Ghosts of Indigenous activism past, present, future: #IdleNoMore’s transformative potential
Earlier this week, from Goose Bay to Yellowknife, thousands of Nehiyaw, Dene, Metis peoples (joined by Canadians supportive of them) gathered in front of provincial legislatures, constituency and Aboriginal Affairs offices. They sang honour songs, danced jigs, and waved their flags and homemade protest signs out in the cold and the wind. This hash-tag movement...
VIDEO: “Survival, Strength, Sisterhood” tells 20 year story of BC’s missing/murdered women march
Appreciated energy behind this community-centered documentary telling the two-decades long history behind Vancouver’s annual march — now thousands-strong — in memory of murdered or missing women from the Downtown Eastside, “a neighbourhood deeply misunderstood.” Co-creators Alejandro Zuluaga and Harsha Walia have produced a doc that earnestly explores the “realities of women organizing for justice,” as...
Lead Pickton investigator may’ve broken silence, but all-but-omits key fact
In a special letter to today’s Vancouver Sun entitled “Top Robert Pickton cop in his own words,” retired RCMP inspector Don Adam attempts to respond to the mountain of criticisms over the RCMP-Vancouver Police Missing Women Task Force’s handling of the investigation into this convicted serial killer. As head of the so-called ‘Pickton investigation,’ Adam...
Canada-wide vigils tonight in honour of missing and murdered Aboriginal women
Today, over 70 communities across Canada are solemnly holding vigils for hundreds of missing and murdered Aboriginal women. As part of the Sisters in Spirit national campaign spearheaded by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, the vigils call to national attention and action the continued tragedy of Aboriginal women’s over-representation in female disappearances and homicides...
AUDIO: Interview with David Hugill, author of ‘Missing Women, Missing News’
Last week, I caught a fascinating presentation at the University of Manitoba by David Hugill about his new book, Missing Women, Missing News: Covering Crisis in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. According to the publisher’s blurb, Hugill’s book ”examines newspaper coverage of the arrest and trial of Robert Pickton, the man charged with murdering 26 street-level sex workers from...
Does the war against Aboriginal women begin at home?
Events of recent weeks have repeatedly reminded me of some long-standing questions I’ve had surrounding the obligations of Aboriginal communities to their members, in particular, to their female members. These reminders have come as a series of three news stories, published separately but seemingly tied together by one underlying theme, one I am loath to...
Reported cases of missing / murdered Aboriginal women “just the tip of the iceberg”
Indian Country Today recently put out its first in a four-part series about the fight to “prevent the widespread violence against First Nations women and girls” in Canada. “Trafficking our children” begins with the harrowing description of how one 11-year-old was forced into the sex trade on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, an all-too-familiar example of how...
Mapping the Missing and Murdered
In an attempt to both raise awareness and possibly assist with the investigation of missing and murdered Aboriginal women in this country, I have drawn on the power of Google Maps. It is simply scandalous that, as of July 2009, the past three decades have seen over 520 indigenous women disappear or die violently in...
Throne Speech Pledges “Steps to Endorse” UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights
Well, that was certainly unexpected.. In her much anticipated Speech from the Throne, Canada’s Governor General Michaelle Jean stated the following: “We are a country with an Aboriginal heritage. A growing number of states have given qualified recognition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Our Government will take steps to...
