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By Wally Desjarlais of CFWE-FM
Windspeaker.com Contributor
The Spirit of Our Sisters Gathering is scheduled to start Nov. 27 with a pipe ceremony and will run to Nov. 29 at River Cree Resort in Edmonton.
Originally started in 2015, the gathering’s focus this year is not so much on murdered and missing women, though that remains an extremely important issue to organizers, but women’s empowerment and healing through Indigenous customs, traditions and ceremony. It is, in fact, titled Empowering Our Sisters Through Healing.
Participants can expect a lot of workshops that deal with healing, education and Elder teachings, including the roles of men and women. And on the Tuesday evening, there will be a film showcase and a mini-round dance.
“Women are our strength," said founder Karen McCarthy, adding they want to encourage grassroots women to come.
She said, often when these types of conferences or gatherings are held, people that get to attend are band and government staff, so a specific effort has been made to invite grassroots women who need the kind of information Spirit of Our Sisters is offering, but who don’t always get a chance to attend these kinds of events.
McCarthy is hoping that over the three days of activities the women will be inspired by the great things that other women are doing, like keynote speaker Georgina Lightning, an award-winning television and film actor.
Hilda Anderson-Pyrz is another keynote. She is an advocate for work on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Manitoba, lending her voice to end violence against Indigenous women and girls and educating the public on the collective responsibility of ending the national tragedy.
For more information, visit the website at http://www.sosgathering.ca/ . They are still taking registrations.
Email is mailto:admin@sosgathering.ca