No more stolen sisters: Memorial events in London, Ontario

Feb 17, 2011

No more stolen sisters: Memorial events in London, Ontario

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February 14th is a national day of action for missing and murdered indigenous women.

At the University of Western Ontario campus V-Day Western held a die-in inside the atrium of the "Community Centre" building.

Immediately afterwards, there was a Sisters in Spirit rally, march, and indoor gathering in downtown London, Ontario.  (These downtown events were the first to be organized locally.)

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The call-out from the Sisters and Spirit organizers included the following statement -

According to research conducted under the Native Women Association of
Canada’s (NWAC) Sisters in Spirit project, over 580 Indigenous women
have been murdered or gone missing, most of them over the last 30 years.
Despite the clear evidence that this is an ongoing issue, the federal govern-
ment decided in Fall of 2010 to end funding to Sisters in Spirit. In a move to
detract attention from this cut, Rona Ambrose announced a $10 million fund
to be put primarily towards creating a central RCMP missing person centre. It
is evident that few of those in power have a genuine interest in ending the
violence against Indigenous women. On February 14th, we come together
in solidarity with the women who started this vigil in the Downtown East-
side of Vancouver, and with the marches and rallies that will be taking place
across this land. We stand in defence of our lives and to demonstrate
against the complicity of the state in the ongoing genocide of Indigenous
women and the impunity of state institutions and actors (police, RCMP,
coroners’ offices, the courts, and an indifferent federal government) that
prevents justice for all Indigenous Peoples.

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These words were part of the V-Day organizers'  announcement -

Young Indigenous women are five times more likely than other women of the same age to die as the result of violence.

There is no excuse for government inaction or non-thorough police investigation.

In the last two decades over 500 indigenous women have disappeared or been murdered.

REMEMBER OUR SISTERS

Join us to commemorate, write letters and demand justice for our indigenous sisters, until the violence stops!