NWT legislature begins work to erect MMIWG monument

The NWT Legislative Assembly intends to unveil a monument to murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls within the next year.

Planning for such a monument has been taking place for more than a year. A request for proposals to find a contractor for the work will close in early November.

The legislature has set a deadline of August 13, 2023 – three days before MLAs’ final week-long sitting ahead of the fall 2023 territorial election – for the monument to be finished.

In its request for proposals, the legislature states the eventual monument will serve to “commemorate the lives lost and the lives that continue to be lost in the MMIWG crisis, to bring awareness to the MMIWG crisis, and to provide a space for people to go when they would like to remember lives lost to this crisis.”

No budget is attached to the request for proposals.

Proposals submitted before the November 3 deadline are expected to set out how Indigenous groups will be asked for input on the final design, which must “not only recognize the lives that have been lost, but also educate both residents and visitors who may not fully understand this issue.”

“Awareness will be the stepping-stone toward both greater cultural understanding among residents and action to end the MMIWG crisis,” the request for proposals states.

The monument will be erected in the precinct of the legislature building in Yellowknife.

A Yukon monument honouring missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit individuals was unveiled in Whitehorse in September last year.