Valentine's day is a good time to remember our missing sisters - the murdered and missing Aboriginal women in Canada (over 500 in the past twenty years). Today was the fourth time an annual rally was organized in Toronto by a group called No More Silence.
People gathered first at the Toronto Police headquarters where a smudge was offered and a small ceremony held. The location was chosen because of the police indifference in cases involving violence against Aboriginal women - for example, it took almost twenty years before police in Vancouver started properly investigating the disappearance of about 50 women in the city, most of whom were Aboriginal.From the police headquarters, the rally walked - escorted by bicycle police - to the Coroner's office where more speeches and songs took place. Aboriginal women in Canada are at least five times more likely than all other women to die as a result of violence. Besides the lack of proper police reporting and investigation, Amnesty International emphasizes that the social and economic marginalization of Aboriginal women places far too many women in harm's way.
