February 14: National Day of Action

Toronto’s 6^th Annual Rally & March 
for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women

Monday, February 14, 2011 @ **5 pm** (NOTE THE NEW TIME)

Rally at Police HQ, 40 College St at Bay

March to the Coroner’s Office, 26 Grenville St.

Followed by gathering & food @ The Meeting Place, Queen & Bathurst (nw corner)
Food prepared & provided by The Centre for Women and Trans People (UT)

 
A bus will be available to transport participants from the Coroner’s Office to the gathering.

TTC tokens will be available for those attending by public transit

The bus is not wheelchair accessible, but the Meeting Place is.

According to research conducted under the Native Women Association of Canada’s (NWAC) Sisters in Spirit project, over 580 Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing, most of them over the last 30 years.  Despite the clear evidence that this is an ongoing issue, the federal government decided in Fall of 2010 to end funding to Sisters in Spirit.  In a move to detract attention from this cut, Rona Ambrose (Federal Minister for Status of Women) announced a $10 million fund to be put primarily towards creating a central RCMP missing person centre.  It is evident that few of those in power have a genuine interest in ending the violence against Indigenous women.  On February 14^th, we come together in solidarity with the women who started this vigil in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, and with the marches and rallies that will be taking place across this land.  We stand in defense of our lives and to demonstrate against the complicity of the state in the ongoing genocide of Indigenous women and the impunity of state institutions and actors (police, RCMP, coroners’ offices, the courts, and an indifferent federal government) that prevents justice for all Indigenous Peoples.

This event is organized by No More Silence, part of an inter/national network to support the work being done by activists, academics, researchers, agencies and communities to stop the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women.

Besides the Toronto rally, marches and other events will take place in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, London (Ontario), and Ottawa.

Endorsed by: Sistering, The Women and Gender Studies Institute (University of Toronto), No One is Illegal Toronto, Indigenous Education Network (University of Toronto), Canadian Chiapanecas Justice for Women, Parkdale Activity and Recreation Centre (PARC), Springtide Resources Inc. Ending Violence Against Women, Anduhyaun Shelter, ShelterlSanctuarylStatus Campaign, Assaulted Women's and Children's Counsellor/Advocate Program (George Brown College), Christian Peacemaker Teams - Aboriginal Justice, Indigenous Sovereignty and Solidarity Network (Toronto), First Nations Solidarity Working Group, CAW-Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy (Ryerson University), Women and Gender Studies Student Union (University of Toronto), Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), Centre for Women and Trans People (University of Toronto), UN Women - Canada, Ryerson Students' Union, The Redwood, OCAP. 

To add your organization's name to this list of endorsers, email:

nomoresilenceorg@gmail.com