Missing Justice would like to invite you to a Panel Discussion on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 6pm at the Exode in Cegep du Vieux Montreal, 255 Ontario St. East. The panel will feature Jessica Yee, Janie Jameson and Rachel Alouki Labbé who will speak about various injustices being committed against Indigenous Women in Canada, as well as forms of empowerment they employ in combatting and rejecting these injustices.
Jessica Yee is a multi-racial woman of Chinese-Mohawk decent and was named the YMCA Young Woman of Distinction of 2009 for her activism and writing about Indigenous youth. She is the founder of Native Youth Sexual Health Network which works for healthy sexuality, cultural competency, youth empowerment, and reproductive justice for and by Indigenous youth. Presently, Jessica is working with the Sexual Health Education and Pleasure Project and is a youth coordinator for the Highway of Tears Initiative. Jessica will join us on February 11th to speak about her education efforts and work with in First Nations communities.
Rachel Alouki Labbé is an Abenaki woman, who grew up in a Kanesatake Mohawk community. Rachel is a film producer and director; she says that in her films, she strives overcome prejudices and to convey the strength and beauty of First Peoples. With her interests stemming from the First Nation communities here in Quebec, she now does work with Indigenous people throughout the world. Rachel is the founder of Alouki Films and recently released a documentary called Désert de Croix which explores the Femicide in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Rachel will join us to show and speak about her recent documentary as well as to address the issues affecting First Nations in Quebec.
Janie Jamieson is a Mohawk Six Nations Activist who has been very engaged and outspoken about Indigenous Land Rights. She is also the niece of Cythia Jamieson, one of the murdered. Janie will join us to share her personal experience of losing a loved one to these injustices and to share her thoughts about wisdom and her activism.
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The 1st Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Montreal will take place on Sunday February 14th at 1:30pm/ 13h30 at Parc Emilie- Gamelin, Montreal- corner of St. Hubert and Berri St. We will then walk north on Hubert St., west on Ontario St. and north on St. Laurent to Parc des Ameriques (Rachel and St. Laurent)
The Memorial March for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women first began in 1991 after the murder of a woman, whose name is not spoken today out of respect for her family’s wishes, on Powell St., Vancouver. Out of frustration and desperation, the people of the Vancouver community organized an annual march on Valentine’s Day to express compassion, community, and caring to all women in Vancouver.
Since 1991, the Memorial March has spread across Canada, this year with groups in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, London, Sudbury, Toronto, and now for the first time Montreal. The march honors and commemorates Indigenous women in particular who face physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual violence on a daily basis.
We would like to invite all those who have lost loved ones, sisters, mothers, cousins, best friends and other close relatives, to lead Montreal’s First Annual Commemorative March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. This is an optional, open invitation meant to honor the families and loved ones who experience daily the tragedy of their loss, and to honor their lead in the struggle to heal and bring justice to the lives and memories of loved ones.
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