Krista’s Kilometres, a cross-Canada walk raising awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited individuals made its way through Saskatoon on Friday.
The trek is organized by Indigenous grandmother Krista Fox whose grandson was murdered in 2020.
Joining Fox on the walk have been Diane Morin, the mother of Ashley Morin who has been missing since 2018, and Lindsey Bishop, the sister of Megan Gallagher who has been missing since 2020.
The three women were joined by several people on the outskirts of the city Friday morning before the entire group made their way to the city’s downtown core.
Krista Fox thanked those who joined in on the walk.
“You don’t know how much this means to us,” she said while addressing the crowd.
At an accompanying event at the Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship centre Krista Fox again thanked everyone for supporting the cause. Fox then became emotional while reading a long list of names of missing Indigenous women and girls. The names included Megan Gallagher, McKenzie Trottier, Ashley Morin, and Happy Charles.
“That is only a small list of names of people who have left us,” said Fox. “This is why we do what we do, so we can help end this genocide and our next generation doesn’t need to be gathering like this and hurting like this.”
Fox believes there is a societal change in understanding the issue of MMIWG2S. She pointed to the cities of Lloydminster and North Battleford being very open to the awareness walk. Two locations she feels have not been as open to these causes in the past.
“Change is coming,” she said.
For Saskatchewan’s Lindsey Bishop the walk has been a “roller-coaster of emotions.”
“The amount of people affected by missing and murdered Indigenous people is staggering, and their stories are heartbreaking,” said Bishop. “On the other side of that though, you see the strength and resilience of our people to continue to fight for their voices to be heard.”
Krista’s Kilometres began in Vancouver on February 18 and plans to make it all the way to Newfoundland raising awareness of their cause along the way.
Their stop in Saskatoon will feature several events; Saskatoon mayor Charlie Clark is set to raise a red dress at city hall and a public event to acknowledge the birthday of Megan Gallagher will take place on Saturday.
The three women will then continue their cross-country journey on Tuesday.
(PHOTO: Krista’s Kilometres cross-country walk makes its way through Saskatoon. Photo by Joel Willick.)