Time: 6:30 pm gather at Lethbridge city hall for Sisters in Spirit walk.
7:00 pm Sisters in Spirit Vigil at Galt Gardens
Cover: none
Come join us for Lethbridge's 9th Annual Sisters in Spirit Vigil.
The purpose of this Vigil is to honour and raise public awareness about
our missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls with a goal of one
day, ending the violence against all women.
It is estimated that over 1000 Indigenous women have been murdered or
gone missing in violent circumstances in Canada in the past 20 years.
Currently, Indigenous women in Canada are 3 times more likely to
experience violent victimization than their non-Aboriginal counterparts
and more than 5 times as likely to be murdered. The families of these missing
and murdered Indigenous women and girls—these ‘Stolen Sisters’—have
struggled for decades to draw attention to the violence faced by women
in their communities and to receive justice for their loved ones.
The struggle for justice and an end to violence comes in the face of
many obstacles. Indigenous women and their communities face deep
inequalities in their living conditions, including the lack of basic
necessities such as clean drinking water and safe housing. The same
inequalities have also denied many Indigenous women access to the
services and support, such as emergency shelters, needed to escape
violence. The response of police to cases of violence and reports of
missing women has been inadequate at best and discriminatory at worst.
The judicial system tasked with providing justice for families and
victims is the same system that incarcerates Indigenous women at 14
times the rate of non-Indigenous women.
This event is hosted by community members and organizations in Lethbridge.
