Women's Memorial March
Poster for the 25th annual Women's Memorial March to be taken through Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Vigils and marches are being held all over Canada as well as in the United States on Valentine's Day to draw attention to violence against Native women, and in particular the plight of missing and murdered aboriginal women throughout Canada.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Remembered Across Canada, U.S.

ICTMN Staff
2/14/15

It is Valentine’s Day, but for many across Turtle Island, it is a day not of romance but to commemorate loss and celebrate lives that are no more.

For the family of Loretta Saunders it marks the year anniversary of when she disappeared after going to collect rent from her subletters; her body was found two weeks later, and the subletters have been charged in her murder.

RELATED: Inuit Student's Murder Sparks Renewed Calls for National Violence Inquiry

For the family of Tina Fontaine, the 15-year-old whose body was pulled from the Red River in Winnipeg late last year, it is another sad reminder of a beloved life cut short.

RELATED: Heartbreak in Winnipeg: Bodies of Two First Nations Citizens Pulled From Red River

A close call for Rinelle Harper, 16, who nearly suffered the same fate but pulled herself out of the river and was rescued. Healing at home after a hospital stay, she has added her voice to those advocating for a national inquiry into why such horrific violence is so often visited upon indigenous women.

And the family of Stephanie Lane is still fighting for convicted serial killer Robert Pickton to be charged in her murder after learning that the 20-year-old woman’s partial skeletal remains had been misplaced in storage by British Columbia from 2003 through 2010. The police had initially told the family that the amount of DNA they’d found was not enough to charge Pickton with. Now they say that with Pickton behind bars for the maximum sentence from his conviction on several other murder charges, no further investigation will be conducted, according to CBC News.

To draw attention to these and lower-profile cases, and to press for a national inquiry into why aboriginal women are so much more prone to violence than their mainstream counterparts, the marches and vigils go on, this year with the theme, “Their Spirits Live Within Us.”

Vigils are planned all across Canada, the most prominent being the 25th annual Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver, which begins at noon. Following tradition, starting at noon, the marchers will wend their way through the Downtown Eastside, conducting ceremonies at places where missing or murdered women have been found, or were last seen.

“The march is held to honor and grieve the loss of the lives of women who die each year due to violence and to remember the more than 32 women who are still listed as missing,” the organizers said in a statement of the march, which is focused on the women of the Downtown Eastside.

Across Canada the number surpasses 1,200, according to figures released last year by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

RELATED: Nearly 1,200 Missing, Murdered Aboriginal Women in Canada: RCMP

This year at least three marches are taking place in the United States: noon in Denver, the Sing Our Rivers Red March; Fargo, North Dakota, noon at Fargo Public Library “In solidarity with the ongoing efforts in Canada, & to raise awareness / gain recognition about the very same problem in the U.S.,” with a Facebook page for more information. In Minneapolis the First Annual Women’s Memorial March: Sing Our Rivers Red Twin Cities begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Minneapolis American Indian Center.

Information about all the marches is at Rabble.ca's National Day of Action for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.

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indianmedicine's picture
indianmedicine
Submitted by indianmedicine on
This is NOT just a First Peoples issue, it is a Human Being issue on this Continent.................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................... A Nations standing in History, is based on how it cares or does not care for its Citizen People............................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................ Regardless of Ethnic Origin, Human Beings need closure to Life Events in their "Life Walk" to move forward; and deal with the event whether it be the giving of Life or the taking away of Life - it is a "Human Being Thing"; which perfects the Spirit before Our Creator............................................................ ....................................................................................................................... We are ALL Life Lessons for ourselves & others, and that is the foundation for "closure" so that Spirit may move forward................................................ ....................................................................................................................... Law Enforcement is one tool that a Society may use to establish and maintain "Peace of Mind", and Peace of The Community in which it is established for................................................................................................ ....................................................................................................................... The Elders and The Peace Keepers are the one's that can obtain Closure for The Loved One's left behind, and give some understanding of the Event of the One's We Lost to senseless acts of another....................................... ...................................................................................................................... From a Professional First Responder perspective, these "Murders" must be addressed to Closure if we are to justify why Law Enforcement even exists in the Community.......................................................................................... ...................................................................................................................... If Law Enforcement is failing the Communities, then it is up to the Community to compel Law Enforcement and The Courts to perform their Duties to the Standard of The Community and its People............................ ...................................................................................................................... The Missing Aboriginal Women were most likely "targeted" because of the type and lack of intensity in the Investigations by the Criminal Justice & Administration System in place..................................................................... ...................................................................................................................... The "Elders" of each Tribe, Band, Community must push for The Answer to these Events, not only for Case Closure; but Community Well Being & the Safety to The People and our Children......................................................... ...................................................................................................................... The Professional Standing of Law Enforcement in the eye's of The People is also at stake; for in order to Get Respect - One Must Give Respect and the Justice that needs to come about.................................................................. ....................................................................................................................... I am an "Honorably Retired Peace Officer", and one motivator for me to go into The Criminal Justice Profession was I knew that I could do better then what I had seen in the Law Enforcement Ranks........................................... ...................................................................................................................... I suggest that our Children look at what the Criminal Justice Community is doing or not doing; and make a decision in being part of The Solution........ ...................................................................................................................... - Father Creator & Divine Family - We ask that your All Knowing Hand Guide us in this matter; and that those that are in a position to contribute to an acceptable answer be guided by you and Our Spirit Family that looks over us as we make this Life Walk once again. - Amen-...................................... ......................................................................................................................
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