Walk4Justice: 720 Native Women Murdered and Missing
By Valerie Taliman September 12, 2011
* Read More:
* Aboriginal
* Canada
* Crime
* Murder
* Vancouver
* Violence
* Violence Against Native Women
* Violence Against Women
* Walk4Justice
* Women
TORONTO – When they walked out of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on June 21,
Gladys Radek and Bernie Williams prepared themselves for
raw memories and painful moments on their fourth Walk4Justice across
Canada.
Survivors themselves, Radek and Williams share the grief experienced by too
many First Nations families who continue to search for answers and seek justice
for their lost women and children.
They were surprised how many families came forward this year to
report lost loved ones – 37, so far, 35 women and two men – increasing
the number of murdered and missing Native women in Canada to an
estimated 720.
And the journey’s not over.
Now 83 days into their winding 5,000 km trek to Ottawa, the
Walk4Justice marchers were greeted by families and supporters as they
stopped in small towns, reserves and cities. People also called,
e-mailed and texted names and information to add to the database of
murdered and missing women.
In a telephone interview from Toronto, Williams said they plan to
arrive in Ottawa in time to address members of Parliament on September
19 at a rally to demand a national investigation into the shocking
numbers of murdered and missing women. Organizers plan to bring 10
coffins from each province to Parliament Hill bearing the names of those lost.
“We help collect the data about missing women because the families
don’t trust the police,” said Williams. “They’ve reported crimes and
been ignored, so they reach out to us because they know they can trust
us. We lost relatives, too.”
While exact numbers are hard to track, many women’s organizations in
Canada agree that violent deaths and disappearances are increasing.
In addition to the estimated 720 Native women and children reported, several
Native women’s organizations agree that the total number of all murdered and
missing women in Canada tops more than 4,000.
According to Canada’s 2009 General Social Survey on Victimization,
nearly 67,000 Aboriginal women aged 15 or older reported that they were
victims of one or more violent crimes. And 63 percent of those surveyed
were aged 15 to 34, illustrating the rise in violence toward young women and
children.
“We founded the Walk4Justice in 2008 after my own niece, Tamara
Chipman, vanished in 2005 from the Highway of Tears near Prince Rupert,” said
Radek. Williams’ mother and two sisters were murdered in
Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, notorious for high rates of drug
trafficking and violent crime.
Sadly, along the journey, Radek learned that another young relative,
Angeline Eileen Pete, 24, was reported missing from North Vancouver. Her family
is appealing to the public to help locate her, and a candlelight vigil was
scheduled for September 11th at Hastings and Main in the
Downtown Eastside.
“It really hurt me to hear about Angeline, and it angers me knowing this has
happened to so many aboriginal women,” Radek said.“It doesn’t matter where we
move in this country – we’re not safe anywhere. It’s about time the government
and police quit talking, and actually do something. I’m afraid that to them,
she’s just another dead Indian.”
Only days later, the decapitated body of another missing Native woman was found
near Lake Winnipeg on the Sandy Bay First Nation in Manitoba. Roberta Dawn
McIvor, 32, was killed July 30 when two teenage girls
allegedly tried to steal her car while she was sleeping in it, according to
police. Two girls, 15 and 17, are facing charges of manslaughter and are in
custody.
Tragically, she was related to Helen Betty Osbourne, a Cree woman who was
severely beaten, gang-raped and stabbed at least 50 times by four
white men in 1971. Twenty years later, the Manitoba Justice Inquiry
concluded that the murder of Helen Betty Osborne had been fueled by
racism and sexism. The inquiry pointed out that Osborne might have been
saved if police had taken action on a pattern of threats to Indigenous
women.
The Walk4Justice marchers were asked to meet with McIvor’s family and honored
her memory with the Lillooet Salish Women’s Warrior song. (link to video)
Williams said it’s been hard at times riding the emotional roller
coaster of searching for answers and pushing for corrective action as
they visited, cried and prayed with families on the route. Though the
Walk4Justice is four years old, Williams has been on the frontlines of
the issue for more than 25 years.
“I have no faith in the system,” she said. “There’s a raging war on
women, and I can’t make sense of how the Canadian government is
continuing to allow this to happen.”
Noting that Canada recently eliminated major funding for First
Nations, education and women’s programs, Williams is skeptical about the
intentions of politicians to help solve the problems.
“They know our communities are suffering, and yet they cut funding to help heal
our children. We lose them to streets and to foster care –
all those children in care are being raised by immigrants now,” said
Williams. “They don’t want us to heal – it’s all about oppression.
They’re trying to get rid of us because it ultimately comes right back
to the land and the resources.”
The 93-day walk across Canada ends in Ottawa next week, where Radek
and Williams will join hundreds of others to protest Canada’s failing
policies to protect women and children, particularly Native women.
“We’re tired of wiping up the blood of our women on the streets of
the Downtown Eastside and all across Canada,” said Radek. “The racism,
murders and oppression have to stop – that’s message we’re taking to
Parliament.”
Watch a video from the start of Walk4Justice in B.C.-Alberta here.
Watch a video from the Walk4Justice here.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/09/walk4justice-720-native-women-murdered-and-missing/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
