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Shea Ailles, left, and Dion Lennie, right, hold the banner at the front of the first few steps of the Native Women's Association's Journey for Change, a 100 kilometre walk from Yellowknife to Behchoko that began on Sunday. - Amanda Vaughan/NNSL photo

Association takes steps to raise awareness

Amanda Vaughn
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - "A 100 kilometre walk is hard to organize, but I am sure by the end we will all be close friends" said Denyse Nadon-Holder while she spoke in front of the Native Women's Association office on 49th street last Sunday.

Nadon-Holder was explaining the plan for the trek, a walk from Yellowknife to Behchoko which lasts just over 24 hours.

The association hosted the walk to raise awareness about domestic violence and the growing number of missing First Nations women, as well as the things that contribute to these problems.

People walked for those who couldn't, as Diane Koyczan put it.

Koyczan was at the registration desk on Sunday, and said about 100 people signed up for the walk in total. Walkers were able to go in shifts, with a shuttle van to take people to and from the walkers' various locations along the highway.

However, Nadon-Holder described many services available to the walkers along the way, and there were definitely enough meals, escorts, pit stops and rest vehicles in the entourage to keep people going the whole way if they so chose. Nadon-Holder herself planned to do just that.

"I can't wait to walk all night," she exclaimed while waiting for the last few stragglers to show up before noon, the walk's start time. Any suspicions of sarcasm were quickly blasted away by her obvious enthusiasm, which was catching on in the crowd.

Nadon-Holder is the Native Women's Association's executive director, and during the speech before the walk, she delivered the regrets of the board's president, Terry Villeneuve, who was unable to attend the walk. She was spending time with her family dealing with the tragedy of a niece who had taken her own life. It was a potent reminder of what brought the walkers out in the first place.

NWT Commissioner Tony Whitford was participating in the walk, and he mentioned his particular inspiration being his late wife Elaine, who always participated in community events like this one, according to Whitford.

He said it's events like these that keep people aware of issues like family violence and violence against women.

He said it was important to remember the missing and murdered women from the territory that were a special focus of the event.

And some people remember more of them than others. Const. Roxanne Dreilich of the Yellowknife RCMP detachment was one of the police escorts for the first part of the walk.

Const. Dreilich said that the RCMP always tries top accommodate community events like these as best they can, especially for an important cause like Sunday's walk.

She said the constables can put in their name to be part of escorts for events they have a special tie to, but she said even the assigned events are accepted very willingly.

To Dreilich, the walk was an event important on a personal and professional level. As RCMP officers, she and her colleagues witness the devastation of violence against women and domestic violence all too often, and know how important it is to maintain awareness in the community.

The walk ended with a feast and gathering in Behchoko, after which Yellowknife walkers were brought home by shuttle van.