Fort Qu'Appelle high school students hold smudge walk to honour MMIWG
On Monday, students from Bert Fox Community High School led a smudge walk through Fort Qu’Appelle to bring awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
For the second year in a row, the school and community partners came together to honour the issue by having the walk.
Roughly 300 people took part in the two kilometre walk, eventually concluding at the Treaty Four Governance Centre.
Julie Stiglitz, the principal of Bert Fox Community School, said the topic is important to the student body and it is appropriate for the school to spend time exploring it.
“Our students today just aren’t students at Bert Fox, they are a part of a bigger community and I think that’s really important,” she said.
The chambers of the governance centre was used as both a stage for young singers and dancers to share their talents, as well as a classroom for elders to share their thoughts with the youth.
Karen Chicoose was in the audience and has a personal connection to the cause.
In 2022, her own niece went missing and was found dead a day later. The cases for the people charged in her death are still before the courts.
Chicoose said seeing the support of the community on such an important issue is moving.
“It’s really heartwarming to see all these people around us. We’ve all been affected by someone or something. I’m blessed I can be here and walk with these people,” she said.
Safety was also another major discussion topic. Many of the speakers focused on the importance of being careful whether youth are out late at night or playing video games online.
“If they give out information and go on those chat lines, or connect with someone on technology today, that there are safety issues they need to be aware of,” Bec Poitras, the director of Restorative Justice at File Hiles Qu’Appelle Tribal Council, said.
Organizers said they are pleased with the feedback from students and feel the walk has had a positive impact.
Bert Fox Community High School said they plan to continue the walk for another two years.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
ANALYSIS Will Donald Trump go to prison? What the precedent says
Now that the jury in Donald Trump's criminal trial has made the historic decision to convict him, the judge overseeing the case will soon face a monumental choice: whether to sentence the 2024 Republican presidential candidate to time behind bars.
A pair enjoyed pricey meals and bolted when it was time to pay. Their dine and dash ended in jail
A Welsh couple who dined out on pricey meals and bolted when the bill came is now paying the price, behind bars.
The northern lights are returning to night skies across Canada this Friday
If you missed the brilliant displays of the aurora borealis over North America on May 10, you may have another chance to see them on Friday night.
Montreal tech billionaire charged with several sex offences
Robert Miller was charged Thursday with several sexual assault charges after Montreal police reopened an investigation into the tech billionaire.
Can Trump come to Canada now that he's a convicted felon?
A Canadian immigration lawyer says now that Donald Trump is a convicted felon, he is technically barred from crossing the border into Canada.
Liberal government's own polling said Canadians worried about drug decriminalization
Months before British Columbia sought to scale back its drug decriminalization pilot project, the federal government's own polling suggested to officials that a majority of Canadians believed the policy would lead to an increase in overdoses.
Loblaw testing out small-format No Frills grocery stores
Loblaw is testing smaller-format discount stores across the country this year as shoppers increasingly look for ways to save on their grocery bill.
Doomsday plot: Jury convicts Idaho man of killing wife and girlfriend's 2 children
An Idaho man was convicted Thursday of killing his wife and his new girlfriend's two youngest kids in a strange triple murder case that included claims of apocalyptic prophesies, zombie children and illicit affairs.
'Why didn't they stop?' Mom asks of driver in hit-and-run crash that killed son
The mother of a 13-year-old boy who was killed in a hit-and-run in Edmonton is begging the driver to come forward.