By Bromley Chamberlain
Rimbey’s Amnesty International held a vigil to help stop discrimination against aboriginal women in Canada and around the world.
Florence Stemo was disappointed with the turnout, but understands that people are busy with the election.
During the vigil the participants read their flags, which had the name, age and location of an aboriginal woman who is missing or deceased. After all the flags had been read aloud, they were burned in the fire to help send our help to those in need.
“Let the lit candles remind us of the named women and the unnamed one. Let it remind us that we are their ‘sisters in spirit,” a lady in the circle read out loud.
Sisters in spirit started with a vision. Bridget Tolley worried that people were forgetting her mother was killed in Quebec in 2001. She asked that a vigil be held in her memory on the steps of Parliament Hill. The vigil was not only to honor her mother, but the 500 missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls nationwide. The first Sisters in Spirit initiative was held in 2005 but this is its second year in Rimbey.