Memorial Potluck Feast for MMIWGM2S
- Date
- February 12, 2025
- Time
- 5:00 PM EST - 7:00 PM EST
- Location
- POD-250, Podium building (380 Victoria Street)
- Open To
- Students, faculty, staff and community members
- Contact
- Cher Trudeau cktrudeau@torontomu.ca
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Bring a potluck dish (and your reusable containers) to share at the annual Memorial Feast to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, men and two-spirit people (MMIWGM2S). Gather in the spirit of learning and respect with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members.
Participants are encouraged to bring food or tobacco in memory of a loved one and come together in community to pray and feast.
This event is organized by Indigenous Initiatives in the Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion (OVPECI) and the Indigenous Education Council in the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic.
What to expect
Facilitator Amy Desjarlais will offer a smudge and guide participants through ceremony and the practice of feasting.
Attendees will have the opportunity to bring tobacco and/or a food item to partake in the feast honouring missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, men and two-spirit people.
Attendees are also welcome to bring their own bundles and potluck dish to contribute to the feast.
As we hope to reduce our impact on the environment, we encourage attendees to bring their own reusable containers and/or bowls as well as cutlery. However, we will have plates and cutlery to accommodate everyone!
We request that all participants respect the following guidelines:
- Absolutely no drugs or alcohol permitted while in attendance.
- Family members of MMIWGM2S may be present.
- All visitors please refrain from touching the Elders’ and helpers’ sacred bundle items, drums, feathers, unless asked to do so. etc.
- No interviews, photography or video recording will be permitted given the nature of the event. We thank you for respecting the families, friends and community members of missing and murdered loved ones.
Registration is required.
About Amy Desjarlais Waabishka Kakaki Zhaawshko Shkeezhgokwe (White Raven Woman with Turquoise Eyes)
Amy currently works at Toronto Metropolitan University as the Lead, Rebirthed Teachings, in the Indigenous Initiatives unit of the OVPECI. Rebirthed Teachings is a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff working together to educate about our shared history together.
Amy is an instructor for Anishnawbe Health Toronto’s Community Health Worker Training Program. Her community work includes sitting as an executive board member at the Centre for World Indigenous Studies, and a general board member for Community Music Schools of Toronto. She is a member of Spiritwind singers with performances all over Tkaronto as a group and individual hand drummer.
What is a Memorial Feast?
The Anishinaabek believe that after the body returns to the ground, the human spirit lives on and does work in the spirit realm. Thus, the spirit expends energy and receives nourishment through feast foods.
Traditional feast foods include game meats or fish, wild rice, corn, beans, squash and berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries). If the feast is a Memorial Feast for a loved one, it may include some of their favourite foods prepared by their family.
MMIWGM2S stands for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, men and two-spirit people. The families of missing and murdered Indigenous women have been raising awareness for decades.
In 2023, Statistics Canada released a report showing that Indigenous women and girls were six times more likely to be murdered than other groups of people in Canada. Between 2009 and 2021, Indigenous women and girls made up 2% and 3% of the Canadian population, yet represented 5% and 7% of homicide victims. Learn more.
In 2004, the Native Women’s Association of Canada launched the Sisters In Spirit campaign to address violence against Indigenous women and girls, creating a database of these disappearances for greater coordination and communication across communities.
Through this program, Indigenous communities and allies collectively called for a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which took place from 2016 to 2019.
Responding to calls for justice directed at educators
In 2019, the National Inquiry’s final report, Reclaiming Power and Place, (external link) was published, which included 231 calls for justice for governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians. These calls, which are “legal imperatives,” can help everyone work to end the genocide of Indigenous Persons and the social systems and values that have maintained colonial violence.
At TMU, we are raising awareness about Red Dress Day and MMIWG2S in response to the calls for justice directed at educators (11.1 and 11.2).
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Call to justice 11.1
All educational institutions and authorities should educate and raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA persons and the historical and social contexts for those experiences. All curriculum and program development must be done in partnership with Indigenous Peoples and include, but not be limited to, education on the histories, laws, practices and perspectives of Indigenous Persons.
Call to justice 11.2
All educational service providers should “develop and implement awareness and education programs for Indigenous children and youth on the issue of grooming for exploitation and sexual exploitation.”
This event is wheelchair accessible
The university is committed to the accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities. If you require any additional accessibility accommodations to ensure your full participation, please email Cher Trudeau, Administrative Coordinator, Indigenous Education Council and Indigenous Initiatives, at cktrudeau@torontomu.ca.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please email Cher Trudeau, Administrative Coordinator, Indigenous Education Council and Indigenous Initiatives, at cktrudeau@torontomu.ca.
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Support is available
Participating in conversations about sexual violence and gender-based violence may bring up difficult feelings. Please reach out if you need support:
- Students can access services through Consent Comes First, the Centre for Student Development and Counselling and/or the Centre for Safer Sex and Sexual Violence Support (external link) .
- Faculty and staff can connect with Workplace Wellbeing Services or access the employee assistance program for resources and counselling.
- External supports include Good2Talk (external link) , the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre (external link) , LGBT Youth Line (external link) , Trans Lifeline (external link) and Support Service for Male Survivors of Sexual Assault (external link) .
TMU community members (students, faculty and staff) who would like report an incident of sexual violence or learn about the options available are encouraged to contact Human Rights Services at humanrights@torontomu.ca or 416-979-5349.