Missing and Murdered Women: First Nations

Showing posts with label First Nations. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 15

Are the feds foot-dragging on fund for murdered women? asks Crey

Published: June 15, 2010 9:00 AM

It's been six months and still no word.

Chilliwack resident Ernie Crey is asking when the federal government will announce specific plans for the $10 million fund set aside to address the issue of murdered and missing women.

Ernie's sister, Dawn Crey, a member of the Cheam First Nation, vanished from the streets of Vancouver's downtown eastside in the fall of 2000. Her DNA was found by police in 2004 during their investigation of a property owned by the family of convicted killer, Robert 'Willie' Pickton.

"Although I was unsure about how the government intended to use the money, I was pleased they set aside the funds to address the issue of murdered and missing women," Crey said.

"Given that six months have gone by since the federal government announced the $10 million, I am not convinced they have come up with a plan yet."

Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl was out of the country and not available for comment said INAC press secretary Michelle Yao.

"But I can tell you that our government is committed to ensuring that all women in Canada, including Aboriginal women, are safe and secure regardless of the community in which they live," she wrote in an e-mailed statement to the Progress.

In terms of the $10 million investment announced in the 2010 federal budget, Yao said the government "continues to work in partnership with provincial and territorial governments, Aboriginal people, and other stakeholders to develop more effective and appropriate solutions and to establish collaborative responses to this pressing matter, including improved police investigations.

"I want to reinforce that concrete actions will be taken to ensure that law enforcement and the justice system meet the needs of Aboriginal women and their families."

But the delay is unacceptable, said Crey.

"This is disheartening for the families of the murdered and missing women across Canada because there are so many worthy women’s organizations in desperate need of resources to continue their good work with vulnerable woman like my sister Dawn," said Crey.

People are growing impatient with "the foot dragging and apparent secrecy" surrounding the fund, and Crey hopes they'll be announcing a plan shortly.

"I can’t stop thinking about my sister and wonder if one day someone will be charged in connection with her death," Crey wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Steven Harper. "My brothers and sisters seldom speak about Dawn because they are deeply troubled about her final days and the circumstances under which she disappeared. Eventually, I may just have to accept the fact that Dawn is gone and that no one will ever be held accountable for her disappearance. In the meantime, I await the results of an on-going police investigation."

He gives the feds the benefit of the doubt to some extent in his letter.

"It may be that the $10 million is already in play, going to worthy organizations working on behalf of vulnerable women like my sister Dawn. If the money is being put to good use, I think your government should simply explain how the fund is managed and publicize the names of the organizations receiving support."

jfeinberg@theprogress.com

Sunday, February 14

Stolen Sisters march a declaration of love

Missing aboriginal women 'lost but not forgotten,' participants say

By Katie DeRosa, Times Colonist

February 14, 2010 6:48 PM

Stolen Sisters Memorial March participants follow banner on Pandora Avenue on Sunday.

Photograph by: Adrian Lam, Times Colonist

To the sounds of First Nations drumming and a mournful version of Amazing Grace, an estimated 200 people remembered missing and murdered indigenous women at Thunderbird Park Sunday.

“We came to support and pray with other people,” said Joanne Young, who held a poster of a smiling girl with dark hair — her daughter Lisa Marie Young. Lisa Marie, then 21, disappeared in Nanaimo in 2002 after accepting a ride home from a nightclub with a stranger.

Victoria’s Stolen Sisters memorial march was one of 10 such events that took place across Canada. The local march, organized by the Native Students Union at the University of Victoria, began outside the Our Place drop-in centre on Pandora Avenue near Vancouver Street at 11 a.m. and culminated at Thunderbird Park on Belleville Street near the Royal B.C. Museum around 1 p.m.

Joanne Young and Lisa Marie’s grandmother, Cecelia Arnet, say they are tortured by the fact that her body has never been found and no one has ever been charged in her disappearance. They say that pain unites them with the other people walking in the march, as well as a shared wish that justice will be done.

Marchers, many of whom held signs that said “Lost but not forgotten,” stopped at two places on Government Street where indigenous women were last seen before they disappeared. They also paused to remember 20-year-old Ariana May Simpson, who was pushed in front of a bus at the corner of Pandora Avenue and Quadra Street last February.

Trish Pal of the Native Students Union said Valentine’s Day was chosen for the march because it’s “a day to show our love, so we show our love to these women.”

Fifty-five-year old Maxine Little said she brought her five grandchildren, ages four months to 10 years, so they can understand some of the issues facing indigenous women.

“I’ve been telling them about the ladies who have been going missing,” she said. “We’re thinking about them today.”

Janet Rogers, a co-organizer of the event, said she hopes the march will pressure the B.C. government into taking the issue of missing women seriously, especially given that 18 women have disappeared or been killed along the so-called “Highway of Tears” between Prince George and Prince Rupert.

“For this government to not respond to this issue is an act of prejudice,” she said.

kderosa@tc.canwest.com

Crowd gathers to remember missing Vancouver women

The Canadian Press

Date: Sunday Feb. 14, 2010 8:51 PM ET

VANCOUVER — More than a thousand people took time off from Olympic celebrations Sunday to remember women who have gone missing, honouring them with a march through the city's gritty Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.

Every Valentines Day for the last 19 years, family and friends of missing and murdered women have been marching in memory of their loved ones.

On Sunday, about 1,200 people in Vancouver followed the drumming of female First Nations elders on the march, a crowd size not reached even in the years after serial killer Robert Pickton was arrested and convicted for murdering women from the area.

Maggie de Vries' sister Sarah went missing from the Downtown Eastside in 1998. She told the media before the march began that the Olympics allows them to shine a spot light on what still needs to be done to protect women in the neighbourhood.

"I think it is an opportunity, having international media here in the city right now means that today is that day that can put greater pressure on our government to take steps," she said. "We're asking for a commitment to a public inquiry as soon as one is possible."

Many of the women who went missing were prostitutes or drug addicts, as Sarah de Vries was.

Maggie de Vries said the police ignored the cases of the missing until there was too much pressure to avoid an investigation any longer.

"They were a group we, as a society, don't see as human. When they went missing there were just so many things done wrong and such a lack of initiative for a long time."

The government has said there won't be a public inquiry into the police response until after Pickton exhausts all possibility of appeal, but de Vries said British Columbia's attorney general could at least give the relatives of the missing women a commitment that an inquiry will be held.

Corinthia Kelly, who works with women in the neighbourhood, said women, especially First Nations, still go missing every week.

"Aboriginal women in our society are perceived - as they have been ever since Europeans first came here - perceived to be disposable."

Police don't investigate the disappearances of First Nations women in the same way and that's why women are allowed to disappear without an investigation, Kelly said.

Karen Williams stood in the middle of the noisy crowd, clutching a stack of flyers with her sister's picture and handing them out to anyone who would listen to the story of Alberta Gail Williams.

She said her sister was working in Prince Rupert, on the northwest B.C. coast, when she vanished in 1989. Her family knew immediately that something was wrong, but Williams said police didn't believe them.

One month and one day after she disappeared, her body was found by hikers in the woods. No one has ever been charged.

"Give us some justice," she said as tears rolled down her face. "We've been waiting too long, this Williams family, nearly 20 years."

Many of the more than 60 women who have vanished from the Downtown Eastside have never been found and Williams concedes that at least her family knows what happened to Alberta.

"At least we had a chance to bury her," she said. "But I still want my sister's name to be a household name."

Pickton was originally charged with killing 26 women, but the trial judge divided the case in two. After a long trial, he was convicted of six murders.

His appeal is sitting before the Supreme Court of Canada. The provincial government has said if Pickton loses his appeal, it won't go ahead with the remaining 20 charges.

Crowd gathers to remember missing Vancouver women

Victoria Stolen Sisters march remembers missing women

Image via Wikipedia

Marchers carry signs saying 'Lost but not forgotten'

By Katie DeRosa, Victoria Times Colonist February 14, 2010 12:26 PM

An estimated 200 Victorians took to the streets this morning as part of a national event to remember indigenous women who are missing or have been murdered.

Victoria’s Stolen Sisters march, one of 10 such events taking place across Canada, was organized by the Native Students Union at the University of Victoria. The march, accompanied by First Nations drumming and prayers, began outside the Our Place drop-in centre on Pandora Avenue near Vancouver Street and culminated at Thunderbird Park on Belleville Street near the Royal B.C. Museum.

Trish Pal of the Native Students Union said Valentine’s Day was chosen for the march because it’s “a day to show our love, so we show our love to these women.”

Fifty-five-year old Maxine Little said she brought her five grandchildren, aged four months to 10 years, to the march so they can understand some of the issues facing indigenous women.

“I’ve been telling them about the ladies who have been going missing,” she said. “We’re thinking about them today.”

Janet Rogers, a co-organizer of the event, said she hopes the march will pressure the B.C. government into taking the issue of missing women seriously, especially given the 18 cases of missing or murdered women on the so-called “Highway of Tears” between Prince George and Prince Rupert.

“For this government to not respond to this issue is an act of prejudice,” she said.

TIMES COLONIST

http://bit.ly/cs0Nnn

Friday, February 12

Memorial march highlights missing women cases

Image by Renegade98 via Flickr

Post-Pickton trial, cops say 30 cases remain open

Janaya Fuller-Evans

Special to Vancouver Courier

Friday, February 12, 2010

"Missing, missing, missing..."

That was the response to each name from RCMP Staff Sgt. Wayne Clary as the Courier confirmed with him on Wednesday the list of missing women cases being investigated by Project Evenhanded.

Just days before the 19th Annual Women's Memorial March in the Downtown Eastside, there are 30 cases still open of the 39 missing women cases listed after the Robert Pickton trial.

Pickton was convicted of the second-degree murder of six women, after originally being charged with 27 counts of murder.

One count was dismissed for lack of evidence and 20 charges still stand. The list of missing women from the Downtown Eastside was clarified after conflicting numbers were provided to the Courier for a story last week. The Joint Missing Women Task Force was working on the case of Teresa Louise Triff last week, Clary said.

Six cases have gone to the prosecutor's office, though charges have not been laid.

The six women are Sharon Abraham, Yvonne Boen, Nancy Clark, Dawn Crey, Stephanie Lane and Jacqueline Murdock. Boen and Crey's DNA was found at Robert Pickton's farm in Coquitlam.

Two of the cases were solved in the past two years. Laura Kathleen Mah and Lillian Jean O'Dare were found to be deceased.

Taressa Ann Williams was confirmed among the missing but a 2004 RCMP press release states her remains were found in Vancouver in 1988 and later identified.

According to Vancouver Police Department spokesperson Const. Jana McGuinness, there are no open missing persons cases in Vancouver, besides the cases that fall under Project Evenhanded.

Organizers of the Women's Memorial March on Feb. 14 say a large number of the missing are aboriginal women, though only a handful of the women listed are identified as having a First Nations background.

Sex trade workers in the Downtown Eastside still live with the constant threat of violence, said Mona Woodward, one of the organizers and a support worker with RainCity Housing and Support Services, at a press conference on Wednesday.

Woodward's observations came from prior work in the sex trade and from her work with RainCity, she said. "During my experience both on the streets and as a frontline worker, I became blatantly aware that aboriginal women experience violence at a higher rate."

The march takes place this Sunday, Feb. 14, starting at noon at the Carnegie Community Centre Theatre. Marches will also take place across Canada, including in Victoria.

The first march was held in 1991, after a woman was killed on Powell Street.

The 30 women still listed as missing by Project Evenhanded are: Marlene Abigosis, Elaine Allenbach, Angela Arseneault, Sherry Baker, Cindy Beck, Marcella Creison, Sheryl Donahue, Elaine Dumba, Sheila Egan, Gloria Fedyshyn, Catherine Gonzalez, Rebecca Guno, Michelle Gurney, Ruby Hardy, Janet Henry, Catherine Knight, Marie Laliberte, Richard "Kellie" Little, Leigh Miner, Tania Petersen, Sherry Rail, Elsie Sebastian, Ingrid Soet, Dorothy Spence, Teresa Triff, Sharon Ward, Kathleen Wattley, Olivia William, Frances Young and Julie Young.

janayafe@gmail.com

http://bit.ly/a1nzXV