Women's Memorial Marches
Marches Honour Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirited People
Memorial March,
Vancouver, February 14, 2024
On February 14, memorial marches and ceremonies took place in more than 17 towns and cities across Canada, in the main organized by the friends and families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people. Marches were held in Nanaimo, Victoria, Vancouver, Terrace, Merritt, Prince George, Lethbridge, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Kenora, Thunder Bay, London, Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and other places.
These marches honour the lives of those murdered and missing, as well as demand justice and an end to state-organized violence against Indigenous Peoples.
The first Women's Memorial March, in Vancouver in 1992, began out of anger at the refusal of the government and its agencies to act to stop the murder and disappearance of Indigenous women and girls from the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood of Vancouver and in response to yet another brutal murder in the area. The scale of this genocide against Indigenous women and girls can be measured by the fact that between 1992 and 2019 there have been 970 women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing in the Downtown Eastside alone.
From November 2015 -- when the Trudeau government came to power with its promises to end the violence and establish a new relationship with Indigenous Peoples -- to the end of 2021, at least 227 Indigenous women and girls have been murdered. In 2022, Aboriginal Alert alone posted over 600 missing alerts for Indigenous women and girls, 76 of whom were still missing a year later and 15 of whom were reported deceased. The number of those missing and murdered is a damning indictment of the government's refusal to act.
The dehumanization which makes this violence possible is clearly illustrated in Winnipeg, where families have now been camping for more than a year at the Brady landfill, seeking justice for their loved ones whose bodies have been disappeared amongst the garbage there, demanding the landfill be searched.
These killings and disappearances take place under conditions of state-organized racist violence and genocidal violation of treaty and hereditary rights carried out under the guise of lofty ideals. Genocidal aims have imbued the official colonial policy towards Indigenous Peoples since the creation of Canada, in which Indigenous women in particular are considered easy prey. These crimes must end and Canada must redress them and uphold nation-to-nation relations with Indigenous Peoples.
Vancouver
In Vancouver thousands took to the streets for the 33rd annual march. This year the march was led by the youth. The march began at Main and Hastings and made its way through the Downtown Eastside, making stops and laying flowers where missing and murdered women and girls were last seen or where their bodies were found. The march closed with speeches and a healing circle at Oppenheimer Park, followed by a community feast.
Victoria
Some 600 people took part in the 14th annual Stolen Sisters Memorial March held on February 10, gathering at Our Place and marching to the BC Legislature.
Speaking to the violence against Indigenous women and girls Gina Mowatt, from the Gitxsan nation, said: "We have to look at the root of this violence in the face ... Part of the goal [of colonization] is to destroy our knowledge systems, our kinship systems, our legal orders, our governance systems, our sovereignty. And gender-based violence plays a huge role in that."
Prince George
On a cold and windy winter afternoon, hundreds of community members from all walks of life marched from the Prince George Native Friendship Centre through downtown to the Courthouse, raising their voices in a powerful Women's Memorial March and Healing Fire calling for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and for all women, children, men and everyone facing violence. Drumming, singing and moving presentations were accompanied by sharing food, clothing and other necessities with those experiencing homelessness, poverty and other life challenges.
Toronto
In Toronto some four hundred people gathered outside Toronto Police headquarters for the 19th annual strawberry ceremony. The ceremony takes place at police headquarters, "the epicentre of the enactment of colonial violence on Indigenous peoples," the callout for the event says.
The ceremony, organizers state, "is to honour, grieve and remember missing and murdered loved ones who have otherwise been made invisible," with family members of women who have been murdered or gone missing recounting their stories. As this year's ceremony began, an organizer spoke to the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people, saying "genocide takes different forms" here and in Palestine and that "our hearts are with our cousins in Palestine."
This article was published in
Volume 54
Numbers 1-2 - January - February 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/M5400119.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca