[IPSM] Fwd: Letter from the February 14th Women’s Memorial March Committee regarding National Coor dination

[stef at tao.ca]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
From:    "Harsha W." <harsha at resist.ca>
Date:    Thu, December 3, 2009 7:36 pm
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Honouring Missing and Murdered Women: Their Spirits Live Within Us

Letter from the February 14th Women’s Memorial March Committee regarding
National Coordination

Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories, December 3, 2009 -
The Annual Women's Memorial March for Murdered and Missing Women began in
Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Coast Salish Territories, when in January
1991 a woman was murdered on Powell Street. This woman’s murder was the
catalyst that moved women into action. Out of a sense of hopelessness,
grief, and anger came an annual march on Valentine's Day to express
community and caring for all women in the Downtown Eastside.

Nineteen years later, the march continues to honour the lives of missing
and murdered women in this neighbourhood.  The heinous and unimaginable
violence that have taken the lives of so many of our beloved sisters has
left a deep void in our hearts. Every year the list of women going missing
also increases. This is why we gather to mourn and remember our sisters -
by listening to their family members, by taking over the streets, and
through spiritual ceremonies.

Over the years, this march has expanded to cities across Canada, as well
as internationally. Increasing numbers of deaths of marginalized women,
especially Indigenous women across the world, continues to leave family,
friends, and loved ones with an overwhelming sense of loss. Over 3000
women are known to have gone missing or been murdered in Canada since
1980. Last year, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women issued this statement: “Hundreds of cases
involving aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered in the
past two decades have neither been fully investigated nor attracted
priority attention.”

The February 14th Women’s Memorial March is an opportunity for all cities
and communities to come together to grieve the loss of our beloved sisters
and remember the women who are still missing. We encourage all women to
journey and heal together by organizing memorials on this day because
women face physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual violence on a daily
basis. Violence against women is always unacceptable; every life is
precious and we must continue to honour and work for justice for murdered
and missing women.

*** If you are organizing a memorial please email us the details at
marlene.george at vancouver.ca so we can maintain communication, compile the
information, and build strength in our coordinated efforts. Thank you all
for your support and commitment.