Ojibway elder erects monument for Indigenous women on P.E.I.

An Ojibway man on a personal mission to commemorate missing and murdered Indigenous women has established one of his monuments on P.E.I.

Amongst the flower beds on the berms in Borden-Carleton, just before the Confederation Bridge, is a small tower of black, red, white and yellow painted rocks.

It was placed there by 71-year-old John Bobbiwash, who is setting up a monument in each province. Bobbiwash said he undertook the task after having a vision, which he later had explained during a Shaking Tent ceremony.

"Women started appearing to me. Their spirits were all coming at me. I could see all the girls but not their faces. But they were smiling," he said.

"I couldn't understand that for a long time until I went to a Shaking Tent and a guy answered my question. He said the reason they're smiling is they had their horrible deaths and they're happy that you're going to be doing something about it."

Bobbiwash has erected monuments from Newfoundland to Manitoba, at his own expense.

More P.E.I. news