Gimoojigaazowag Nishiwegaazowag Anishinaabeg Ikwewag Ikwezensag miinawa Niizhojichaagwan Ezhichigewin
Background
Our MMIWG2S Program was officially launched in August 2019. The MMIWG2S abbreviation stands for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People. We launched this program through our Great Lakes billboard campaign which was launched in August 2019. We work in collaboration with regional community partners like Native Lives Matter Coalition (Superior, WI) and Waking Women Healing Institute (Gresham, WI) on this critical work. Since the launch, we have successfully run the awareness billboard in 12 locations and a total of 27 times from August 2019 to the present. Some of these locations were repeats in communities such as Grand Rapids or Manistee, Michigan. These locations include Manistee, MI (Little River Band of Ottawa Indians), Rudyard, MI (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), Baraga, MI (Keweenaw Bay Indian Community), Petoskey, MI (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians), Rapid River, MI (Hannahville and Sault Tribes), Grand Rapids, MI, Ludington, MI, Grand Haven, MI, Mackinaw City, MI, Green Bay, WI, Appleton, WI, Superior, WI, and Duluth, MN.
This program addresses this ongoing violence and continued genocide that affects Native women, girls, and Two-Spirits across the US and Canada. In May 2019, a 1,200 page report from Canada was released on the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). It includes over 230 recommendations and concluded that the murder and disappearance of Indigenous women and girls is an ongoing genocide. The NJC is starting with this first step to create awareness in our communities. We will continue to grow this work through community forums and other community based action in the Great Lakes.
Healing Around the Lakes
We hosted our inaugural Healing Around the Lakes – MMIWG2S Justice, Action & Advocacy, held in Rapid River, MI, in June 2021. We had 80 attendees throughout the day and a total of 7 amazing speakers. We had vendors, crafts, and a community walk that went to the MMIW awareness billboard located on US-2 in Rapid River.
