“The
idea that so many women have disappeared for such a long time, and with no
response form the police, is the reason some members of the community started
this march,” explained Dalannah Bowen, a representative from the Women’s
Memorial March Organizing Committee. This year, the annual women’s march is
celebrating its 21st anniversary to raise awareness of violence towards women
and commemorate those who have been murdered in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The
event is set to start at 12pm on Feb. 14, says Bowen: “We have a ceremony in
the Carnegie Centre theatre at noon for the families who have lost daughters
and sisters. We give them an opportunity to speak about their loved ones, and
we honour the families and what they have experienced and from there we begin
the actual march from the intersection at Main and East Hastings.”
The
march follows a specific route around the downtown core, stopping at the
locations where women have been murdered to give respect to the lives lost at
those locations. “We do some ceremony at each of those sites,” she explains.
“We put tobacco and we say prayers.”
The
walk takes around two hours, and is followed by a small potlatch at the
Japanese Language School (487 Alexander St.), with additional speakers and
ceremonies.
Over
the years, the march has gained momentum, with over 5,000 people in attendance
at the memorial march in 2010. This year, organizers are expecting slightly
less than that because it is a workday. However, Bowen says, they “do have a
strong base of supporters because it’s an important issue we’re talking about.
It’s about human beings.”
The
Native Women’s Association of Canada reports that more than 600 Native women have
been murdered or gone missing since the early 1990s. The state of missing women
in Canada has reached such an alarming level that a United Nations committee
wrote to Minister of State for Status of Women Rona Ambrose about the issue.
The UN committee will be reviewing the missing women situation this month.
Jan.
27 marked the first time the RCMP apologized for not catching serial killer
Robert Pickton sooner. Pickton has been charged with 27 counts of first-degree
murder and convicted of six, all women, mostly from the Downtown Eastside. He
also claims to have slaughtered numerous more, making him B.C.’s most prolific
and known serial killer.
The
RCMP and the VPD have been under much public scrutiny for not following through
on cases of women missing from the Downtown Eastside in the 1990s.
The
RCMP apology isn’t enough for the Women’s Memorial March Organizing Committee:
“We can’t afford to step back because the number of women missing is still a
crisis situation,” explains Bowen. “The fact remains that even since they’ve
arrested Robert Pickton, women are still going missing, and they are not
addressing it properly. The apology is words. We want them to back it up with
action.”
To
raise awareness about the current missing women’s inquiry, there is a “day of
action” organized by the Women’s Memorial March Organization Committee on Feb.
13 called Murdered Women, Missing Justice.
“It
is in conjunction with the women’s march but it is also in response to this
inquiry,” said Bowen. “We thought it was very important that we show solidarity
with the women and the families that are in those courtrooms with little
support.”
The
Murdered Women, Missing Justice rally will meet at 9:30am on Feb. 13 on the
corner of Georgia and Granville, which is the location of the missing women’s
inquiry. The inquiry was established to review the police investigations into
the numerous women that went missing from the Downtown Eastside in the 1990s
and early 2000s. Currently, formal hearings are being conducted by the inquiry
related to the women reported missing from 1997-2002.
The
women’s march started in 1991 after the murder of an aboriginal woman on Powell
St. Since it began in Vancouver, it has gained momentum and publicity, sparking
similar marches across the country. Currently, there are marches planned in
Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa, as well as other Canadian cities, all
on Valentine’s Day.
On
behalf of the Women’s Memorial March Committee, Dalannah Bowen urges everyone
and anyone that can to come and join the rally on the night of Feb. 13 and the
march the next afternoon.
“If
people are available to come, please do; and it’s not exclusive to women. We
need the men in there too, because they’re the ones that are going to help
effect the change about men’s relationship to women.”
//Leah Schietel, writer
//Graphics by Jason Jeon
//Leah Schietel, writer
//Graphics by Jason Jeon
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