Medicine Wheel raising funds for Alderville Women’s Shelter in honour of missing and murdered indigenous women

Owner and Alderville First Nation member Rob Stevenson will match funds raised from raffle of painting

A detail from "We Are... We Can... We Will..." by artist Miriam Terry, which cannabis retailer Medicine Wheel Natural Healing is raffling off to raise funds for Alderville Women's Shelter in honour of missing and murdered indigenous women. Medicine Wheel owner and Alderville First Nation member Rob Stevenson will match all funds raised from the raffle. Medicine Wheel celebrates its third anniverary on June 20, 2020, the day before National Indigenous Peoples Day. (Photo courtesy of Medicine Wheel)
A detail from "We Are... We Can... We Will..." by artist Miriam Terry, which cannabis retailer Medicine Wheel Natural Healing is raffling off to raise funds for Alderville Women's Shelter in honour of missing and murdered indigenous women. Medicine Wheel owner and Alderville First Nation member Rob Stevenson will match all funds raised from the raffle. Medicine Wheel celebrates its third anniverary on June 20, 2020, the day before National Indigenous Peoples Day. (Photo courtesy of Medicine Wheel)

Alderville First Nation’s Medicine Wheel Natural Healing is raising funds in June for the Alderville Women’s Shelter.

The cannabis retailer, located at 8986 County Road 45 in Roseneath, is celebrating its third anniversary on Saturday, June 20th — the day before National Indigenous Peoples Day.

In honour of missing and murdered indigenous women, Medicine Wheel is raffling off a canvas painting. All funds raised from the raffle will be matched by Medicine Wheel owner and Alderville First Nation member Rob Stevenson and donated to the Alderville Women’s Shelter.

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"We Are... We Can... We Will..." by artist Miriam Terry represents the strength and resilience of women.  (Photo courtesy of Medicine Wheel)
“We Are… We Can… We Will…” by artist Miriam Terry represents the strength and resilience of women. (Photo courtesy of Medicine Wheel)

The painting, called “We Are… We Can… We Will…”, is by Stevenson’s mother-in-law, artist Miriam Terry.

“The Tree of Life represents strength, growth, power, resilience,” Terry explains. “It gives life through oxygen, it shelters, it roots, it stabilizes and it grows and perseveres in spite of assaults against it. A common symbol across all cultures, it exemplifies the struggle of women around the world. In spite of damaging forces, the Tree of Life persists in much the same way as women do.”

“We Are… We Can… We Will… what? Those key phrases can be completed in whatever way a woman chooses. My thoughts turned to ‘We Are Women, We Can Act, We Will Persevere’. The title is one that should compel each individual woman to complete it in the way that best represents her thoughts, her life, her personal meaning. ‘We Are All Unique, We Can Act, We will Rise.'”

Raffle tickets are one for $20, two for $40, four for $60, six for $80, or eight for $100. To purchase tickets, visit medicinewheel.ca/product/medicine-wheels-national-indigenous-peoples-day-raffle/.

To celebrate its third anniversary, Medicine Wheel is offering 25 per cent off of everything in the store on Saturday, June 20th (payment by debit, credit, and cash accepted at the store). The draw for the painting will take place on Monday, June 23rd.

Alderville Women’s Shelter (Anishnaabe Kwewag Gamig Inc) is a regional shelter serving southeastern Ontario including seven First Nations: Beausoleil, Georgina Island, Pikwakanagan, Rama, Alderville, Scugog and Moose Deer Point. The organization offers temporary emergency shelter and other services for both indigenous and non-indigenous women and their children who have experienced family violence.