Walk4Justice is walking again and seeking support for all the Missing and Murdered women
Walk4Justice
May 18, 2009
Good day everyone, We hope today finds you all in good health and spirits. We are writing all of you supporters of the Missing and Murdered women and the Walk4Justice. We would like to tell you that the W4J is walking again.
We will be walking to honor all the Missing and Murdered women from the Highway of Tears, the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, across British Columbia and Canada. Our goal is to rally and raise awareness of this escalating violence towards women. The Statistics are rising at an alarming rate since 2000 and we have to stop it! It is getting so dangerous for all women these days. It is time to take back our streets and communities and say no more!
We will be leaving on May 29, 2009 from the Downtown Eastside Women's Center at 302 Columbia Street after breakfast at 8:00am.
We will rally at all major stops and arrive in Prince Rupert on June 22, 2009. Our route plan and details will be posted soon on face book and through email.
We are in dire need of volunteers throughout all the communities to come out and support the walkers. There will be at least 12 walkers.
We still need donations of shoes, camping gear, phone cards, emergency equipment, medical supplies and cash for gas, food and accommodations.
Cheques can be sent to Don Bain, re: Walk4Justice, at the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Suite 500- 342 Water Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 1B6, phone 604-684-0231.
At this time we would like to thank each and every one of you who continue to support the Walk4Justice initiative and are much honored you have chosen to be a part of this historical journey to Justice. We look forward to hearing from all of you. We pray that you and your families remain safe and healthy through these tumultuous times. Prayers to all loved ones and their families.
Please feel free to email to Gladys Radek at frillyfrog08@yahoo.ca. or Bernie Williams at skundaal@yahoo.ca. for more information.
Much Respect,
Walk4Justice
Gladys: 604-569-5989
Bernie: 604-609-0552
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The sad fate of too many native women
May 20, 2009 - Carol Goar
Twenty-six of the missing aboriginal women turned up dead on Robert Pickton's pig farm. The bodies of 321 others were found under bridges, in rooming houses, on rural roads, in their apartments. The remaining 173 are unaccounted for.
This is one of the saddest – and most neglected – stories in Canada.
More than 500 aboriginal women have disappeared since 1970. Most were younger than 30.
The facts are finally coming to light, thanks to the digging, checking and collating of the Native Women's Association of Canada. It has just issued a comprehensive report entitled Voices of our Sisters in the Spirit.
Last week, Liberal MP Anita Neville called on the government to launch an independent investigation into the devastatingly high rate of violence against aboriginal women and girls. "Their plight has been almost entirely ignored for far too long," she told fellow parliamentarians.
Helena Guergis, minister of state for the status of women, responded on behalf of the government. She pointed out that her department is providing funding to the Native Women's Association for its research.
That's true, but the Conservatives are delivering the last instalment of a five-year grant made by the Liberals. More importantly, Guergis didn't address Neville's call for an investigation. She couldn't. That's Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's job.
Neville said her party would keep pushing.
The Liberals aren't faultless. Most of the women went missing on their watch. Organizations such as Amnesty International and the Elizabeth Fry Society tried to sound the alarm. But their reports prompted only statements of concern and studies.
The case for action is even more compelling now. The Native Women's Association has provided the government with an up-to-date national database of every aboriginal woman who has vanished and what is known about her fate.
Last fall, a United Nations human rights committee issued an urgent appeal to the Canadian government to conduct a thorough probe to find out how and why the justice system had failed so many aboriginal women.
Ottawa isn't solely to blame. Provincial ministers have averted their eyes. The police have dragged their feet. And the media have made little effort to find out why aboriginal women are violently assaulted four times as frequently as non-aboriginal women.
Although most of the disappearances occurred in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba, Ontario had a disproportionately high number – 59 cases or 12 per cent – for its small aboriginal population.
One of the victims profiled in Voices of our Sisters in the Spirit was a Toronto Ojibwa woman. Debbie Sloss was 42 when she died. Her body lay unidentified in the morgue for a month. None of her relatives was notified. The family found out about her death from a band member who heard rumours on the street.
Toronto police told Sloss's sister she died of a drug overdose. But a coroner's report showed no sign of alcohol or drugs in her system. Sloss's daughter Laura would like to know what really happened. While admitting her mother had addiction problems, she doesn't think drugs were the cause of her death and doesn't believe the police conducted a serious investigation. "They just passed her off as another dead Indian."
More than half the murders occurred since 2000. "Aboriginal women deserve no less attention and protection than all other women in Canada – which is why we're demanding government action now," Neville said.
A national inquiry is needed. The cycle of violence will not end until policy-makers understand how poverty, homelessness, poor employment prospects, police indifference and racism lead to miserable, truncated lives.
But public pressure is needed even more. The longer Canadians are silent, the higher the death toll will climb.
Carol Goar's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Why are Aboriginal women's murders ignored?
NUPGE has supported this initiative with funding through its "Building International Sisterhood campaign" projects.
Ottawa (18 May 2009) – The Harper government is once again deflecting calls for a public investigation into more than 500 cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women.
Amnesty International, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and the Liberal Party of Canada have all called on the federal government to take more action on the alarming number of Aboriginal women and girls that have been murdered or gone missing in the past three decades.
In March, 2009 the NWAC released a second edition of Voice of Our Sisters in Spirit: A Report to Families and Communities.
The Sisters in Spirit Initiative is a multi-year research, education and policy initiative designed to investigate the disproportionately high number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.
NUPGE has supported this initiative with funding through its "Building International Sisterhood" projects.
The key findings of the report include the fact that the number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada is extremely high, with over 520 cases confirmed since 1970. The percentage of cases of missing women and girls has remained constant, suggesting that there is a trend of ongoing disappearances.
For many years Native organizations have raised the issue of violence against Aboriginal women and girls. And in 2004, Amnesty International released a report entitled Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women In Canada. The report stressed the issue that the lives of Indigenous women in Canada are placed at risk precisely because they are Indigenous women.
Beverley Jacobs, president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), says that native girls and women still don’t get the same attention from police or the media when they vanish. Racism, stereotypes and discrimination are still the reality for Aboriginal families who are seeking help when a loved one goes missing.
About NUPGE International Women’s Projects
At the National Union’s 2006 conference, Building International Sisterhood, NUPGE announced that it would be developing partnerships with four women’s projects, one of which is the Sisters in Spirit initiative. At the NUPGE 2007 Triennial Convention a resolution was passed to provide support to the projects for three additional years.
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE
More information:
Sisters in Spirit
http://www.nwac-hq.org/en/background.html