Until They Are All Home

October 4th is recognized as Sisters in Spirit to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit folks while also fighting to end colonialist violence.

Ricky Mawunganidze shared these words at the Sisters in Spirit Riverwalk in Dawson.

Drin hǫzǫ, shǫzrèʼ Ricky Mawunganidze, ts’ok khä̀dhë̀zha diche.

I acknowledge our Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in elders, our leaders, aunties, uncles and cousins. We stand together with you, we give ourselves to you, we strengthen your voice, your struggle is our struggle, your sadness is our sadness and tomorrow, your joy will be our joy.

Allow me to share an excerpt from a poem by Anna Marie Sewell, she is a Miqmaq, Anishinaabe, Polish poet out of Fredericton:

in the dark, in the bitter wind listen to a dream
grandmothers stand shoulder to shoulder,
on the rim of a hill
bend as one, and grasp one thing together
ask them, in the dream world,
why do they cry?
they will show you in reply their shawls of many colours,
spread these wings
sweep you in, teach you how once a year,
in the dark of the year we wash the whole world in a day—for one day, we cry
until they're home, until they all are home
from one dawn to the next mourning
for the broken wailing for regrets
love lost, wrong words, wrong actions
unbalanced moments and all the cracks between heart
and heart, parent and child
lover and beloved friend, nation and nation
creature, and creature of another kind
for what we choose and what we neglect to choose
for what we wish we'd known
for each hand unclasped tongue unbridled
one whisper falling short of heard
until they're home, until they are all home

In Shona we have a proverb, mbudzi kudya mufenje hufananyina; if a goat eats a cabbage tree, it is imitating its own kind. Which means that the traits and behaviors that we allow to grow and show in ourselves is what we model for our peers and our children.

In consideration of our behaviors, we cannot simply look to one day to think about or to talk about missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and two spirit folks. Until they are all home, we must think of them, we must whisper to them in our quiet moments the promise of enduring hope and we must raise our children to do the same. As non-indigenous people we have a great responsibility to be meaningfully and deliberately involved, through our hearts and our actions, to speak the love language of solidarity, the love language of humanity. As long as we fail to speak the love language of humanity, when an indigenous woman is reported missing it will continue to be a finality...it should never be.

As long as us, non-Indigenous people, remain quite about the ongoing violence that indigenous women, girls and two spirit folks experience, overwhelmingly at the hands of non-indigenous people; then we share responsibility for our community’s pain.

As long as us men and boys fail to respect Indigenous women and girls, not because we have mothers, sisters or daughters but as human beings deserving of respect; then we share responsibility for our community’s pain.

Today and every day there are people struggling for justice and it is too easy to be overwhelmed when trying to find our place to speak truth to power. Being here today is about finding our place. It is about cleansing ourselves and rejuvenating our hearts, minds and souls for the work that is ahead. Take a moment to think about what you can do to make a difference. This is important, we cannot and must not allow generations upon generations of indigenous women to continue to be brutalized and stolen by agents of a failed colonial system that continues to exist.

I encourage all of us to find our place of power, to not allow this to be conversation we have once a year, to break the cycle of violence by checking how we interact with, talk about, and how we treat indigenous women, girls and two spirit folks, because then we model the right expectations for our peers, our children and for generations to come.

Until they are home.

There is no action that is too small.

Until they’re all home.

Ricky Mawunganidze is a treasured Dawsonite and roasts delightfully delicious brews with Black Spruce Coffee.

Sisters in Spirit in Dawson is organized by Dawson Women's Shelter, Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Youth Centre, and Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Wellness Centre.

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