SOMBA K'E/YELLOKNIFE
A few dozen people grew to more than fifty as marching from NDilo through downtown to honour missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada on Friday afternoon.

Dozens of people make their way up the 50 Street hill towards downtown during Sisters in Spirit, a walk to honour Canada's missing and murdered indigenous women. The march ended at the Tree of Peace, where they held a candlelight vigil and heard speeches from prominent NWT women. - Randi Beers/NNSL photo

The march, called Sisters in Spirit, is a national event to call attention to the disproportionate number of indigenous women among Canada's missing and murdered people -- as of 2012, they make up four per cent of the total Canadian population but 23 per cent of missing persons and homicide cases.

The Native Women's Association of the NWT organized the walk which started at K'alemi Dene School in NDilo and ended with a vigil, speeches and a community dinner at the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre on 51 Street.

With municipal enforcement and RCMP vehicles flanking them from front and behind, the group walked along 50 Avenue, temporarily stalling traffic along the way.

Many of the walkers, including Sarah Carr-Locke, said they joined the march because they felt its a "very important issue."

"That's why I'm here," she said.

"I'm here to support women and bring attention to issues of inequality and safety. Take Back the Night - isn't that soon? Is nighttime on our streets safe for all women?"

Take Back the Night is an internationally observed annual rally to end sexual violence. This year

the event is being held Oct. 9 in Sombe K'e Park at 6 p.m.

Marie Speakman, the Native Women's Organization's organizer for the walk, remembered a Sisters in Spirit march she participated in six years ago as she made her way downtown with the group.

"We walked to Behchoko in 2006, it took a day and a half," she said.

"Families came out of their houses with their babies to greet us. When we approached the community we could hear the drums and then there was a big community feast."

Speakman said recreating a walk to Behchoko is on her to-do list for future years, as well as rallying more men to join the cause.

"On this journey, we really need our men to be our protectors. I would like to see more men come out - already they say it's not just women who are victims of violence," she said.

Kelly Bourassa, one of the handful of men who made the walk, explained why he was there.

"It's a very important issue," he said.

"We all have women in our lives - coworkers, cousins, friends, family, so this issue touches everyone."

At the end of the walk the group congregated at the friendship centre, where they warmed up with stew and bannock, took in the names and faces of NWT's missing and murdered aboriginal women and heard speeches from Crystal Fraser, a Gwich'in historian and University of Alberta PhD candidate, and Gerri Sharpe-Staples, member of the NWT Status of Women Council.