Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation marked a weekend of celebration and remembrance as the community hosted its 45th Annual Traditional Pow Wow from August 22 to 24, just days after a memorial service for Alaya McIvor, a local advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two spirit, and gender diverse people.
McIvor, who would have turned 44 on August 6, died on August 7. She was a community matriarch and activist whose work included creating databases documenting missing and murdered Indigenous people and helping launch the Red Dress Stories MB website, which features over 400 cases. A funeral service was held on August 20 at the Sandy Bay Community Complex.
The Southern Chiefs’ Organization honoured McIvor’s legacy on behalf of the organization. SCO represents 33 Anishinaabe and Dakota Nations in southern Manitoba and operates an MMIWG2S+ Support Program.
During the pow wow weekend, SCO posted a live broadcast from Sandy Bay featuring the Friday evening Grand Entry on August 21. The annual event is part of Treaty Days celebrations. Sandy Bay is located on the western shore of Lake Manitoba, about 165 km northwest of Winnipeg, and has roughly 6,905 registered members, with about 80 percent of community members speaking Ojibway.
McIvor testified at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Winnipeg in 2017 and worked as a constituency assistant for Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine. Her advocacy extended to documenting missing and murdered Indigenous men and boys. The pow wow, combined with the memorial, reflected a weekend of ceremony, grief, and community solidarity.
