By Elizabeth Chitty
This Friday, October 4th, in the Niagara, Ontario city of St. Catharines, there will be an opportunity to pay heed to the national disgrace of missing and murdered aboriginal women.
We will gather at 10 a.m. Friday outside Rex Stimers Arena, facing Geneva Street in St. Catharines, and walk to Centennial Park via Gale Crescent to gather at the totem pole for drumming, singing and to share stories and the names of ‘Sisters in Spirit’. And all are welcome as I write this as an ally of aboriginal people who encourages other allies to join us and raise awareness of this appalling issue.
The Sisters in Spirit Vigil is an initiative of the Native Women’s Association of Canada. The Niagara chapter is based in Fort Erie, Ontario and Sisters in Spirit vigils have been held for some years there. This is only the second year for an event in St. Catharines. For information on the Fort Erie event call the Fort Erie Native Centre at 905 871 8931.
The NWAC website states that, “Sisters In Spirit was a research, education and policy initiative driven and led by Aboriginal women…The first phase of the SIS initiative, which began in 2005, conducted ongoing research that gathered statistical information on violence against Aboriginal women.”
Currently, partners in this initiative include Amnesty International Canada, KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC), and Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). From 11 vigils country-wide in 2006, the number of vigils grew to 175 in 2012.
Last month, two grassroots organizations in Canada, No More Silence and Families of Sisters in Spirit, launched a database. The reason for the emergence of this grassroots initiative is something to which many Canadian civil organizations that have experienced funding cuts can relate. The federal government only began to pay attention after aboriginal communities were able to shed light on the issue of violence against aboriginal women. Federal attention was followed with funding cuts and defunding when native women organizations were seen as “getting out of line”. (See Taking Control: Indigenous in Canada Compile Own Database on Missing and Murdered Women.)
Last February, the on-line hacker group Anonymous turned its attention to this issue and published a map of North America showing the sites of murdered and missing aboriginal women based on data from police reports and on-line public input. It received considerable attention and caused a brief outcry about issues particularly in Thunder Bay.
And keep in mind that just recently, September 19th , 2013, our federal government rejected a call for a comprehensive national review of the issue of violence against aboriginal women from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper is reported to be skeptical of the UN Human Right Council because it allows the participation of countries with dubious human rights records. He seems to think other countries have no right to criticize Canada. Get a grip Stephen! Only when we have drastically improved our human rights record here in Canada should you consider getting on your high horse!
In the meantime, let’s add our voices to the growing international outcry about the shame in Canada of how easy it is for an aboriginal woman to disappear in this country.
You can learn more by clicking on the Native Women’s Association of Canada Sisters in Spirit website at http://nwac.ca/october-4th-sis-vigils .
Clic kon the Taking Control site at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/25/taking-control-canadas-aboriginals-compile-own-database-missing-and-murdered-women-151417 and the Anonymous site at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/02/06/anonymous-creates-map-turtle-islands-missing-and-murdered-aboriginal-women-147502 for even more information.
Elizabeth Chitty is a Niagara, Ontario resident and an organizer and promoter of this important event.
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this issue in the comment area below. We remind you that we only post comments from individuals who also share their first and last name.)
Niagara At Large 
I am so sorry I will be working this day. I hope the Great Spirit will be with all of you. The Aboriginal People have given so much with little or no recognition by Canada. The War of 1812 would have been lost had it not been for the Colour Corps and the Aboriginal Warriors who made a major contribution. The trail you walk in my mind is in fact a Sacred Land as the river that runs by the park was named Dick Creek and later after the War of 1812, Captain Dick’s Creek. It was named after a Freedom Seeker / Former Slave from United States Richard Peirpoint. Richard (Dick) lived near Geneva and North Street and contributed substantially, at the age of 68, by rallying together 30 Freedom Seekers to defend Canada from a Country that held Slaves. Richard’s unit made a major contribution to the building of Fort Mississauga which still stands to this day in Niagara-on-the-lake. You can visit it in the middle of a Golf Course, however it is ignored by Canadian Historians in almost very school book in Canada. Near where your walk on October 4th is Harriet Tubman’s Church, the great freedom seeker who saved over 70 from slaver, her church still stands at the corner of Geneva and North Street, British Methodist Episcopal Church. Her statute is in the Garden next to the Church. As many of the Good People know, the Aboriginals Nations helped to provide shelter for the Freedom Seekers. In an effort to find lost people in our generation I have started a face book page highlighting “Cold Case Files Ontario … ” if you care to join and contribute please do. My heart will be with you….
All the best, James (Jim) A. Black
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