To speak to the national initiative on Sisters in Spirit in October, one of my sisters was one of the coordinators of the event. She had written a song in honour of a woman who went missing and was murdered. She gave it to the family of Shirley Ann Duguay. She sang that song. Shirley Ann Duguay was non-aboriginal and went missing, later to be found. On the island here, we live with that memory.
I think the national appearance of us standing together as women can speak volumes to how we can promote the beauty of women within our society. The beauty of aboriginal women needs to come out, because we are women, but we are aboriginal women who have been discriminated against, mistreated, and looked at as lower members of society. Encouraging groups to be more inclusive of women will encourage the wider society to welcome and not discriminate, to not look at aboriginal women as lower society members.
We have beauty in our cultures, and there are some great things happening. Even with the Olympics, the aboriginal communities were in the grand entry at the opening, and that was a beautiful thing. That to me speaks loudly to the country.