Kristy Shaw speaks in front of a full crowd at the 'Living Beyond' conference in Melfort. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff)

By Aaron Schulze

MMIWG

Ripple effects stick out during MMIWG conference in Melfort

Mar 11, 2020 | 12:00 PM

It was a day to absorb stories and past experiences involving Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

The ‘Living Beyond’ conference is a one-day session on MMIWG, hosted by Cumberland College and the Marguerite Riel Centre on Tuesday, March 10 at the Kerry Vickar Centre (KVC).

Jamie Black was the keynote speaker. She’s a Métis artist from Winnipeg who founded the REDress Project – an ongoing project that remembers MMIWG by hanging empty, red dresses in various environments.

Gwenda Yuzicappi and Kristy Shaw also spoke. Yuzicappi spent nearly three years looking for her missing daughter who was found murdered, and Shaw went through addiction issues and a difficult upbringing.

“The most powerful thing I got out of [the conference] was the personal experiences they have that could lead to going down the wrong path,” Harley Delorme, a resolution and health support worker at the Marguerite Riel Centre (MRC) said. “With Gwenda talking about her daughter, it was so powerful. What she went through and is still going through. We don’t want that to happen to anyone, any family member.

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“What Kristy was talking about addiction, it’s hurting you. But the ripples are going to your family and your community,” he said.

Delorme didn’t have a chance to immediately seek the crowd’s feedback on what the speakers touched on but mentioned any time he’d walk around the KVC gymnasium, he’d see people nodding their heads; knowing what they went through.

The MRC puts on two conferences per year. Delorme said their goal is to keep awareness of MMIWG alive.

“Take a look at the crowd and there were a lot more people here,” he said. “I think we were [hoping for] around 200 people but we got around 230 from who registered. The word is getting out and that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Delorme said the next conference will be held in October. In the meantime, he said the MRC is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with various programs that aim to assist adults and children.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow