This past term students from Elizabeth Wyn Wood in Ottawa took all that they had learned about the Indian Residential Schools to heart, when they decided to put their words into action and attend the annual Sisters in Spirit Vigil hosted by the Native Women’s Association of Canada.

The students brought their letters to Mr. Harper demanding an official inquiry into the missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. Students also wrote a personal letter to each of the family members who had come to Ottawa specially to talk about the loved ones who had been taken from them.

Small wooden tiles were decorated by the students to commemorate the lives lost of thousands of young Aboriginal children who attended the church-run, government funded schools. It was horrifying for the students to think that today, Aboriginal girls and women are still losing their lives while the Canadian government refuses to take the crisis seriously.

James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people, spoke with families of the women who have gone missing or been murdered and urged that Canada  call an inquiry into the crisis.

For media coverage of the day, and to witness Elizabeth Wyn Wood students in action, see them holding the faceless doll banners and posters .