Indigenous women face among the highest rates of violence in Canada.
The 5th Annual Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women will be held on Sunday, Feb. 17.
We will gather at 11 a.m. outside Our Place at 919Pandora Ave. At noon we will march down Pandora to Government and on toThunderbird Park.
People are invited to gather at Thunderbird Park around 1p.m. for an open memorial event with speeches, songs, food, and prayers.
This is a family event and people of all ages are welcome. There will be vans to support Elders or those requiring assistance along the march, as well as bus tickets.
The Memorial March originated 22 years ago on Feb. 14 in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The march calls attention to the disproportionately high numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous women from this neighbourhood.
Today, this march has come to represent a time for remembering, grieving, honouring, and seeking answers for Indigenous communities and their allies across Canada. This march is a time to stand in solidarity with the families whose loved ones have gone missing and been murdered from Vancouver Island and beyond.
According to the Native Women’s Association of Canada’s 2010 report, there are more than 600 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. Of these deaths, nearly half of the murder cases remain unsolved.
Rates of violence against Indigenous women are highest in British Columbia with 28 per cent of the cases of missing and murdered women occurring here.
This is a memorial march. People are invited to wear red, or regalia, and to bring drums. The Memorial March organizers stand in solidarity and friendship with the Idle No More movement and call on our brothers, sisters, and supporters across the globe to make the sacredness of the lives of Indigenous women and girls a priority.
Violence against Indigenous women implicates all people who make home in today’s “Canada.” This year, let us walk to honour those who are missing and murdered, and say that today, this violence must stop with us.
