By Aaron Walker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com The virtual Healing Quilt is uniting families across distance and time, blending Indigenous tradition with digital innovation to create a shared space to remember and honour loved ones. Launched Sept. 26 at HealingQuilt.ca, the Canadian Healing Quilt is the first national project of its kind, allowing families to create memorial squares with photos, stories, and memories that can be shared publicly or remain private. The vision comes from Elder and knowledge keeper Albert McLeod, who has roots in the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and the Métis community in Norway House, and who lives in Winnipeg. He’s an advisor with Canadian Virtual Hospice. During the COVID-19 pandemic, McLeod witnessed how families were often kept apart at critical moments of illness and loss. “There were…