Sisters in Spirit are walking again with other aboriginal women from Vancouver to parliament hill, seeking justice and solutions for the extreme violence against aboriginal women, especially the many women who have just disappeared across the country. Ottawa Unitarians provided dinner for the final feast on September 19th, 2011.
As they walked, more and more people came forward to tell their stories. Between June 21st and November 19th, 36 more names were added to the list. While 75% of all murders are solved, only 35% of the 720 cases of aboriginal women gone missing or murdered are solved. It is a national tragedy. The women spoke of their grief from violence in their own communities. They also spoke of the on-going racism and hatred in the wider society where native women are treated as non-persons who don’t matter. They couldn’t understand why people were getting such short sentences (9 years and serving only 4) when they had killed someone’s mother, or sister, or daughter. Why does society consider this violence acceptable?
Sisters in spirit seeks justice and change:
- A national task force on justice for missing aboriginal women
- Stop the cuts to aboriginal social services
- funding for healing centres in every aboriginal community
- Equal treatment and priority of investigation by local police forces across the country when aboriginal women go missing or are murdered.