Photo: Crisis worker Jamie Batisse, keynote speaker Krystal Brooks, Rama First Nation Coun. Anne Harrigan and Rama Police Service community services co-ordinator Arlana Bickell stand near the Tree of Hope after it was lit as part of an emotional ceremony Wednesday night / Danielle Pitman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
By Danielle Pitman
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
OrilliaMatters.com
The community gathered Wednesday evening at the Rama First Nation police detachment for a sombre ceremony meant to shine a light on missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people (MMIWG2S).
The annual Tree of Hope event aims to bring people together to share a message of hope and resilience — hope for lost and missing loved ones, and resilience in the face of fear and oppression.
A sacred fire — positioned near the large tree to be lit with symbolic lights — kept people warm as they gathered and shared stories. People were welcomed to write the name of a loved one, which will be kept on the tree until the end of the year.
The ceremony opened with prayer and song led by Rama First Nation Elder Lorraine McRae.
“The message that we will be receiving here this evening will bring that light for us and that love and kindness and the healing and the strength that we need,” she said.
Rama Coun. Anne Harrigan spoke about finding hope to change the statistics.
“Violence against women is not inevitable; it is preventable. We stand here in recognition of violence rooted in colonialism, racism and hatred and prejudice against women,” she said.
Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse people are 12 times more likely to go missing or be murdered than non-Indigenous women in Canada, she noted.
“We continue to honour and remember those ones who never made it home,” said Harrigan.
She referenced the 2019 MMIWG2S national inquiry, calling the crisis a genocide. The calls for justice that have yet to be answered, she said, leave families waiting.
“What can we do to make a difference? We must demand accountability from government and law enforcement. We must educate ourselves and others about the historical and ongoing injustices faced by the Indigenous people,” she said.
“We must listen and support Indigenous women and girls and two-spirited people and families in their healing and well-being.”
She called for people to stand together, connecting people of all ages in an effort to make that difference, and she said she hopes for a future without violence.
Insp. Tom Batisse spoke about how everyone is impacted by the MMIWG2S crisis. He asked those gathered to also keep in their hearts Autumn Shaganash, a Barrie woman who has been missing since June 10, 2023.
“Barrie is just south of us here, and it’s so close to home,” he said. “I’d like you to think about that family as well and maybe offer some prayers in hopes that that family will get the answers that they’re looking for and that the police will be able to solve that case.”
Crisis worker Jamie Batisse noted Indigenous women are 16 times more likely to experience violence than non-Indigenous women.
“Seeing police services all across Ontario lighting trees to honour all those lives and stand in solidarity with the families and communities and nations that are directly and indirectly impacted by this ongoing genocide” gives her hope, she said.
Those gathered remained silent through the speeches. The only sounds were those made by nearby traffic.
The silence deepened when Krystal Brooks, a survivor of human trafficking, spoke.
She shared her story and for almost 20 minutes braved the cold as her finger traced the words on the pages fluttering in the wind, as she shared her own message of hope and resilience.
The setting Brooks described — a mother of two young boys about to be taken from her, living at a shelter — seemed hopeless. At the time, her image of police officers and those who tried to help her was jaded.
“I know it wasn’t just my heart that was breaking that night. Everyone in that room was struggling,” she said in hindsight, recalling a stack of emergency custody paperwork more than an inch thick.
The circumstances that deemed her an unfit mother, she explained, caused her to relapse. Brooks admitted she knew of no other way to numb the anguish she felt.
“I tried to leave this world, but the Creator wasn’t ready to welcome me back yet. The Rama Police Service welcomed me,” she said.
That is when Brooks managed to flip the script. Sitting in the Rama police detachment, she spoke with an officer.
“As unstable as I was, she still listened to me. As homeless and addicted as I looked, she still cared,” Brooks told the crowd.
She said she was able to change her narrative because of the strength of community.
An investigation was conducted into one of her human trafficking files, she said, leading to the arrest of a perpetrator.
She described a moment with the man who preyed on her vulnerability.
“He called me Pocahontas and laughed as he told me that I looked like I belonged in an igloo because I was wearing mukluks,” said Brooks.
Before Rama police helped her, she said she “only saw badges and guns” of officers — not “the human beings who wore them.”
“They taught me the importance of building bridges and relationships that are rooted in trust, respect, reciprocity and love.”
Hope, for Brooks, meant the loss of it. For a long time, what she knew was only false hope — until it changed and she could think about the people who brought a positive hope back to her life.
“Don’t lose hope for the ones you’re waiting for, too. Maybe next year it will be a different survivor who found their way back home instead of me,” she concluded.
The Tree of Hope was lit and those gathered silently placed their tobacco ties with prayers in their hearts into the sacred flames.
Originally meant to take place Nov. 16, the event was rescheduled after a threat was made to Rama police officers via social media. Because Rama police organized the Tree of Hope ceremony, it was determined cancellation was in everybody’s best interest.
It was an isolated event, said Arlana Bickell, Rama police community services co-ordinator. She confirmed the decision was made to protect the community even though no danger was implied to the Tree of Hope participants.
Batisse told OrilliaMatters one person related to the incident is in custody and under investigation through the courts.