By admin | Published:
March 12, 2010
forwarded by: gen.rail@concordia.ca
facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=381860521973
–Please forward widely–
Dear colleagues:
I received an urgent message from Lisa Montgomery (associated to the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal) and have basically pasted info from it in the paragraphs and sentences that follow.
The Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal is in need of our help. They need a physical presence at a women’s policy meeting with Michael Ignatieff scheduled this coming Sunday to support the shelter as they present a brief and look for political support from members of parliament.
As you may know, in celebration of International Women’s week Mr. Harper et al. have just cut funding to the Aboriginal Healing Program. This program is to deal with residential school fall out (intergenerational effects of psychological, addiction, physical abuse). The Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal will see a catastrophic reduction in funding due to this cut. This will result in the removal of aboriginal cultural programming on health and healing, not to mention that the positions being cut are occupied by aboriginal women themselves. This move contradicts the thrown speech not to mention all of the Conservatives boasting vis-a-vis aboriginals, employment and womens’ issues. Read More »
By admin | Published:
March 7, 2010
FEMMES AUTOCHTONES DU QUÉBEC INC.
QUEBEC NATIVE WOMEN INC.
March 4, 2010
QNW would like to comment on the Governor General’s speech from the Throne in hopes that clarifications may be made regarding important issues impacting Indigenous women and our communities. We are pleased to hear mention of the research project Sisters In Spirit but are concerned regarding the vagueness in her Excellency’s speech as to how the Government of Canada proposes to address the issue of murdered and missing Aboriginal women. The factors responsible for the flagrant abuse of Aboriginal women’s rights in Canadian society such as poverty, status or the lack thereof, violence in all its forms, etc, are all linked to the implementation of the archaic Indian Act.
The double discrimination of Aboriginal women can also be linked to a lack of political will motivated by an apathetic attitude to profoundly change the Indian Act. Read More »
By admin | Published:
March 5, 2010
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2010/04/c7220.html
OTTAWA, March 4 /CNW Telbec/ - The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is encouraged by the federal government’s pledge of 10 million dollars in funding over a period of two years, to address the disturbingly high number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada.
The federal budget noted the particular challenges faced by Aboriginal women in accessing the justice system. By addressing the vulnerability to violence experienced by Aboriginal women, the federal government made a firm commitment to take concrete actions to ensure that law enforcement and the justice system meet the needs of Aboriginal women and their families.
While the specific details pertaining to how this funding will be allocated are still unknown, NWAC is pleased to learn that the Harper Government has made the fundamental human rights of Aboriginal women a priority. Read More »
By admin | Published:
March 5, 2010
By JOE BELANGER, THE LONDON FREE PRESS
A 16-year-old girl whose frozen body was found outside a childcare centre in a native community west of London will be buried Thursday.
Meanwhile, police continue to investigate how Sierra Phillips of Oneida First Nation ended up at the centre on Saturday.
Sources say she had been at a party Friday night and was dropped off near the child-care centre early Saturday.
Her body was found Saturday evening. Investigators were to review security camera videos to help piece together events. Read More »
By admin | Published:
February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14th. About 200 braved the cold, gathered at Berri Square and quietly (except for a lone drum), marched all the way to Parc des Ameriques holding white hearts and signs: “3000 stories untold.”
Read More »
Posted in Events, Marches |
By admin | Published:
February 14, 2010
With guest speakers Jessica Yee, Janie Jamieson, and Rachel Alouki-Labbe.
Read More »
By admin | Published:
February 13, 2010
http://news.globaltv.com/story.html?id=2559398
Mia Rabson, Winnipeg Free Press: Saturday, February 13, 2010
OTTAWA — Missing and murdered women in Canada will be remembered Sunday in memorial that marches across the country.
But the occasion may also become a memorial for a government-funded research project that put a spotlight on the hundreds of aboriginal women who have gone missing or were murdered in this country.
Federal funding for the Sisters in Spirit initiative of the Native Women’s Association of Canada runs out March 31, and the federal government has not given the group any indication whether its mandate will be extended.
“We haven’t heard anything,” said Sisters in Spirit director Kate Rexe. “The government is silent on the issue.”
With a grant of $5 million, Sisters in Spirit has spent the past five years compiling a database of more than 520 women who have disappeared or been killed over the past four decades.
The group has developed policies and programs it says are meant to help stop the cycle of violence.
Rexe said the agency is prepared to begin implementing policies and community programs aimed at three specific areas — the justice system, child welfare and poverty. But that’s been on hold for months because Ottawa won’t say if it plans to keep funding the work. Read More »
By admin | Published:
January 26, 2010
Missing Justice would like to invite you to a Panel Discussion on February 11th, 2010 at 6pm at the Exode in Cegep du Vieux Montreal, 255 Ontario St. East. The panel will feature Jessica Yee, Janie Jamieson, and Rachel Alouki Labbe as we continue to educate and become aware of the injustices being committed to the Indigenous Women of Canada. Read More »
 |
| Bea Kwaronhiahawi Barnes. |
The Montreal Police are asking for the public’s help in locating 17-year-old Bea Kwaronhiahawi Barnes, who was last seen on January 5. Police say she requires medication which she does not have with her. Police said they believe she is in the Chateauguay area. She was wearing a beige and white checked coat and beige boots when she was last seen. She has brown hair and brown eyes and is 5’5” and weighs about 200 pounds. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is being asked to call 514-393-1133.
By admin | Published:
December 17, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(WINNIPEG MB, December 15, 2009) “There is no question – absolutely no question – that we are going to put violence against women at the centre of this country’s agenda, starting right now,” said Suzanne Dzus of Calgary.
Ms. Dzus made this compelling declaration following a day long meeting of women anti-violence advocates held at the Manitoba Status of Women offices in Winnipeg on Saturday. The women are key organizers of Missing and Murdered Women Memorial marches held in communities across British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.
Women at this first-time meeting know full well that Canada has a very long history of hiding its dirty secrets when it comes to violence against women in general and Aboriginal women specifically, as Aboriginal women are disproportionally represented among the missing and murdered women in Canada. Read More »
