Vigil at Timmins Native Friendship Centre honours missing and murdered women

A 'Sisters in Spirit Vigil' was held at the Timmins Native Friendship Centre on Tuesday to honour the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two spirit and gender-diverse people.

A sacred fire and healing circle gave people a chance to come together to heal.

"My sister's been missing for the last three days," said Karen Moore of Timmins.

When Moore learned the vigil was happening, she said it was where she needed to be to share that she doesn't know how to find her sister.

She said she might be somewhere in Toronto and hopes to find her.

Officials with the Friendship Centre said it must be acknowledged that 'trap' houses exist in Timmins, where some women are drugged and sexually abused.

“This isn’t (just) something that’s happened, this is something that’s happening and it just looks a lot different and for people, this is very real," said Jaylin Renaud, a healing and wellness coordinator at the Timmins Native Friendship Centre.

In contrast to trap houses, Samantha St. Pierre said she operates a sober living house she calls 'Sam's Place' on Balsam Street in Timmins and she plans to open up two more: one on Fifth Avenue and one in South Porcupine.

"We get the people that nobody wants to rent to and we help them," said St. Pierre.

"Anybody that’s serious about getting clean and sober. Majority of our people right now are Indigenous. I’m Indigenous myself and we welcome anybody."

It's those kinds of community-based solutions that the Timmins Native Friendship Centre wants to hear about. Officials said meaningful change won't happen unless everyone works together.