Status of Women committee  No. I 100% support what Chief Lorraine Augustine submitted.

Status of Women committee  Yes, so in 2016, as I stated, it was the women of the North Point Douglas Women's Centre who invited us into their sacred space. They prepared a meal for us, and it was not lost on the men the sacred gesture of, in some ways, forgiveness that the women were doing for us, giving u

Status of Women committee  We're already doing the work, especially through the Bear Clan. We get alerts all the time. We also get families that just reach out to us because they know to do that, and then we mobilize and we search. To have a red dress alert—a command centre and people to help coordinate al

Status of Women committee  No one's funding us. We're all volunteers doing this work. What was the second question?

Status of Women committee  No. Any male-identifying human can come into our group. It's the indigenous men who are seeking this help, so it's mostly indigenous men in our groups, but we certainly welcome others. Can I quickly add something for about 20 seconds?

Status of Women committee  Just getting back to the 25% or 20% of harm that's coming from outside the community, some long-distance truck drivers, some taxi drivers, some men in construction and the northern “man camps” of Manitoba Hydro have perpetrated the violence against the women. I need to remind peo

Status of Women committee  Thank you. I am also cognizant that I don't want to take up too much air time on this panel in terms of being a male and taking up space. I am really looking forward to hearing from my other panellists as well. Just to quickly answer the question, in Winnipeg and in Manitoba, i

Status of Women committee  Can I respond to that?

Status of Women committee  In 1990, we created the Bear Clan Patrol. The number one reason we created that patrol as an alternative to the police was that it was obvious and visible that non-indigenous men—white men from the suburbs, affluent, in high-end vehicles with baby seats in their backseat—would co

Status of Women committee  Right now, it feels like we're kind of on our own. It's really grassroots. It's all done by volunteerism and networking. Families reach out to our community—the helping community that I belong to in the inner city of Winnipeg. People don't reach out to the police. They don't re

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Leah, for those kind words. It's all led by volunteers. We go out every night between May and October. It's mostly administered and organized by women. They do the hard physical work on the boat. Some of the men and boys come to help and provide support and take direc

Status of Women committee  We use a boat. We do land searches along the river, but we drag the river for two reasons, two messages. It's a message to those who are perpetrating this violence that we are out here, we are watching and we will not let you do this. The second message is to the families that we

Status of Women committee  I'd like to clarify something. The phenomenon of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls comes from two places. One is the trauma caused by the colonizer and the men learning to be abusive. That's one thing. As Chief Lorraine Augustine mentioned, there are non-indigenou

Status of Women committee  Yes. We also need to address the other 20% or 25% of people who come into indigenous communities to abuse, take, kill, rape and murder indigenous women and girls. That doesn't happen in any other communities.

Status of Women committee  My name is Mitch Bourbonniere, and I'm joining you from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where I live and work. I sit on the homeland of the Anishinabe, the Cree, the Oji-Cree, the Dakota, the Dene and the Red River Métis. I am involved with the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women