Sandy Banman packs her bag with neckties, traditional medicines, and a drum before meeting with her long-lost cousin.
The two cross Main and Higgins in Winnipeg, stopping just before the underpass ahead.
A match is lit, and they smudge before singing and drumming to honour missing and murdered Indigenous men and boys.
“Where I choose to hang the ties is entering the North End,” she said. “There’s a lot of murders happening to Indigenous men in that area.”
APTN Investigates identified more than 600 missing and murdered Indigenous men and boys in Canada since 1974.
A staggering number, each with its own story.
When the issue of murdered and missing Indigenous women first came to light, the Native Women’s Association of Canada released a study that found more than 500 missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
That number grew to 4,000 after the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls released its report.
Now, families of missing or murdered men are calling for another inquiry – Banman is one of them.
“I don’t understand why nobody seems to be putting this at a higher level of grave concern,” she said.
The Métis woman has advocated for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls for years, but she says Indigenous men are overlooked.
“It’s shocking to me, but maybe it’s because my son has passed away as a result of violence.”
FULL STORY: https://www.aptnnews.ca/investigates/at-least-600-indigenous-men-in-canada-have-been-murdered-or-missing-since-1974-investigation-shows/
