NU prof rings bells for 1,100 Aboriginal Women

Bells can have multiple meanings. Their ringing out can be in celebration, grief or warning, but they always command our attention.
Nipissing University’sDr. Derek Neal, associate professor of History has organized a bell-ringing event to commemorate and bring attention to all 1,181 known missing and murdered aboriginal women.

From June 1- 20, the bells of the Church of the Epiphany in Sudbury, ON, will ring on the hour between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday. 

Each peal of the bells represents the life of one missing or murdered Aboriginal woman or girl in Canada. It also expresses the solidarity of the Anglican Church of Canada with Canada’s indigenous peoples in their pursuit of justice and their demand for an official inquiry on missing and murdered women and girls. The bells will begin to sound the morning after the closing ceremonies of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Ottawa.

The TRC encouraged churches to ring their bells at noon to honour residential school survivors, recognize the formal close of the TRC” and to encourage all Canadians to commit to working towards a reconciled future for all of Canada.  

Dr. Neal became involved with the event through his summer ministry internship at the Church of Epiphany. 

For more information about the event, check out the Facebook pagehere.?