March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women will take place in Merritt today

MERRITT — There will be a Women’s Memorial Watch to honour “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirted people” today in Merritt.

The gathering will commence around noon and the walk will start around 12:15 p.m. (Wednesday, February 14, 2024.)

The meeting point is at Rotary Park and the march will go through Voght Street, Nicola Ave, Charters Street, and Coutlee Ave.

Everyone will head back to Voght Street then back to Rotary Park.

There will be Ribbon skirts and shirts, red shirts, drums and signs are welcome.

The march is supposed to bring light to the never ending string of missing Indigenous women that has plagued British Columbia and Canada for decades.

One such constant has been the “Highway of Tears” a 700 kilometres stretch of Highway 16 from Prince George to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, which has been the site of the murder and disappearance of a number of mainly Indigenous women since 1969.

Approximately 40 missing reports have occured there with around 13 involving teenagers.

The National Crime Information Center reported 5,712 missing Indigenous women and girls in 2016.