02/14/2026
On Valentine’s Day, love also means remembering.
Each year on February 14, communities across Canada and the United States gather for the Women’s Memorial March to honour the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S). The day offers space to collectively mourn, hold ceremony, and call for action.
The Women’s Memorial March began on Valentine’s Day in 1992 in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It was organized to remember Cheryl Ann Joe, a shíshálh (Sechelt) Nation mother who had been murdered weeks earlier, and to support families whose loved ones had gone missing or been taken.
What was first a local gathering has since grown into an annual, grassroots movement held in more than 20 cities across North America, drawing attention to the systemic impacts of colonialism, racism, and gender-based violence that disproportionately affect Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people.
More than 30 years later, the march remains a powerful act of resistance and remembrance, ensuring that those who are missing or have been murdered are loved and not forgotten.
The WATERR (Wellness And Transformative Engagement in Research Relationships) Lab, which opened in 2025, is an Indigenous Health Lab founded by its director, Dr. Erica (Samms) Hurley, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Nursing, and Mi’kmaq scholar.
The lab is dedicated to uplifting communities through interconnected and transformative research grounded in Indigenous knowledge and ethics. Through a welcoming, inclusive, transdisciplinary, and community-based approach, the WATERR Lab works to support health and wellness in Indigenous communities, as defined by the communities themselves.
To mark February 14, lab members made the ongoing MMIWG2S crisis visible through informational displays and an installation of red dresses. The installation, part of the REDress Project, serves as a public act of remembrance and a call to action. Visitors are invited to leave their name for an engagement draw for a piece of art.
Location: WATERR Lab, Room AS-2028, Memorial University, Grenfell Campus.
Image: Installation by lab member Sabrina Lamanna and Jordan Lawrence, Student Lab Coordinator/Research Assistant.
Learn more and explore the resources referenced:
• WATERR Lab:
https://waterrlab.ca/
• The Canadian Encyclopedia – Women’s Memorial March:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/women-s-memorial-march
Wellness And Transformative Engagement in Research Relationships
Registered Nurses' Union Newfoundland & Labrador
Grenfell Campus, Memorial University
Western Regional School of Nursing
Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing CASN
The College of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland & Labrador
Indigenous Student Resource Centre - Memorial University
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism at Memorial University
Labrador Campus, Memorial University
Wabanaki-Labrador Indigenous Health Research Network
Innu Midwifery Program
Nunatsiavut Government
CBC Indigenous
Canadian Nurses Association (CNA-AIIC)
MUN Nursing Society
