As a parent, you always want to keep your children safe. You teach them to look both ways before crossing the street, you warn them about stranger danger and to always call if they need you no matter what, when or why.

But what if the colour of their skin is what puts them in danger? That is the reality for indigenous women and girls in Canada.

According to statistics we are four times more likely to experience violence. We are more likely to be the victim of exploitation and even murder. An RCMP report says 1,181 indigenous women and girls have been killed or are missing in Canada. That number just keeps climbing.

For me, as an indigenous woman, that is a scary reality. As a mother with two young girls, it is a terrifying one.

Instead of talking about shoes and cute boy bands, I have to warn them about slow moving cars and catcalls. Instead of going to Girl Scouts I take my girls to another vigil to mark another death, walk in remembrance at another march and demand another call to action.

These ceremonies of loss are felt in almost every indigenous family. And when my little girls look up at me and ask, 'But why is it like that Mommy?' Well, I simply have no answer for them.