Margaret Bird, from the Lac La Rouge Indian Band in northern Saskatchewan is on a journey to honour who disappeared in 2017. Happy Charles was an artist and is one of thousands missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Margaret was only 24 years old when her mother went missing.
A new project, Pima’tisowin e’ mimtotaman (We Dance For Life) will use art to share these stories and honour the lives of those we have lost. This summer more than 180 families from Ontario, Quebec and Western Canada will work collaboratively with artists to create pieces of commemorative art. Organizers are hoping to bring families together; however, should COVID restrictions still be in place, smaller or virtual gatherings will be organized instead.
Bird told the CBC that “this initiative is important to me because my mom was an artist. It represents her views on moving past hardship with kindness and forgiveness’.
