Annual Women’s Memorial March draws hundreds to downtown Vancouver | 24CA News

Hundreds of individuals gathered in downtown Vancouver Tuesday to honour the lives of lacking and murdered Indigenous ladies, women, trans and two-spirit folks on the thirty second annual Women’s Memorial March.

The march takes place yearly on Feb. 14 to pay respects to those that have been misplaced to colonial violence and to name on elected officers to forestall additional tragedy with significant motion.

At the intersection of Main and Hastings streets, a sea of red-clad marchers, many holding indicators with photos of their misplaced family members, made their approach via the Downtown Eastside, stopping at factors the place these lacking and murdered had been final seen or the place their our bodies had been discovered.

1:21‘I don’t assume we will wait any longer’: Women’s Memorial March organizer requires politicians to get entangled

“With over 5,000 women missing from upper Turtle Island, I don’t think we can wait any longer. We can’t wait any longer for the folks who can create change to come out here and be part of these movements,” March Committee member Grace Howse stated.

“I think if we’re allowed to continue to raise our voices, amplify our voices around the missing and murdered, what we end up doing is building these community pieces. But this isn’t a community, not until we have the politicians involved, until we have some change-makers involved in this process with us.”

Research executed by the Native Women’s Association of Canada exhibits there might be as many as 4,000 lacking and murdered Indigenous ladies and women nationwide.

Statistics Canada exhibits that from 2015-2020, the common murder price involving Indigenous victims was six instances increased than the murder price involving non-Indigenous victims. The price of sexual and bodily violence in opposition to LGBTQ2+ Indigenous folks can be considerably increased than in opposition to non-LGBTQ2+ Indigenous folks. They had been additionally about twice extra more likely to have “little or no confidence” of their native police service, Statistics Canada discovered.

“The march happens annually, every year. But that’s not progress, that’s us sticking to our movement,” Howse stated.

“I don’t feel hopeful we have been making big strides.”

Over the course of the final yr, the disappearances and deaths of Chelsea Poorman, Noelle ‘Ellie’ O’Soup and Tatyanna Harrison despatched shockwaves throughout the Lower Mainland, with critics questioning if every case was correctly investigated and the way police prioritize Indigenous and weak lacking individuals circumstances.

Family members of Poorman, Harrison and O’Soup have additionally publicly raised doubts about how potential suggestions are handled and the way info is shared between policing jurisdictions. The households have held a number of joint vigils calling for police accountability.

2:18Vigil held for Tatyanna Harrison, Chelsea Poorman and Noelle O’Soup

In 2019, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls launched a 1,200 web page report with 231 calls to justice geared toward ending genocide. Ottawa has additionally earmarked $2.2 billion over 5 years and $160.9 million every year to assist tackle the disaster.

Howse stated far more must be executed, and referred to as on native politicians in Metro Vancouver to participate within the march as a place to begin.

“I think they would be able to hear the voices of the family members and just have that resonate with them,” she stated.

“But, we don’t see them here participating in these movements, which is really disheartening.”

3:43Wanted by police: New particulars on man discovered useless in Vancouver unit the place Noelle O’Soup’s physique discovered

– with information from Sarah MacDonald and Elizabeth McSheffrey, Global News

&copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.