Local 2000 officers Brian Gibson and Bill Catterall joined our area members Mike Nagle and Robert Pictou to participate in the recent Tears to Hope relay leg from Kitimat to Terrace.
The relay is held to honour and remember missing and murdered indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) and to raise money for the Tears to Hope Society, an Indigenous-led organization focused on supporting the families and loved ones of MMIWG2S, raising awareness, and promoting prevention.
The Unifor Social Justice Fund and Unifor Local 2000 are ongoing supporters of the relay.
Local 2000 members participated in a 10-km leg in memory of Robert’s sister, Virginia Sue Pictou, who disappeared on April 24, 1993.
Robert writes:
“She arrived at the emergency room after being assaulted by her husband and brother-in-law. During the intake process, a gunshot victim arrived and focus shifted to him. When the emergency room staff came back to continue the intake, she was not found.
“The staff expanded the search to other emergency room beds, she was not found. After an extensive search of the building and premises, my sister, Virginia Sue Pictou disappeared, on April 24, 1993,”
The event also offers hope.
Brian wrote: “The organizers thanked the Unifor Social Justice Fund and Unifor Local 2000 for their continued support. As one of the elders shared: ‘amidst the tragedy of losing a loved one, seeing all of these people come together in an event like this, it brightens my days and gives us hope.’”
Robert explained the significance of the baton, which was passed from participant to participant.
“As a child, did you ever walk in your father’s/mother’s shoes around the house? Did you feel the impressions of their feet within the sole of the shoe?
“Or did you ever sit in ‘Dad’s or Mom’s chair’? Did you feel the impressions their body made on the cushions?
What you really felt was the spiritual energy these things absorbed from their physical presence.
“Our family’s hope is that each person that holds the baton will contribute a tiny bit of spiritual energy to the cosmos. Then one day there will be enough spiritual energy in the cosmos for our family to gather together and bring Virginia home.”
The weather co-operated with some drizzle and 10 C temperatures to keep runners and walkers cool as they converged on a big finish.
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