MMIWG families retie red ribbons province removed from Selkirk bridge

A Selkirk woman upset by the removal of red ribbons from two bridges in Selkirk, Man., put them back up Monday afternoon.

Jeannie Red Eagle said the ribbons were originally tied to the Selkirk Bridge and a bridge on Highway 4 commonly referred to as the bridge to nowhere on May 5 to commemorate missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

The province took them down on May 9, after a complaint was made.

"Someone along the bureaucratic chain took that as a reason to dictate the removal," Red Eagle said.

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Red Eagle contacted Selkirk MLA Alan Lagimodiere who told her there are no bylaws that would call for the removal of the ribbons.

He looked into the matter further and discovered they had been removed because of a complaint, but advised Red Eagle she could put them back up if she wanted to.

"He felt that that didn't warrant the future removal of any ribbons that we would want to tie on any bridges across the province, so he said just go ahead, since now they are officially aware of the meaning and the significance of the red ribbons to the Aboriginal people and to the MMIW chief families," said Red Eagle.

On Monday, Red Eagle tied three dozen red ribbons to the Highway 4 bridge.

"These ones, the ones that were taken down by the province, had the names of the missing and murdered. They had the names and the dates and I was given permission to write those names and dates by family members, so specifically those were personal, so we want to give the commemoration back and to speak for the families," said Red Eagle.

Wants to join national inquiry

Red Eagle believes her mother should be part of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Mary Alvina St. Cyr Whitebird, who died in 1972, to date has not been included. 

"She predates the inquiry, the date of the inquiry, but it doesn't matter; her life was significant and I want to commemorate that," Red Eagle said. "I have not been contacted back by the national inquiry, however, I have made a few phone calls."

Red Eagle didn't want to discuss the details of her mother's death but said tying red ribbons to the bridge will help in her healing process.

"So in a way, this is me taking control of the narrative of my form of healing that I need to do," said Red Eagle.

"I'm gathering other family members and we are helping heal one another and in doing that, it's also created awareness in the community of their own missing and murdered non-aboriginal members. So by extending this awareness, these things that we're doing, to the non-Aboriginal community, we're helping heal ourselves and our community."

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