'Music is healing': No Stone Unturned concert honours MMIWG

North End residents gathered for an afternoon of music, food, celebration, and remembrance Saturday as a picnic/concert celebrated community and honoured the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

The 23rd annual North End Community Renewal Corporation's (NECRC) Picnic in the Park took place in St. John's Park in north Winnipeg. Visitors enjoyed bouncy castles and sampled popcorn and cotton candy, as well as free barbeque fare for lunch and dinner.

The event also featured a number of resource booths from various non-profit community groups. "It's nice to see everyone come out and be a part of this, especially all the North End community organizations," said Meagan Vickers, a community development worker with NECRC.

Cyclists were able to get their bikes fixed up at a special tune-up station from The Wrench, and a graffiti art booth had people channeling their inner artist. The event also ran a basketball clinic for youth.

Vickers said it was about being accessible to the community. "We have a lot of people who - for instance they don’t have vehicles - or they have a hard time getting around, so we just wanted to make sure that it was free for everyone," she said.

The picnic coincided with the 15th annual No Stone Left Unturned Concert in honour of MMIWG. Point Douglas MLA Bernadette Smith founded the concert after her sister Claudette Osborne-Tyo went missing from Winnipeg on July 25, 2008.

"This started because of my sister's disappearance," said Smith. "For us it’s a reminder that she's been missing for 15 years."

Smith said the event has really grown over the years, showing how much the community has come to care about the MMIWG issue.

"Community coming together and saying 'I want to help, how do I help?' and 'what can I do and how can I be part of the solution?'" Smith said.

She added it's very difficult to not know where their lost loved ones are. "Fifteen years for my sister, that is tough. It's tough on so many of our families to not know where they are."  

The concert has always happened in conjunction with the picnic. Vickers said the two events go together perfectly. "We've been partnering with them for a while now, it's been an honour."

Local musicians graced the stage until 9:30 p.m., when a candlelight vigil was held in honour of those who have been lost. The event concluded with fireworks.

Smith said No Stone Unturned is such a meaningful way for her to remember her sister. "Music is healing, it brings people together," she said. "Food is medicine, it brings so much healing, brings people together, and it provides comfort to families to see a community come together."