Sergeant Tommy Prince School and the Interlake Sexual Exploitation Educators(ISEE) teamed up to raise awareness about the importance of preventing the sexual exploitation of our youth with the dedication and blessing of a bench as well as the planting of two cedar trees in honour of Tracia Owen.
The kindergarten class releasing butterflies in honour of Tracia’s memory
Tracia Owen was a 14-year-old girl who died by suicide in 2005. Her death became a major catalyst for anti-sexual exploitation efforts in our province after her story drew attention to failures in child welfare and protection for vulnerable youth.
Sergeant Tommy Prince School Principal Wendy McPherson started the dedication event by welcoming and introducing those who blessed the bench with a pipe ceremony.
She then spoke about Tracia.
“Tracia Owen had a spirit name that was Butterfly Woman, and then we found out further it was White Butterfly Woman,” McPherson said.
The school’s kindergarten class took over from there, reciting a poem about butterflies and, in honour of Tracia, released the butterflies that they had been raising since they were caterpillars.
From there, Sherisse Picklyk, one of the Co-chairs of the ISEE committee, came forward to say a few words about why they chose to dedicate this space to Tracia.
“In August 2025, it was the 20th anniversary of Tracia’s death. The province encouraged committees like ISEE to honour Tracia’s legacy by hosting an event in her name. We partnered with our friends and fellow committee members from the Sergeant Tommy Prince School, Wendy and Patrick, to create this beautiful tribute to Tracia in their community, for their community. This event not only honours Tracia, but helps to raise awareness of child and youth sexual exploitation, because it happens here too,” said Dear.
The ISEE are one of several regional committees in Manitoba that work to educate children and parents about ways to prevent the sexual exploitation of children in our area, because, as Dear said, it can happen anywhere. They are funded by the provincial government, and Amanda Paul, the Associate Director for the Child Protection Branch in the Department of Families from the province, came up next to say a few words.
“We gather not only to bless this memorial bench, but to remember Tracia Owen and to carry forward the responsibility of her story that has been entrusted to all of us. To be remembered is something that many of us think about later in life, and she never had that chance, yet she is remembered. She’s remembered through community, through action, through the commitment to ensure that what happened to her is never repeated,” she said.
Paul explained that this event was more than a memorial but a call to action to create a world where children are safe, free, joyful, and cared for.
“Today, as we bless this bench, we create a place of remembrance, but also a place of responsibility, a place where people can sit, reflect, and commit to action. Tracia’s legacy is not only in memory, but it’s in what we do next,” she said.
Chief Gordon Bluesky spoke next, thanking the students for caring for the butterflies that were released.
“I look at the young people sitting here, and I think about Tracia, and what she went through. We’ve got to learn from that, and we’re going to move forward, and we’re going to become stronger,” he said.
He then told the children in attendance that he and other leaders in the community are always there if they need someone to talk to.
McPherson then asked Greg Robson to share his knowledge through a cedar teaching.
Robson explained how cedar was brought to the earth and the importance of the medicine to the Indigenous people of Turtle Island. He also shared how it is protective, and so it made sense to have a cedar bench and cedar trees planted in honour of Tracia.
McPherson concluded the ceremony by asking those present to drop a tobacco tie into the holes where the cedar trees were planted as Erica Bear drummed.
