Sask. women walking cross-country for missing and murdered reach Saskatoon

A special cross-Canada walk to support Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls made a stop in Saskatoon on Friday.

Saskatchewan women Lindsay Bishop and Krista Fox decided to walk to help raise awareness for missing Indigenous women and are desperate to see future change. The two began their walk in February.

Bishop’s sister, Megan Gallagher, has been missing since September 2020. Krista Fox’s niece, Ashley Morin, was last seen in 2018 in North Battleford.

Chief Aly Bear spoke at the Saskatoon Indian and Metis Friendship Centre, praising the two women for their tremendous courage.

“This is such an amazing, brave journey that they’re on for everybody, for all of our women and our sisters that are missing and have been murdered,” Bird said.

Bear says there are not enough people that are aware of this serious issue, from her point of view.

“I still have people that are coming up to me who are non-Indigenous asking, ‘What is MMIW?’ They don’t even know,” she shared.

“It might be something that we’re aware of and that it’s our home and our communities. It’s something we have to deal with but a lot of other people — they might not see it.”

A crowd joined Bishop and Fox as Saskatoon Police escorted them to Saskatoon off of Highway 16 near the “Saskatoon Shines” sign and into the downtown area off of Idylwyld Drive.

A celebration is being held on Saturday at Kinsmen Park in Saskatoon as the Gallagher family is celebrating Megan’s birthday.

As well, Mayor Charlie Clark will be hanging a red dress in his office.

Bear says she plans to continue to hold conversations with different people about creating more awareness about these missing women.

“I will do what I can to be there and to be on these phone calls, to talk to police, to talk to these ministers and talk to the federal government and let them know that this is not okay and it cannot be normalized any longer,” Bear said.

As for Bishop and Fox, they plan on picking up on their walk Tuesday as they make their way south towards Regina along Highway 16.

The walk began in Victoria, B.C. and will end in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The whole journey is expected to take about a year.