In a solemn ceremonies Sunday night, police services in Timmins and Greater Sudbury joined eight other police services across Ontario in a multi-community event honouring and raising awareness Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).
It is all part of a campaign founded in Thunder Bay four years ago, called the Tree of Hope Project, where community members light a tree decorated with hundreds of red lights – symbolizing all of the known incidents of Indigenous women and girls along with two-spirited individuals lost to violence.
This was the second annual Tree of Hope ceremonies held in Timmins and Sudbury.
This year, Timmins Police Service moved the location of the tree from next to the Mattagami River to outside the police station on Spruce Street.Timmins Tree of Hope ceremony was moved to a more central city location near the police station in its second year paying homage to First Nation teachings. (Photo from video)Members of the local Indigenous community said it pays homage to the medicine wheel by placing the tree at the centre of the city, so that work to take action on MMIWG can spread outward.
Officials with Timmins police told CTV News the ceremony renews its commitment to raising awareness for MMIWG, supporting survivors and educating officers on best practices.
“We’ve done a fair bit more education with our officers. We’re including our officers in more events, so there is a community engagement with everyone,” said Brenda Beaven, the police service’s Indigenous liaison.
“So, it’s on our officers part, it’s on our community’s part, that we continue to work together and we are doing that in little stages. It is a work in progress, it was a long time coming to this point and it may take some time to get to the end result, but we do this all day by day.”
Among those in attendance at the tree lighting were Timmins Police Chief Daniel Foy, Nishnawbe Aski Police Board chair Mike Metatawabin along with representatives from local Indigenous organizations.
“It took us a year to get to this point. To understand that we can’t protect things, if we don’t start in the right way. And it’s the same as the women that we’re talking about, the children that we’re talking about,” said Mary Boyden, the chair of the Timmins Indigenous Advisory Committee.
“When we start in a good way, when we take stock of everything we have and all the gifts and all the abilities we have to take care of something. When we start in a good way, that’s where we’re going to make progress.”
In Sudbury, the celebration at Greater Sudbury Police Service Headquarters at the corner of Brady and Minto Streets was also well attended, as many members of the community at large braved the colder weather to show their support for the event.Hand drumming, speeches and payers were all part of the Tree of Hope ceremony in Greater Sudbury on Nov. 13/22. (Amanda Hicks/CTV News Northern Ontario)Greater Sudbury Police Chief Paul Pedersen acknowledged the harm police have done to Indigenous people in the past during his speech, adding “if we don’t change, it’s just words.”
“Eight police services across Ontario will do this. We are going to acknowledge our role as a police service in what has happened in the past and we’re striving as a police service do a lot better in our investigations.” said Const. Darryl Rivers, of the Greater Sudbury Police Service.
“So to bring awareness and bring the community together – the message is to bring awareness of the unfortunate reason why we’re here tonight.”
The event included a drum circle, hand drummers, prayers and a sacred fire – the fire contained cedar, sage and tobacco along with ashes from last year's fire as a symbol of the ongoing work in the community and connection to the past.
“My role is as a fire keeper. I’m the one that holds that prayer and that thought,” said Jason Nakogee of the Attawapiskat First Nation.
In Sudbury the tree is lit up in both red and orange. The orange star was built by students in the woodshop program at St. Charles College to represent the children in residential schools and the red lights around the tree represent the women, girls and two-spirited individuals.The Tree of Hope Sudbury was lit at 7 p.m. on Sunday marking a multi-community effort with eight other police services accross Ontario. (Amanda Hicks/CTV News Northern Ontario) “This is a chance of reflection and to build awareness. Just to spread awareness because Indigenous people had a voice that wasn’t being taken seriously, so we always try to do these ceremonies that were still here. We’re still here trying to build awareness and we have a voice,” said Nakogee.
Advocates in Sudbury told CTV News the main message of the event is to spread awareness in the community.
The lights in both communities will remain up for the entire holiday season.
Beyonce stands alone on her Grammy throne: With her fourth win Sunday night, she has become the most decorated artist in the show's history surpassing the 26-year-old record once held by the late Hungarian-British conductor Georg Solti.
Groups that advocate for seafarers are expressing concern for 11 sailors who are spending a harsh Quebec winter aboard three tugboats that have been detained for months in the port of Trois-Rivières.
Singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. became a first-time Grammy Award winner at the pre-broadcast ceremony where fellow Canadians Michael Buble and Drake also picked up trophies.
Charles Kimbrough, a Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-laced news anchor opposite Candice Bergen on “Murphy Brown,” died Jan. 11 in Culver City, California. He was 86.
Canadian researchers are drawing attention to the increasing prevalence of 'a pathological pursuit of muscularity' among Canadian boys and young men, with a new study that found one in four were at risk of developing what's known as muscle dysmorphia.
A Montreal woman is passing along her father's extensive collection of over 31,000 Expos baseball cards. April Whitzman's father, Steve Whitzman, collected the cards from 1969 to 2016. A huge Expos fan, he's got every player covered.
Canada has sent one of its military planes to Haiti to help the country cope with escalating violence. A joint statement today from National Defence Minister Anita Anand and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada has deployed a CP-140 Aurora aircraft to help 'disrupt the activities of gangs' in Haiti.
An investigation that lasted almost two years has resulted in moose hunting violation convictions for six people and a lodge in Red Lake in northwestern Ontario.
Toronto police have identified the victim of a fatal hit-and-run on the Danforth early Sunday morning, which police say is now being treated as a homicide.
Councillors in Toronto are set to consider keeping warming centres open 24-7 for the rest of the winter amid growing calls for homelessness to be declared a public health crisis in the city.
The debate on elected officials pledging allegiance to King Charles III will shift to a small town south of Ottawa this week, as Prescott town council discusses a motion on whether to abolish the requirement for newly elected members.
An armed robbery at Conestoga Mall, a hearing on a 2018 Kitchener house explosion, and a school cancelling Valentine's Day round out the most ready stories of the week.
London Lightning players looked a little different at their game Sunday, turning in their yellow jerseys for purple ones to bring awareness to the issue of male violence against women.
Windsor police say a vehicle convoy marking the one-year anniversary of the Ambassador Bridge blockade is expected to arrive in the city Sunday afternoon.
Montreal conductor and pianist Yannick Nézet-Séguin scored two Grammys for his classical works Sunday evening. Nézet-Séguin won best opera recording for "Blanchard: Fire Shut Up In My Bones," and best classical solo vocal album for "Voice Of Nature - The Anthropocene."
Groups that advocate for seafarers are expressing concern for 11 sailors who are spending a harsh Quebec winter aboard three tugboats that have been detained for months in the port of Trois-Rivières.
In the summer, a section of the St. Lawrence river in Montreal is a popular spot for surfers and kayakers. In the coldest days of winter, it's almost deserted -- except for brave body surfer Carlos Hebért-Plante.
After one of the coldest days in years for most of the Maritimes, temperatures were up significantly Sunday. Now, after the big chill came the big thaw -- and a flood of calls for local plumbers.
Cold weather alerts that blanketed eastern Canada for the past two days have largely lifted, but some Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers remain without power due to outages caused by the frigid temperatures and high winds.
New Brunswick RCMP has requested the Nova Scotia Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) conduct an inquiry after a man died during a police response Saturday.
Tucked away on a residential street in Langley, there's a blue cabinet filled with VHS tapes and DVDs bearing the once-familiar logo of Blockbuster video.
A masseur's appeal of three convictions for sexually assaulting female clients has been partially successful – with one of the guilty verdicts being set aside by B.C.'s Court of Appeal.
Timmins Tree of Hope ceremony was moved to a more central city location near the police station in its second year paying homage to First Nation teachings. (Photo from video)Members of the local Indigenous community said it pays homage to the medicine wheel by placing the tree at the centre of the city, so that work to take action on MMIWG can spread outward.
Hand drumming, speeches and payers were all part of the Tree of Hope ceremony in Greater Sudbury on Nov. 13/22. (Amanda Hicks/CTV News Northern Ontario)Greater Sudbury Police Chief Paul Pedersen acknowledged the harm police have done to Indigenous people in the past during his speech, adding “if we don’t change, it’s just words.”
The Tree of Hope Sudbury was lit at 7 p.m. on Sunday marking a multi-community effort with eight other police services accross Ontario. (Amanda Hicks/CTV News Northern Ontario) “This is a chance of reflection and to build awareness. Just to spread awareness because Indigenous people had a voice that wasn’t being taken seriously, so we always try to do these ceremonies that were still here. We’re still here trying to build awareness and we have a voice,” said Nakogee.
