'It's just so heartbreaking': Marystown death adds to list of missing and murdered women in N.L.
The list of missing and murdered women in Newfoundland and Labrador has grown by one more, and the crushing impact of that isn't lost on the St. John's Native Friendship Centre's Amelia Reimer.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Tuesday that they believe Ryanna Grywacheski, 18, an indigenous women from Regina, was killed by Jeff Kilfoy, 37, in a murder-suicide this past weekend in Marystown.
Reimer and the Native Friendship Centre organize the annual In Her Name vigil in conjunction with the St. John's Status of Women's Council, and she says she was already updating the list when she heard the news.
"It's just so heartbreaking. We had a hard enough time adding Cortney Lake's name to the list, and then to know there's yet another women we need to add to the list as well? It's very real [and] it's very jarring," she said.
Violence against indigenous women all too common
Grywacheski's death is another instance of violence against indigenous women in Newfoundland and Labrador, said Reimer.
"We find [at the Native Friendship Centre] almost 100 per cent of indigenous women experience some form of violence or abuse in some case in their life," she said.
Reimer says media and cultural dehumanization of indigenous women contribute to these statistics.
"When you combine the idea of being both indigenous and female, it makes your chances of going through these things just exponential."
This year's In Her Name vigil is Oct. 4, and will feature a reading of the names of more than 120 women who have gone missing or been murdered in this province.
"Between new cases and historic cases, the list keeps growing all the time," said Reimer.
"The human lives lost, it's important to remember them and to honour them as best we can."