Sisters in Spirit

On the occasion of the Native Women’s Association of Canada launching their Sisters in Spirit Campaign the Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty hosted an event in Toronto to give insight into the 500 + disappeared Native women.

Sisters in Spirit – May 22nd, Toronto, Turtle Island

On the occasion of the Native Women’s Association of Canada launching their Sisters in Spirit Campaign the Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty hosted an event in Toronto to give insight into the 500 + disappeared Native women.

A panel of Native women activists and artists spoke both about their experiences of as well as the underlying causes of violence as integral to the ongoing process of colonization in canada.

The main speaker, Ceejai of the Carrier Nation is a survivor of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside sex trade. 63 of the 500 missing women disappeared from that community and to date the remains and DNA of 31 women have been found at a Port Coquitlam pig farm.

Audrey Huntley, Community Researcher contextualizes Ceejai’s experience in the process of settlement and genocidal government policies directed at First Peoples. Drawing on her work in various community research projects she provides an analytical framework towards understanding the prevalence of violence against Native women as well as strategies that will end it.

The Sisters in Spirit Campaign will run until March 2005. NWAC is calling on the federal government to establish a $10 million fund to support research and education related to violence against Indigenous women to be carried out by Indigenous women. NWAC would like to see educational workshops on the missing women and their families and to create a hotline and a registry to report disappearances and begin documenting women’s stories.

The event was broadcast live on CKLN 88.1fm in Toronto.

Files:

1. Pre-Event Interview: Kris and Barbara Williams (11:46)
Interview with a member of the Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty

2. Pre-Event Interview: Kris and Darryl (3:39)
Interview with a member of the Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty

3. Opening (15:10)
3 voices: Zainab Amadahy introduces co-moderator Jules Koostachin – Jules talks about the goals of the NWAC campaign. Zainab introduces the panel. Jules calls on Wanda Whitebird for a traditional opening.

4. Rebeka Tabobondung (3:23)
Reads poem on indigenous women’s resistance in the north and the south entitled Makwaa and her Sisters Still Walking

5. Ceejai (24:18)
Shares from her experience living, working and surviving the streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

6. Audrey Huntley (33:18)
Speaks about her work in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, the Memorial March in honor of the Missing/Murdered women, the role of the police and the systemic nature of violence against Native women.

7. Susan Beaver (8:00)
Reads two pieces – the first one is entitled Dyke Murder the second is untitled and Susan calls it the Dorothy poem for now.

8. Daniele Hurley (9:18)
Daniele speaks about her work with men and women working in the sex trade and the exit strategies developed by her organization, Peers Vancouver, Prostitutes Empowerment Education and Resource Society.

9. Cecilia Rosalia Paiva (19:42)
Asociacion Pachmama (Mother Earth)
Cecilia speaks about the struggles of Indigenous peoples and their role in ensuring the survival of humanity and all living beings.

10. Audience Member Darlene Ritchie (1:14)
Darlene sings an Honor Song after the last speaker has finished.

11. Darlene Ritchie Audience Comments (8:18)
Darlene talks about the Indian Act and the genocidal policies that have shaped relations between the settler state and the First Peoples of this land.

12. Audrey Redman Comments (5:57)
Audrey speaks about why many Native women end up on the street citing systemic racism – the lack of employment opportunities as well as the trauma of the residential school experience as factors.

13. Closing (3:17)
Zainab thanks audience and panel. Wanda Whitebird closes.

14. Wrap interviews on air (35:27)
Kristiana and Audrey Redman talk about the event.
Ceejai sings; Audrey Huntley shares some thoughts.