by Amanda Siebert on December 21st, 2016 at 11:33 AM
For almost 40 years, Fay Blaney has worked tirelessly to bring to light the disproportionate level of violence faced by indigenous women in Canada.
“They are looking at colonization, and putting families first, and ‘systemic violence’—none of which are gender-specific,” the former UBC and Langara women’s-studies instructor tells the Georgia Straight during an interview at the Carnegie Centre. “There has yet to be any examination of male violence against women.”
In 2016, Blaney organized three national gatherings on the inquiry: on International Women’s Day (March 8), Aboriginal Day (June 21), and the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre (December 6).
Blaney likens these events to “feminism 101”, where she and other indigenous women—some from the Aboriginal Women’s Action Network (AWAN), of which she is a founding member—act as facilitators to raise awareness and gather information from the community.
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