Delaine Lambert-English at City Hall holding a photo of what the site could possibly look like

By Justin Dionne

Commemorative Site MMIW

Commemorative site for missing and murdered Indigenous women being planned

Mar 30, 2019 | 7:00 AM

A project is currently in the works that would see a piece of land close to GPRC become a commemorative site for missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Representative for the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre Delaine Lambert-English explains the Centre is in the process of applying for funding that would make the commemorative site a reality.

“There’s a plot of funding from the National Association of Friendship Centres and Status of Women to build a commemoration project for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls,” says Lambert-English. “The Grande Prairie Friendship Centre plans to apply for that funding. We started off with a community talking circle, where we consulted with family members of MMIW, as well as community members and advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women, and we got ideas flowing from that talking circle. Right now, we’re in the stages of writing the proposal.”

The grant funding is worth $50,000.

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Lambert-English notes the meetings resulted in the idea for a place specifically for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls to go to help with their healing process.

“What came out of that consultation meeting was a place for people to go to be at peace, to remember, to visit with each other.”

She says the current timeline would have work on the project begin in the summer, and wrap up on October 4, the National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

GPRC has provided a spot for the site, including a monument stone.

“The information that we got from the community talking circle was that they wanted trees, they wanted it to be near the water, they wanted that stone and that gathering place. The spot that the Grande Prairie Regional College had for us was perfect. It encompassed all of that.”

A couple of ideas for how the site will look are being considered which includes a place where visitors can place candles and tie offerings to trees.

Lambert-English reiterates that as the Friendship Centre was in the process of writing the proposal as of Monday, nothing will be made official until the grant is presented.