Deanna Wertz, Caitlin Potts, Ashley Simpson and Nicole Bell — they may be missing, but they are not forgotten.
To remember all murdered and missing women, the Splatsin Nation and MMIW Drone Search Team are hosting a Red Dress Walk beginning in downtown Enderby Thursday, Oct. 4.
“Please share the word, hang red dresses in your yard and join Splatsin and the MMIW Drone Search Team on this walk and ceremony to remember all the murdered and missing women,” said Wendy Mohr, vice president of the search team.
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The women the ceremony seeks to remember – Potts, Simpson, Wertz, Bell and Traci Genereaux, whose remains were found on a Salmon River Road farm in Silver Creek in October 2017 – were all reported missing from the area in 2016 and 2017.
“We will search until the women are found,” Mohr said in a past interview with The Morning Star. “They deserve our support. These women have family. Their lives matter.”
Speakers for the event, which begins at 11 a.m. on the east side of the Len Bawtree Bridge, include the Neskonlith Indian Band Chief and Jody Leon of the Drone Search Team. Lunch will be served at the Community Centre following the speakers.
The Red Dress Campaign is a nation-wide initiative that seeks to inform the public about Canada’s high number of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. As part of the campaign, people within the community are asked to hang a red dress.
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