'Smudge walk' through east-London neighbourhood honours murdered and missing relatives

Dozens of people wearing ribbon skirts and other traditional garments took over a London neighbourhood Friday to honour Indigenous people who have been murdered or have gone missing.

The "smudge march", which wound its way through Old East Village, was held in advance of February 14, one of the dates in Canada when Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIGW) are remembered.

"Although there is a heavy and somber tone to this day, there's a lot of uplifting work when we come together," Bradley Stone, originally from the Whitecap Dakota First Nation in Saskatchewan, said.

The tradition of marching started more than three decades ago in Vancouver when Cheryl Ann Joe, an Indigenous woman, was murdered. The Coast Salish woman was planning a career as a police officer when her mutilated body was found.

"It's kind of evolved to missing and murdered Indigenous relatives," Stone said. "We wanted to incorporate everybody, all our relatives that have passed on, and have been murdered or are still missing out there."

The London march began at 11 a.m. outside the Western Fair Market on Dundas Street, moving west before stopping for a round dance at the intersection of Dundas and Adelaide Streets. The group continued further before ending outside the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre (SOAHAC).

Some participants sang and played hand drums, or carried banners or signs, while a few walked with buckets of burning sage, considered to be a sacred medicine for many Indigenous groups, Sara Mai Chitty of the Alderville First Nation, said.

"The idea was to bring that good medicine, and that music, dancing and singing for our people, our ancestors," she explained. "They can hear it, they can feel it, and that is the significance of why it's important for us to gather this way."

Stone said he also hopes non-Indigenous people who took part in the march, or saw it, could get a better idea of what guides them and how they care for those that have passed on.

"The smell of the sage evokes the blood memory of who we are, the sound of the drum. These are spiritual songs that we sing that help guide us in this human work that we do," he said.

"I hope people can get a taste of who Indigenous people are, and that we're very deep, meaningful, caring, loving, kind, supportive, connected, and spiritual people."

In 2016, the federal government launched the National Inquiry into MMIWG. In the final report released in 2019, 231 calls to action were made.

In 2023, Statistics Canada released a report showing that between 2009 and 2021, the homicide rate among Indigenous women and girls was six times higher than their non-Indigenous counterparts

Besides February 14, other significant dates are also used to bring awareness to the topic across the country.