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, girls and two-spirit people. I have volunteered for several years for a group called Drag the Red. We search the Red River in Winnipeg for evidence of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. It is heavy work. It is emotional work. I regularly help women leaders in Winnipeg in doing land searches and in helping with vigils and other events involved with this issue. I organize and participate in seven different community walks per week, where we patrol the neighbourhoods of the inner city of Winnipeg.
I'm also involved in the issue of missing and murdered indigenous men and boys. This Father's Day will mark our seventh annual walk and honouring day for missing and murdered indigenous men and boys in Winnipeg. I run two mens' programs—one in Winnipeg, and one in Fox Lake Cree Nation. These programs are meant to help heal men and to rid our nations of toxic masculinity, and to honour women and girls as life-givers and matriarchs. I have been invited to other first nation communities to advise local men on starting their own groups.
Me and some of the men I work with are often called upon by women in the community who need protection and safety as they pack up their children and belongings to leave an abusive situation. We will sit on each side of that man as he watches his family pack up to leave. We will turn to him and say, “If you truly want to work at ever getting your family back, you need to come with us and do the hard work that it's going to take to heal yourself and rid yourself of the toxicity that was programmed into you growing up.” Lots of our men were little boys who watched their mothers get terrorized. They felt helpless to protect their mothers, yet it became so normal growing up that they fell into the same behaviour as young men and men. We tap into the little boy who was horrified by the violence.
In terms of the search for missing indigenous women and girls, we consistently network with various community groups in Winnipeg, especially when particularly urgent situations of missing indigenous women arise. The groups I regularly consult with include the Bear Clan, CommUNITY204, the Sabe Peace Walkers, Anishiative and the Downtown Community Safety Partnership.
In terms of the red dress alert, I am so thankful that there are those working to make this a reality. I hope and expect that the families of those who have lost or are missing an indigenous woman or girl will be involved and consulted with. I would also love to see a local and national command centre, with dedicated full-time paid staff around the clock, where community helpers like us can communicate with experts around this issue on an ongoing basis.