Family of slain N.S. woman sculpts memorial for missing and murdered Indigenous women
The sculpture depicts three women, all wearing red, seated with crossed legs and open palms
Three generations of women who live on Nova Scotia's Indian Brook First Nation used the community's annual snow sculpting contest to start a discussion around missing and murdered Indigenous women from across Canada.
While some other sculptures carved out icy cupcakes or cartoon characters, Mirya Obomsawin and her mother spent some nine hours this weekend carefully shaping mounds of snow into three women, seated on the ground and facing each other with crossed legs and open palms.
Obomsawin's grandmother, whose own sister was murdered more than 40 years ago, came up with the idea to use the sculpture as a memorial.
Facing each other, the snow women have no discernible features — details that Obomsawin said were left out of the final product on purpose.
'It could be anybody'
"The white and faceless heads was to basically represent that it could be anybody — any one of us — that could go missing one day and never be found," Obomsawin said Monday, which was Mi'kmaq Heritage Day in Nova Scotia.
"And that's the sad part of it, is that there's barely any inquiry made into women that have gone missing that are Aboriginal."
The sculptures, each about a metre high, are dyed red in homage to the REDress Project, a national art project dedicated to missing and murdered Indigenous women.
This art piece is more than a discussion piece for the family, it's a memorial.
Sister murdered
Anna Mae Pictou Aquash was a sister of Obomsawin's grandmother, Becky Julian.
Pictou Aquash went missing after travelling to the United States to take part in the American Indian Movement, a civil rights advocacy group. The Indian Brook woman's body was found in South Dakota in 1975. It was determined she had been killed by a gunshot to the head.
Julian said she got the idea for the snow sculpture from a ceramic candle holder she's had for years that serves as a reminder of her and her two sisters.
She said it's important not to forget.
"A lot of times ... seems to me when the funerals are over, that's it," she said.
Outpouring of support
Within a day of posting photos of the sculptures on Facebook, Obomsawin said she received an outpouring of support.
"It was amazing," she said.
"I just posted a picture, just for the people around here to see what I did, and I'm getting close to 1,000 shares on Facebook, which I couldn't believe, and people commenting all over the place."
The sculptures didn't win the community competition, but the family said they achieved what they set out to do — start a discussion.
A national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is expected to hear testimony from families of victims this spring.
The independent inquiry led by five commissioners has been tasked with making recommendations about how to prevent violence against Indigenous women.