Valentine's Day holds a special, yet non-traditional, importance for Sharon Johnson.
Valentine's Day is meant as a day to celebrate love and affection, but for Johnson it's a day that represents loss and tragedy. On Feb. 13, 1992, the body of Johnson’s 18-year-old sister, Sandra, was discovered near the Neebing McIntyre floodway.
For this reason, Sharon Johnson started the Valentine's Day Memorial Walk, in memory of her murdered sister as well as the many other Indigenous women who have gone missing.
"Today represents a day when people come together and show their love to one another," said Johnson, Valentine's Day memorial walk founder.
"We believe that the spirits of our women are walking with us, and I believe that the spirit of my little sister walks with me every day."
The 8th Annual Valentine's Day memorial walk brings together the friends and families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and to support them in their heartache as well as educating the public about this as a serious issue.
MP Patty Hajdu (Lib., Thunder Bay – Superior North) expressed the importance of having individuals like Sharon Johnson raising awareness before there was any readiness from the government to do so.
"They are important because when you start at the grassroots that's when the real power to change happens,” said the federal Minister of Status of Women.
"It's really people like Sharon that have continually worked at great expense, sometimes at their own hears to bring the issue forward."
The walk opened with a gathering of the community at city hall, followed by the memorial walk, a drum ceremony and a feast for all the families of the women who have gone missing or lost their lives to violence.
"Starting this walk, it was a way of turning the hurt into healing, bringing families together to support one another, to talk, to grieve, to heal and share." Johnson said.
