[Viva] Fwd: Public Action to Take Place in Montreal Metro for February 14th Annual Event in Honour of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

[Tami Starlight]

For our other colonial white peeps in quebec.
Good stuff and I am posting it because of how different it is in important
ways than what happens out west here on unceded coast salish.

This gender binary, cisgender heteronormative colonial oppression must be
challenged. That also takes place at the memorial march here.

Here is the media release - below.

Hiy Hiy/Thank you/Merci
*Tami M. Starlight*
Unceded Coast Salish Territory
Vancouver, Canada
tamistarlight at gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/CoalitionAgainstTransAntagonism/

https://www.facebook.com/TheAntiOppressionNetworkUncededCoastSalish

https://www.facebook.com/TheAntiONetwork

<https://www.facebook.com/TheAntiONetwork>
http://theantioppressionnetwork.wordpress.com
[image: logo.jpg]

Press release

For immediate release

Public Action to Take Place in Montreal Metro for February 14th Annual
Event in Honour of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

The social phenomenon continues to be largely ignored in Canada and its
solutions underfunded, even after the end of the federal inquiry

Montreal, February 11, 2019 - On February 14, at 5 pm, a public action will
begin on metro platforms from Berri-UQAM to Atwater stations, in honour of
the Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit people who have disappeared or
been murdered in Quebec and Canada as part of the Love in Action
<https://www.facebook.com/events/969685499892053/> event. The evening will
continue at Dawson College with a large community feast where families,
friends and artists will gather to commemorate the lives of those who have
been lost. The event is organized by Missing Justice, a solidarity campaign
of the Centre for Gender Advocacy, in collaboration with Iskweu, a project
of the Montreal Native Women's Shelter.

"This action is intended to educate Montrealers about violence against
Indigenous women, a phenomenon that is still largely ignored; but also to
say that we do not forget these people who have been so brutally
disappeared, to support the families of the victims and to remember that
there is still a long way to go despite the end of the federal inquiry."
explains Dayna Danger, artist and Programming and Campaigns Coordinator at
the Centre for Gender Advocacy.

The disappearances continue

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
<http://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/> (NIMMIWG) was launched by the Liberal
government in 2015 following its campaign promise, and was completed last
December
<http://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/MMIWG_News-Release-Final-Submissions-Ottawa-20181212.pdf>.
However, more than 125 women have been murdered or gone missing since
Justin Trudeau came to power
<https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/mmiwg-list-cases-1.4856500>, and no
fewer than 3 vigils were held in Montreal last month in honour of three
victims.

A lack of time and means

Although the report of the Inquiry is due in April 2019, the commissioners
in charge and several associations criticize the lack of time and resources
<https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/inquiry-extension-ottawa-1.4691903>
allocated by the government to question all the stakeholders and examine in
depth the systemic causes relating to the legal system. Despite the
recommendations made by Quebec Native Women <https://www.faq-qnw.org/> to
Minister Carolyn Bennett, concrete means have yet to be put in place to
pursue investigations and, above all, to reduce ever increasing violence
against Indigenous women.

Indigenous women disproportionate targets of violence

In its January 19th press release
<http://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2019-01-19-Womens-March_EN.pdf>,
NIMMIWG restated that "Indigenous women and girls are the most vulnerable
people in Canada, and are 12 times more likely to be subjected to violence
than non-Indigenous women [...] Indigenous women are disproportionately
affected by violence and discrimination because of underlying factors
including poverty, historic marginalization, racism, and the damaging and
ongoing legacies of colonialism."

Concrete actions needed

There are still many cases of suspicious deaths that are classified as
suicides, and others where the murderer is even released
<https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/gladue-barton-edmonton-first-degree-murder-1.4267195>.
Iskweu <http://www.nwsm.info/iskweu-project/>, one of the projects
specifically set up in Montreal for the active follow-up of investigations
by the Native Women's Shelter, lacks resources. Jessica Quijano, the only
employee of the project, calls for the implementation of concrete actions
as soon as possible, together with other associations: "We've been asking
for years to have a wet shelter and to have resources for Indigenous women,
trans and Two-Spirit to go when they're escaping violence. It's also to be
here in solidarity and it's to give to Indigenous organizations that are
very underfunded by the government and are doing really important work. So
the Native women shelter is one of them. There's PAQ, Project Autochtone of
Quebec who are doing incredible work and they always need assistance."

WHAT

Love in action:

a gathering and community feast to honour the lives of missing and murdered
Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people

WHEN

February 14, 2019

5 pm: Public Action

18h - 20h: Community Feast

WHERE

5 pm: Berri-UQAM station

6 pm: Conrod's Lounge - Dawson College - 4001 de Maisonneuve West

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/969685499892053/

About the February 14th gathering:

This event was founded in Vancouver in 1991 by a group of Indigenous women
and frontline workers in response to police neglect in the case of the
murder of a Coast Salish woman (Coast Salish Peoples). In this 10th year in
Montreal, this gathering will commemorate the lives of women of all origins
who have disappeared or who have been murdered. With an emphasis on
Indigenous women and girls, violence is disproportionately affecting their
communities. This march also seeks to build awareness among the general
population as well as the media on the structural nature of this gendered
and racist violence.

About the Centre for Gender Advocacy

https://genderadvocacy.org/about-us/mandate/

List of initiatives and associations fighting for justice for missing and
murdered Indigenous women:

Sisters in Spirit

Sisters in Spirit is a research, education and policy initiative led by
Indigenous women. The main objective was to conduct research and raise
awareness of alarming rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls
in Canada. The first phase of the SIS initiative, which began in 2005, was
to conduct ongoing research to gather statistical information on violence
against Indigenous women. The research team had developed a sophisticated
database of more than 200 variables.

https://www.nwac.ca/home/policy-areas/violence-prevention-and-safety/sisters-in-spirit/

No more silence

No More Silence aims to develop an inter-national network to support the
work of activists, academics, researchers, agencies and communities to end
the killings and disappearances of indigenous women - you can contact us at
nomoresilenceorg @ gmail.com

http://nomoresilence-nomoresilence.blogspot.com/

Iskweu

The Iskweu project aims to reduce and finally eliminate the number of
missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (also trans and two-spirit
people) in Quebec. It offers support and ensure an adequate response from
institutions when a person disappears. The Iskweu project aims to reduce
barriers to access to support and to obtain an adequate response from the
institutions that have traditionally discriminated against them.

http://www.nwsm.info/iskweu-project/

Walking With Our Sisters

Travelling community art project. In 2012, a call was made to invite people
to create moccasin tops (vamps) to remember and honour the lives of those
who have disappeared in North America. Everywhere, families, loved ones and
allies have come together to create these unique works that bear witness to
the fact that those who have disappeared are not forgotten, but that their
lives have been unjustly interrupted.

http://walkingwithoursisters.ca/

-30-

Media Contacts:

English

Dayna Danger

Programming and Campaigns Coordinator

Centre for Gender Advocacy

438.828.7062

French and English

Jessica Quijano

Coordinator of the Iskweu Project

Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal

514.431.6109
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