Dozens of people gathered and marched down George Street in Sydney on Sunday to mark Canada s National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, also known as Red Dress Day.
Dozens of people walked through the rain and cold in downtown Sydney, N.S., Thursday to mark the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), also called Red Dress Day.
Heidi Marshall says it’s no coincidence that Indigenous women and girls are 10 times more likely to be victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation than non-Indigenous women and girls.
“I grew up in the 60s, so you have to remember the ban on traditional ceremonies was just lifted in 1951, so people were probably still scared because (the federal government) considered it witchcraft and we weren’t allowed to play it for so long, said Marshall. An 1895 amendment to The Indian Act, originally written by the federal government in 1876, banned all Indigenous ceremonies and cultural practices including waltes. This provision was in place for close to 75 years and amounted to a disruption in the passing down of cultural knowledge, traditions and oral history. The government confiscated the waltes games and people were sometimes charged for possessing them illegally, so people would keep their waltes bowls hidden.