October 4 Virtual and Community Vigils
Sisters in Spirit Vigils Honour the Lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Sunday, October 4 — 2:00-3:30 EDT
Vigil with be livestreamed on: Facebook
Native Women’s Association of Canada
The October 4 Sisters in Spirit Vigils, organized each year by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, are an occasion, the organizers state, to “honour the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people, support grieving families, and create opportunities for healing. The violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people in Canada is a national tragedy. United, we will demand action on an issue that impacts us all!”
This year, under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic a central online vigil is being organized, while various communities are also organizing vigils and other programs in their local areas. For details of local programs as they are announced click here. For other ways to support the vigils click here.
Each year since 2006, the Sisters in Spirit vigils have honoured the memory of the more than 4,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls across the country. The number of those who have disappeared or been killed continues to grow while the state refuses to investigate these cases and bring those responsible to justice. In not a few cases the police themselves are implicated in racist violence against Indigenous women and girls which they carry out with impunity.
As of last year’s October 4 vigils, 140 Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people had been murdered since the Trudeau government came to power in 2015, with its promises to end the violence and establish a new relationship with Indigenous peoples. The number of those missing and murdered is a damning indictment of the government’s refusal to act. The disappearances and deaths continue while the state refuses to investigate these cases and bring those responsible to justice, in some cases dismissing suspicious deaths as suicides, and missing women as having run away and “not wanting to be found.”
