[opirgyork] TODAY - Free Event "Building a Highway of Hope" w Director Jessica Yee

[OPIRG York]

Wednesday February 10, 2010.
5:30pm-8pm
Rm: 322 Student Centre

The Centre for Women and Trans People will be screening "Building a 
Highway of Hope" and bringing in director Jessica Yee to discuss her 
film, the racism and colonialism behind the silence and inaction 
surrounding the hundreds of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and 
the rally being held on Sunday February 14 to demand justice for these 
women.

We will have the pleasure of hearing activist Jessica Yee discuss the 
importance of breaking the silence around missing and murdered 
Aboriginal women. After showing her film, Yee will be available for 
questions and discussion and refreshments will be served. At this talk 
and film screening we will also discuss the importance of attending the 
rally on Sunday February 14th, where people across the city will come 
together in defense of the lives of Aboriginal women and to demonstrate 
the complicity of the state and its institutions (police, RCMP, 
coroners’ offices and the courts) in the ongoing genocide of Indigenous 
peoples.

"Building a Highway of Hope"

**About the Highway of Tears**
The Highway of Tears has taken generations of Aboriginal people away 
from their families forever, leaving many unsolved murders and 
disappearances in its vicious path. Officially known as Yellowhead Trail 
16 in British Columbia, police claim it has taken the lives of 18 women, 
but the surrounding communities estimate that number is upwards of 30 
over the past 35 years. Stretching from Prince Rupert to Prince George, 
and now going into parts of Alberta, one 724-kilometre road has managed 
to inflict enormous amounts of pain and caused unimaginable suffering 
for countless mothers, sisters, brothers, aunties, and friends.

**About the film**
A 2006 symposium held in response to the communities’ demands for action 
in response to the numerous deaths connected to this aptly named section 
of Highway 16 yielded 33 recommendations that address the need for 
physical human services. The Highway of Tears Initiative was born out of 
the recommendations to engage youth and create sustainable opportunities 
for healing.

When dealing with one of the most devastating travesties in the history 
of violence against women in Canada, it is time to arm ourselves with 
enough power
of our culture and strength of our youth, to lead the way to end these 
cycles of violence.

Chronicling the HoT Initiative in seven communities within a two-year 
time span, Building a Highway of Hope gives voice to what is not often 
seen or reported about - what youth are doing to effect positive change; 
by reconstructing a Highway of Hope.

Produced by: The Highway of Tears Initiative
Filmed and Directed by: Jessica Yee
Edited by: Tor Sandberg

*****Jessica Yee******

Jessican Yee, 23 years old and Two-Spirited from the Mohawk Nation was 
named 2009 YWCA Young Woman of Distinction, is founder of the Native 
Youth Sexual Health Network and a tireless activist.

---------------

also - PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY...

5th Annual Rally for Our Missing Sisters

When: Sunday, February 14, 2009 @ 12 pm
Where: Rally at Police HQ, 40 College St. at Bay

We'll march to the Coroner’s Office, 26 Grenville St. Gathering with 
food immediately to follow at U of T’s Centre for Women and Trans People 
(563 Spadina Ave)

Over 500 Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing – most over 
the last 30 years – on Turtle Island. We come together in defense 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 and the courts) 
that prevents justice for all Indigenous Peoples.

Endorsed by: YU Free Press (York University); Centre for Women and Trans 
People (UofT); Canadian Chiapanecas Justice for Women; For Women’s 
Autonomy, Rights and Dignity (FORWARD); No One Is Illegal-Toronto; 
CAW-Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy (Ryerson U); 
Supporting Aboriginal Graduate Enhancement (SAGE, UofT); Women and 
Gender Studies Institute (UofT); Students Against Israeli Apartheid (UofT)

*If your organization would like to endorse and/or support the rally in 
other ways, please contact: nomoresilence at riseup.net

No More Silence is part of an inter/national network to support the work 
being done by activists, academics, researchers, agencies and 
communities to stop the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women.

In addition to the Toronto rally, marches and other events will take or 
have taken place in Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, 
Sudbury, and London, ON.
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