Honour walk held in Saskatoon for badly beaten, burned homeless woman

SASKATOON—About 60 people in Saskatoon have participated in an Honour Walk for Marlene Bird, a homeless woman who was badly beaten in Prince Albert, Sask.

Organizers say the walk was held to bring awareness to the violence that indigenous women face everyday.

Bird, 57, was so badly burned in the attack that she had to have both legs amputated and has also had facial reconstruction surgery.

No arrests have been made.

Her cousin Eldon Henderson, who is also chief of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation, says she is still recovering in an Edmonton hospital.

He says she is able to talk and communicate with people, and is starting to realize that her legs are gone.

Bird will remain in hospital in Edmonton for a couple more weeks before being transferred to a Saskatoon hospital for the rest of her recovery.

Henderson says so far the Prince Albert YWCA has collected more than $11,000 and the First Nation has collected about $2,000 to be put in a trust for Bird.

“She’s very blessed at this point in terms of the support that she is getting,” he said, adding they are still figuring out what she will need.

“We want to get a house for her that is wheelchair accessible, she’s going to need that … We will have to figure out the costs associated with after care, also with some of the other things like a living allowance.”