Indigenous women and girls represent a disproportionately high percentage of homicide victims and those who go missing in Canada.
To help combat these issues and others highlighted in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) reports, Mandi Olson of the Binesiwag Centre for Wellness will deliver a presentation at tonight’s council meeting.
Binesiwag Centre for Wellness is contracted under Grand Council Treaty #3 to carry forward the MMIWG portfolio for the Nation and also offers mental health counselling, seasonal lands-based wellness as well as women’s retreats and gatherings.
On behalf of the families of missing or murdered indigenous women, Olson is requesting the following from the Town of Fort Frances:
- Education & Awareness- To become an ally with families by providing public service announcements, advertising and billboard displays
- Reconciliation- Taking part in and contributing to a committee focused on creating a Treaty Three Nation action strategy
- Commemoration- In response to the 231 calls to justice, provide a location for a commemorative display for our families
- Support- Provide a letter of support to the proposed “Ogimaakwe Ka-ki-no-Igenwin” (Women’s Wellness Lodge), a safe house designed to prevent human trafficking.
Also at tonight’s meeting, council is set to approve a bylaw that will phase out single-use plastic bags and other harmful single use products and packaging materials in Fort Frances.
The regular council meeting will follow the committee of the whole meeting, which gets underway at 5:30 p.m.
There are two in-camera items on tonight’s agenda.
Both items are personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees, with one pertaining to the Fort Frances Power Corporation Nominating Committee Report and the other regarding Appointments to the BIA board.
Other business on the agenda tonight includes:
- A letter from S. Gustafson re: purchasing a park bench in McIrvine Park in memory of Dennis (Archie) Livingstone;
- A letter from N. Donaldson re: her resignation from the Business Improvement Board;
- a bylaw to appoint Jamie Holliday as the Deputy Treasurer;
- a bylaw to approve a transfer payment agreement with Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario as represented by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for funding for the reconstruction of a portion of Colonization Road West; and
- a recommendation to award the tender for roadway reconstruction of Scott Street (Reid Ave to Colonization Road East) to Makkinga Contracting for a total tender price of $5,007,764.50 including HST and a total contingency allowance of $225,000.00.
