RURAL MUNICIPALITY OF REYNOLDS, MAN. - The Olympic torch trucks whizzed along the Trans-Canada Highway into Manitoba yesterday, but as they crossed over the Whitemouth River and flew past a remote junction, a slower and more sombre procession took place.

Horses. Seven of them, carrying leaders from native communities as nearby as Roseau River and as far away as the Canupawakpa Dakota Nation near the Saskatchewan border. Those who didn't ride walked along the shoulder. They came to this stretch almost 100 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, in cars and vans and buses, to draw attention to the plight of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada.

The demonstration was peaceful, and did not disrupt the torch's progress.

Allan Courchene, the principal of the high school at the Sagkeeng First Nation brought a gaggle of teens on the 90-minute trip in the early morning. "I brought our students to support the cause of our females that have gone missing," he said, adding that such cases need to be investigated with more urgency.

"We are not protesting the athletes," said Chief Terrance Nelson of the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation. He organized the demonstration. "We welcome them. But we want to remind people ... what's happening to our people."