The Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) is mourning the loss of Alaya McIvor, a prominent community leader and advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit, and gender-diverse people (MMIWG2S+), who died earlier this month at age 43.
A member of Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation, McIvor’s advocacy work began after losing her best friend in 2004 and her cousin in 2011 to violence, and she went on to organize countless vigils, marches, and events to support grieving families.
Her research helped launch the Red Dress Stories MB website, an interactive map documenting the stories of more than 400 Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit, and gender-diverse people who went missing or were murdered in Manitoba. She also tracked more than 250 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous men and boys.
Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine, who considered McIvor a sister for more than two decades, confirmed that support is being provided to the family through the province’s Matriarch Circle advisory group, of which McIvor was a member, and the provincial MMIWG2S+ endowment fund.
McIvor was two-spirit and transgender, and consistently advocated for gender-diverse people in Manitoba. She received multiple honours for her advocacy, including Manitoba’s Human Rights Commitment Award, the Manitoba 150 Honour, and the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal.
SCO represents 33 Anishinaabe and Dakota First Nations in southern Manitoba with more than 92,000 citizens. The organization is lifting up McIvor’s family and community during this time of mourning.
