United by light and sorrow

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Five years ago Bridget Tolley walked into the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) because her mother had been struck and killed by a Sûreté du Québec vehicle as she walked home along the highway through her community. Tolley felt she had lost her mother, Gladys, at the hands of police negligence.

Devastated because she felt as though the investigation into her mother’s death had been flawed and was seeking a public inquiry, Tolley was referred to the Sisters in Spirit (SIS) Initiative where she met Theresa Ducharme from SIS’s department of communication and education.

“When I talked to Bridget she was really broken. I will never forget looking at her because it was heartbreaking to hear her story and that she was desperately looking for some kind of justice,” said Ducharme.

The NWAC formed the SIS Initiative as a special sector to research violence against Aboriginal women to see how many of them had been murdered or were missing – something the Canadian government was refusing to investigate. Over the course of five years, the NWAC was able to come up with a list of 582 cases and that list is still growing.

At the time, Ducharme wanted to raise awareness for these women and it was in looking at Tolley’s case that she and a number of coworkers and activists chose to start up a vigil on Parliament Hill.

Going out on a limb and advertising the event across the country, Ducharme was shocked to find that 11 other Canadian cities had decided to hold their own vigils simultaneously on October 4, the day they had designated for the event. Five years later, 84 cities and communities across Canada held their vigils for missing and murdered Aboriginal women with an additional event held in Nicaragua by women who wanted to stand in solidarity with Canadians against the injustice.

This was the story Ducharme recounted at the Montreal vigil to a crowd of 200 that had marched along St-Catherine St. to Philip’s Square where she and others spoke at the vigil.

Ducharme said she wanted to reflect upon the movement itself to show people how far it had come. While many of the cases of these women have yet to be solved, their families have become unified to heal together and continue the fight for their missing or murdered loved ones.

“Though she is a tall and beautiful woman, when I first met Bridget Tolley, she looked so small because her shoulders were slumped and she looked defeated as she was broken. Now when I see her, she is tall, she is a pillar, her back is straight and she is glowing. It is not because she has received the answers about her mother, but because she is the reason this movement has started. Her heart and her face are glowing because she has helped so many other families,” Ducharme said.

Ducharme spoke at the Montreal vigil alongside Ellen Gabriel from Quebec Native Women Inc., Montreal activist and CKUT radio host Irkar Beljaars, Sue Martin whose daughter was murdered and BC’s Bernie Williams from Walk of Justice.

At noon earlier that day, Tolley, Williams and Martin attended the Parliament Hill vigil with the idea of attracting and raising awareness amongst MPs and government ministers.

According to Martin, the Ottawa event drew quite a few MPs and political figures, but she felt it had less to offer for the families of the victims. At the same time, the large number of political figures present made the situation ideal for her to express her rage over the promises that have been made to Canadians in regards to the missing and murdered Aboriginal women that have yet to be fulfilled. Among those promises, the $10 million earmarked by the Conservative government in the last federal budget to address the missing and murdered Aboriginal women situation that has yet to be spent.

“I spoke about the money not coming into the Native Women’s Association of Canada and about the fact that we have families living in cars and in tents. Domestic violence is really high right now. Also, I mentioned a Native Women’s Shelter that they don’t want to build in southwest Ottawa – shame on them.

“My daughter was murdered as a result of domestic violence and they don’t want to put a shelter up to keep women and children safe? Did they forget that in that area that there was a family murdered?

“I basically said shame on Canada for turning a blind eye and shame on our political leaders for bullshitting and lying. I called them all liars,” said Martin.

Tolley said she was pleased to see so many political figures at the Ottawa vigil as they had never bothered to participate in the past. At the same time, she said there were many frustrated families in the crowd who have been left waiting for both answers and justice.

“It was the first time the MPs came out so why not (call them liars), they were standing right there. We want them to know that we are not giving up on looking for these missing women and we are all still waiting for the public inquiry for the missing and murdered women,” said Tolley, referring to the victims in the Robert Pickton trial in B.C.

Both Martin and Tolley delivered the same speeches in Ottawa at noon and then again under the candlelight vigil held in Montreal.

The following is the speech made by Tolley in both Montreal and Ottawa:

“On Oct.6, 2001, my mother Gladys Tolley was struck and killed by a Sûreté du Québec police cruiser. For the past nine years I have been searching for answers. It’s been a long and hard journey.

“The police organizations involved in the investigation have made no effort to communicate with my family and we had to learn from a newspaper reporter that the investigation was closed.

“After almost two years and a couple of thousand dollars, I was finally able to gain access to official police reports. What I learned was disturbing and outrageous. Proper investigative protocols were not followed, written statements were full of inconsistencies, and jurisdictional police agreements were ignored.

“One of the most shocking things that I learned was that the investigating officer was the brother of the officer who was driving the cruiser that killed my mother.

“With the support of eight organizations: Assembly of First Nations, Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, Amnesty International, Amnesty Montreal, Native Women Association of Canada, Quebec Native Women. Algonquin Nation and Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg, I asked the Quebec government for an independent investigation into my mother’s death. I was recently informed that my request was denied.

“I am not satisfied with this outcome and so I will keep fighting. This fight is not only to restore my mother’s dignity, but to support all missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls and their families.

“Thank you for coming out to show your support and to call for action. It means so much to family members to see you all here because we have to fight this injustice together.”

Tolley’s call for an inquiry into her mother’s death was rejected by Quebec in April when she was told that the province found no irregularities with the initial investigation. Despite this, Tolley will continue to fight and has reached out to several more MPs as well as other organizations.

Tolley, along with other individuals whose family members have been killed by Quebec police forces, will hold a press conference on October 21 to draw attention to the matter. A vigil will be held for these individuals on October 22 and more information can be found on this event at http://22octobre.wordpress.com.

Events in the north

According to Wendy Malof, the community coordinator for the Cree Indian Centre in Chibougamau (CICC), their second time hosting a SIS vigil went off without a hitch, while a second event was held in Waswanipi simultaneously for the first time.

In Chibougamau, Mayor Manon Cyr, Jean-Eudes Bolduc, assistant to the regional MP, and Josée Degagné from l’Aquarelle Women’s Shelter, as well as concerned members of the community participated by gathering at the CICC and then marching through the streets of Chibougamau.

“We all then lit our candles and started our walk after that. We had people carrying signs that had pictures of some of the missing women at the march,” said Malof.

In Waswanipi, CICC President Manon Richmond decided to set up a march on the spur of the moment as she felt that this was something needed in the community. In total, about 50-60 Crees participated.

“This is a movement that should be carried out throughout Eeyou Istchee. What motivated me was that there are different kinds of violence in the communities and this is a stand that says let’s stop tolerating violence,” said Richmond.

In the future, Richmond hopes that the vigils can be held in all of the Cree communities.

To learn more about the Sisters in Spirit Initiative, go to: www.nwac.ca

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