About 200 people turned out for the 7th annual National Day of Action rally for missing and murdered indigenous women. The rally called for the United Nations Committee to End Discrimination Against Women to investigate missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada. The Committee’s last investigation was into missing and murdered women in Juarez, Mexico.
The Native Women Association of Canada’s research under the Sisters in Spirit Program reported over 600 murdered or missing indigenous women over the past 30 years. The rally was also an opportunity to remember and honour the lives of indigenous women who have been denied justice and whose stories are often neglected by the mainstream media.
The federal government and the justice system have been indifferent and complicit in the disappearances and deaths of indigenous women. In 2010, the federal government cut funding to the Sisters in Spirit program, which conducted researched and raised awareness of the high rates of violence against Aboriginal Women.
The rally was organized by the February 14th organizing committee which includes No More Silence, The Native Youth Sexual Health Network, and the Native Women’s Resource Centre.
