seen the images, but Williams’ work in Italy did not go unnoticed.

On Tuesday night, Sts’ailes Chief Ralph Leon and Coun. Kelsey Charlie were in St. Peter’s Square as she took photos in front of one of the most sacred Catholic shrines in the world. They were so proud and inspired, they spontaneously went into ceremony and gave Williams her “sacred inheritance” – her first ancestral Indigenous name.

“This is really organic, it’s nothing that we planned out or anything,” said Charlie, holding a hide drum whose artwork was done by Williams’ father. “We felt it was a spirit-driven process for us.”