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X-WR-CALNAME:For Our Sisters\: Toronto's 8th Annual Ceremony for our missing and murdered women
X-ORIGINAL-URL:http://www.blogto.com/events/71225
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DTSTAMP:20130525T000000
LAST-MODIFIED:20130525T000000
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DTSTART:20130214T123000
DTEND:20130214T133000
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SUMMARY: For Our Sisters\: Toronto's 8th Annual Ceremony for our missing and murdered women
LOCATION:Toronto Police Service
URL:http://www.blogto.com/events/71225
DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Strawberry Ceremony with Wanda Whitebird begins at 12:30 Police Headquarter=
s 40 College Street at Bay, Toronto=0ACommunity Feast catered by NaMeRes at=
 the 519 Church Street Community Centre; 519 Church Street following the ra=
lly.=0A=0APlease signs and banners about the missing and murdered women onl=
y. =0A=0ATokens will be available at the rally.=0A=0ARaising our Voices to =
Demand a national public inquiry led by Indigenous grass roots women and su=
pported by a United Nations Investigation into Missing & Murdered Indigenou=
s women in Canada=0A=0AAccording to research conducted by the Native Women =
Association of Canada (NWAC) under the Sisters In Spirit Program, over 600 =
Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing, most of them over the =
last 30 years.=0A=0ADespite clear evidence that this is an ongoing issue, t=
he federal government decided in the fall of 2010 to end funding to Sisters=
 in Spirit. Instead monies in the amount of $10 million have been dedicated=
 to a central RCMP missing person centre. The same institution - who, along=
 with the Vancouver Police Department, failed to properly investigate Pickt=
on in 1997 - was at the centre of a public inquiry in Vancouver. The sham i=
nquiry into the failed Pickton investigation has since been completed with =
no consequences for any guilty parties and was boycotted by 20 of the 21 gr=
oups who were granted standing due to the denial of adequate funding for le=
gal defense.=0A=0APickton, who was convicted for six murders, has admitted =
to killing 49 women. A total of 18 murders occurred after he was arrested a=
nd released for the attempted murder of a sex worker in 1997. This is blood=
 on police hands, yet RCMP officers testifying at the sham inquiry state =
=E2=80=9Cthere are few things they would change about how they did their wo=
rk.=E2=80=9D=0A=0AIt should come as no surprise that the Committee to End D=
iscrimination Against Women at the United Nations has accepted submissions =
put forward by advocates of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) as well as=
 the Native Women's Association of Canada and announced their intent to lau=
nch an inquiry into Canada's missing and murdered Indigenous women.=0A=0AOn=
 February 14th we come together in solidarity with the women who started th=
is vigil over 20 years ago in Vancouver's DTES, and with the marches and ra=
llies that will be taking place across this land. We stand in defense of ou=
r lives and to demonstrate against the complicity of the state in the ongoi=
ng genocide of Indigenous women and the impunity of state institutions and =
actors (police, RCMP, coroners' offices, the courts, and an indifferent fed=
eral government) that prevents justice for all Indigenous peoples. =0A=0AEn=
dorsed by Native Women's Resource Centre, Native Men's Residence NaMeRes, A=
nduhyaun, No More Silence, Ontario Aboriginal HIV Strategy, Native Youth Se=
xual Health Network, Camp Sis, Sistering, Ontario Federation of Labor, IWD =
Toronto Committee, Muskrat Magazine, TRCC/MWAR, Gathering Weavers, Christia=
n Peacemaker Teams- Aboriginal Justice Team, Canadian Chiapanecas Justice f=
or Women, Maggies,OCAP, METRAC, Indigenous Sovereignty and Solidarity Netwo=
rk, The Redwood, Aboriginal Student Association at York (ASAY), CUPE local =
1281, Women and Gender Studies Institute at U of T (WGSI), International Je=
wish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), International Socialists, Health for All,=
 Toronto New Socialists, NOII, Communist Party of Canada, Centre for Women =
and Trans at U of T CWTP, Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, OPIRG Toront=
o and Students against Israeli Apartheid U of T, Educators for Peace and Ju=
stice (EPJ) & Rank and File Education Workers of Toronto (REWT),  Canadian =
Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Rising Tide, United Jewish People=E2=
=80=99s Order-Toronto and the UJPO Social Justice Committee, Independent Je=
wish Voices (IJV) Toronto=0A=0A=0A=0AGENEROUS FINANCIAL SUPPORT BY:=0AEleme=
ntary School Teachers of Toronto (ETT), Sam Ginden Chair in Social Justice =
and Democracy Ryerson University, Sistering, Women and Gender Studies Insti=
tute at U of T (WGSI) =0APrinting by Aboriginal Student Association at York=
 (ASAY) and OPIRG York =0ALocation of feast donated by The 519 Church Stree=
t Community Centre=0A=0A=0AList of Feb 14th Memorial Marches in other commu=
nities:=0Ahttp://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/national/=0A=0A=0A
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