The Prince Albert Grand Council’s Women’s Commission will soon be set to install a monument along the banks of the Prince Albert River as a place for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls to come and honour and pray.
The idea for the monument spawned from the group conducting yearly memorial walks. “So, we came up with the idea of having a monument with a statue of a woman on the monument, and a place where families can go and say their prayers, and in remembrance of the missing or murdered woman that has gone it’s been taken from the family,” explained PAGC Women’s Commission chair Shirley Henderson.
“It’s going to represent a woman and a child and a grandmother. So, when a woman disappears it affects their children, and the mother or grandmother so we wanted representative of all the family.” At a recent sod-turning event, a painted rectangle marked where the monument will stand. “Whenever anybody wants to stop by the monument, there can be a place to sit and say their prayers. It’s kind of a peaceful area overlooks the water,” said Henderson.
The monument was designed by an artist in Regina and is being constructed in Moose Jaw. Henderson said the COVID-19 pandemic caused a delay, as some materials needed for the build were held up in the United States.
She explained that community buy-in was exceptional. “So far, we’ve had very good feedback. City Council passed it unanimously with without any question. The mayor tells us, it was fast within five minutes. So, we have the support of our mayor and our council members in Prince Albert,” Henderson said.
“Hopefully, it’ll maybe bring back some triggers to people where if someone has gone missing that, they may remember seeing them or, may remember who they were last with and hopefully bring some closure to the families. Our big concern is that women are disappearing without a trace. And that should never happen.”
The statue should be ready to be unveiled in May.