10) THOUSANDS TAKE PART IN WOMEN’S MEMORIAL MARCHES

10) THOUSANDS TAKE PART IN WOMEN’S MEMORIAL MARCHES

PV Vancouver Bureau

Memorial marches and other events were held across Canada on February 14, to honour more than 1,200 missing and murdered women Aboriginal women, and to emphasize the growing demand for an independent federal public inquiry.

The largest event took place in Vancouver, where an estimated 5,000 marchers filled the streets for several blocks. They followed a route through the Downtown Eastside, stopping for moments of silence near locations where women have been murdered or where they were last seen. The event concluded with a healing circle at Oppenheimer Park and a community feast at the Japanese Language Hall.

In Toronto, 1200 community members paid homage to Aboriginal women who have been murdered or gone missing. Amidst strawberries and water handed out to the many individuals who came to this event, were heartfelt speeches given by individuals who have lost family members due to violence. Toronto's February 14th Organizing Committee includes No More Silence, the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Jaggies “and other Indigenous and feminist organizations working together to raise awareness about the disappearance of Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans and Two-Spirit people on Turtle Island.”

Activists also stood shoulder to shoulder in gatherings in Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, St John’s, Victoria, Hagersville, Kenora, Courtenay, Nelson, Grand Forks, Kelowna, Prince George, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Nanaimo, and London, as well as in three U.S. cities - Denver, Fargo, and Minneapolis.

The organizers of the Vancouver march https://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com say that “the first women’s memorial march was held in 1991 in response to the murder of a Coast Salish woman on Powell Street in Vancouver. Her name is not spoken today out of respect for the wishes of her family. Out of this sense of hopelessness and anger came an annual march on Valentine’s Day to express compassion, community, and caring for all women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Unceded Coast Salish Territories.... Indigenous women disproportionately continue to go missing or be murdered with minimal to no action to address these tragedies or the systemic nature of gendered violence, poverty, racism, or colonialism.

“This event is organized and led by women in the DTES because women – especially Indigenous women – face physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual violence on a daily basis. The February 14th Women’s Memorial March is an opportunity to come together to grieve the loss of our beloved sisters, remember the women who are still missing, and to dedicate ourselves to justice. Over the years, the February 14th Women’s Memorial March has expanded to cities across these lands, as well as internationally. The March is an opportunity for all cities and communities to come together to grieve the loss of our beloved sisters and remember the women who are still missing. We encourage all women to journey and heal together by organizing memorials on this day because women, especially Indigenous women, face physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual violence on a daily basis. Violence against women is always unacceptable; every life is precious and we must continue to honour and work for justice for murdered and missing women.”

AUFCW Canada solidarity statement says, “The message from all the gatherings was loud and clear: there needs to be a national inquiry that looks at the increasing prevalence of these murders and missing case files as more than just another incident or sociological mishap in society... This year is an appropriate time to raise the important issue of violence against women and demand that our federal government work with all jurisdictions, unions, and community organizations to stop the systemic cycle of violence that has taken the lives of well over a thousand Aboriginal Canadian women to date.”

(The above article is from the March 1-15, 2015 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)