New street name added in Timmins to honour Indigenous mother’s memory
May 5 is National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit people.
To raise awareness about the significance of the day, a gathering of about 50 members of Fort Albany First Nation, Timmins officials and invited guests formed at the Vipond Road and Moneta Avenue intersection to honour the memory of Bernadette Sutherland.
Sutherland was the mother of 11 children who left an unhealthy domestic relationship in Fort Albany First Nation to find a better life for her and her children in Timmins.
But she was killed in 1986. It’s a harsh reality her children have endured, but now they seek closure.
“It brought so much, you know, so much trauma … we're still healing -- it's still ongoing,” said Virgina Sutherland, Bernadette’s daughter.
“In terms of closure, this is just the start of closure for myself anyway.”
The road naming is a gesture by the City of Timmins and officials said it will help highlight the history of missing and murdered Indigenous persons and spark more action to reduce the statistics.
“We need to gather and support and meeting face-to-face really goes a big step to that connection, to the storytelling and supporting each other because there are so many relations across this land and it's really, really beautiful to see this,” said Deputy Chief Terry Metatawbin of Fort Albany First Nation.
o Download our app to get local alerts on your device
o Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
“You know, it's a reminder … for all levels of government to support, you know, continue to fund these initiatives because it's a long journey to healing … and my hope is with this initiative, for more initiatives to come,” Sutherland added.
Officials estimate Canada has 4,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit persons.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
More seniors are using homeless shelters. Here's why, according to experts
One of the country’s homeless shelters has seen an uptick in the number of people through its doors, including more older adults over 50.
The death toll in Kharkiv attack rises to 14 as Zelenskyy warns of Russian troop movements
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Sunday that Russia is preparing to intensify its offensive along Ukraine's northern border, as the death toll rose to 14 in an aerial bomb attack on a large construction supplies store in the city of Kharkiv.
Norway hands over papers for diplomatic recognition to the Palestinian prime minister
Norway on Sunday handed over diplomatic papers to the Palestinian prime minister in the latest step toward recognizing a Palestinian state, a largely symbolic move that has infuriated Israel.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels freed over 100 war prisoners, the Red Cross says
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sunday released more than 100 war prisoners linked to the country’s long-running conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
Man or machine? Toronto company finds a way to determine how real audio clips are
The Toronto-based research arm of life sciences technology firm Klick Health has found a way to analyze voices in a manner that’s so granular, it can tell whether it's a person or an artificial intelligence-powered machine.
No sign Canada has a plan to reach NATO defence spending target: U.S. NATO ambassador
The U.S. ambassador to NATO says she has seen no indication that Canada has a plan to reach the NATO spending target of two per cent of GDP on defence.