On February 14th in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver community gathers to remember and honour the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Started 30 years ago as a mother mourned her daughter who was murdered on Powell Street, the annual event winds through the neighbourhood stopping at places where women were last seen or found. The march is an opportunity to be a witness to ceremony and in remembrance alongside family members of those missing or murdered women.
More than 6 in 10 Indigenous women report having been physically or sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime, as do 4 in 10 non-Indigenous women. This number increases greatly for Indigenous women who are gay, lesbian or bisexual to 8 in 10.
About every six days, a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner; this number is increasing under the pandemic. Indigenous women in Canada today are 12 times more likely to be missing or murdered than non-Indigenous women; 16 times more likely than white women.
Four thousand Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people are missing or have been murdered in Canada in the last thirty years.
Our church family will join this event on our journey towards Reconciliation…
Where: Meet in front of First United Church at the corner of East Hastings Street and Gore (just down the street from where the event launches and where ceremony with families and friends of the missing and murdered begins prior to our arrival), on unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories. Please sign up here or see me, Jaqueline Crummey, at the welcome table after worship to sign up.
NOTE: The intersection of Main and Hastings will be closed for opening ceremony. Plan ahead for transit and parking accordingly.
When: 12noon to about 2pm – We will gather at 12noon and wait for the witnessing portion to begin soon thereafter
What to Wear: The colours for this event are RED and/or BLACK, NOT orange.
It is likely to rain, so please be prepared. Rhian or I will have a leopard print umbrella to help you find us.
How: After family speeches are done, at approximately noon, the elders and families will gather for a prayer. Then the march takes to the streets and proceeds through the Downtown Eastside with stops to commemorate where women were last seen or found. (Only authorized photography is permitted at these ceremonies, so please set aside your camera.)
The Women’s Memorial March is, above all, a ceremony of grief and remembrance. For that reason, organizers discourage any signs/banners that would detract from that—no protest signs, no signs that draw attention to specific groups or organizations. We’ll see signs/artwork to remember specific loved ones lost—very personal expressions, made by the friends and families of the women we gather to remember.
No one walks ahead of the Elders that lead the march and hold ceremony at specific stops along the way. Elders are followed by the family, friends and community. We are part of the public who then follow near the back of the march, as witnesses. We will show respect to the volunteer guardians that guide walkers along the way. We will look out for each other with kindness. The guardians (who wear safety vests and walk along the edges of the march route) can answer any questions you may have on the day.
We invite you to:
1. DONATE: We hope to raise $1,000 to pay for the blankets given to grieving families at the opening ceremony of remembrance at the march. Donate at https://pushpay.com/g/standrewswesley
2. LEARN: Read the 2021 Missing and Murdered Indigenous, Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan: Ending Violence. https://mmiwg2splus-nationalactionplan.ca/
3. ATTEND: Online and in-person with us on Tuesday, February 14th from noon to 2pm. We will follow the protocols in a good way by walking behind the women elders, families and drummers, following directions of the marshals, not taking photos of the ceremonies and not carrying any banners, only signs that honour women’s lives. We’ll join the gathering to march midday from Main & Hastings intersection, Unceded Coast Salish Territories. We are in conversation with organizers to be sure we do so in a good way.
