Marlene Bird honoured by close friend at round dance in Prince Albert
Patrick Lavallee, who was almost always by Bird's side, helped coordinate and participated in ceremony
Residents of Prince Albert and the surrounding area turned out in force to support a woman who passed away last year.
Marlene Bird was assaulted, set on fire and left for dead in a Prince Albert parking lot in 2014.
Her case went to court where she fought to have the details of what happened to her published.
In 2017, Leslie Ivan Black was sentenced to 16 years in prison for what he did to Bird. Bird passed away from organ failure at age 50, just months after Black was sentenced.
Round dances were held in her honour across the country in the days after her passing but the family of Patrick Lavallee, a friend who could almost always be found at Bird's side, hosted their own in her honour on Nov. 30.
"[Patrick] has been grieving a lot and he's staying sober, and we told him in the past, this is what our ancestors did to heal," Linda Lavallee, Patrick's sister and a sponsor of the dance said. "He said, 'well, I'd like to do that.'"
Patrick was asked to carry a picture of Bird during a ceremony at the dance, which according to Linda, was a little hard on him.
"It brought back a lot of memories," she said. "But after the whole ceremony and round dance was over, we talked to him after and he said it was one of the best things that he could have done, it was like the first step of healing."
Linda said Friday's round dance is the first of four the family will be doing in Bird's honour.
Honouring Bird's memory through craft
Patrick Lavallee has been learning to sew over the last year, his sister said.
He prepared 50 tote bags to sell at the round dance and the proceeds were given to the singers who turned out.
Linda noted Patrick has taken to the hobby quite eagerly.
"Now he's just like, 'well can I have a sewing machine?' well, he's got to learn to change the needle first," Linda said with a laugh. "He's never been afraid to try anything, and sewing, he said he wanted to do that because Marlene wanted to learn to sew, so he wanted to sew in her memory."