Chris's Crime Forum

This page is to rally support for the walk from Vancouver on June 21, 2008 from the Trout Lake National Aboriginal Day celebrations and ending in Ottawa on September 12, 2008.
Walk4Justice has a full day, September 15, 2008, booked on Parliament Hill to present a petition and address the key issues faced by marginalized, missing and murdered women and their families.
The leaders of this country will answer us! We demand that an inquiry be held so that Canada will be responsible to its citizens and their families. 3000+ women & children are deemed missing or murdered in the last 10 years. 80% of them are Aboriginal.
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There are 19 major stops along the way. If there are community's out there that would like us to stop, please notify us as soon as possible, (deadline is June 10, 2008).
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PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION THAT IS GOING TO OTTAWA AND FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LISTS...

http://www.petitiononline.com/glradek/petition.html
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MILEAGE TO OTTAWA STARTING FROM VANCOUVER-

Vancouver to Merritt 268 km
Merritt to Kamloops 87 km
Kamloops to Mount Robson Park 358 km
Mount Robson Park to Edmonton, Alta 450 km
Edmonton to to Calgary 299km
Calgary to Medicine Hat 288 km
Medicine Hat to Swift Current, Sask 231 km
Swift Current to Regina 249 km
Regina to Brandon, Manitoba 372 km
Brandon to Winnipeg 225 km
Winnipeg to Kenora, Ontario 229 km
Kenora to Ignace 243 km
Ignace to Thunder Bay 256 km
Thunder Bay to Marathon 299 km
Marathon to Wawa 185 km
Wawa to Saulte Ste Marie 231 km
Sault Ste Marie to Sudbury 323 km
Sudbury to Toronto 399 km
Toronto to Tyendinaga 201 km
Tyendinaga to Ottawa 255km

Vancouver to Ottawa 5,448 km !!!!

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People from Victoria BC will be meeting us here in Vancouver. A group from NWT will be meeting us at Mt.Robson Park AB, a group will be coming from Prince George BC and meeting at Kamloops as well and a group is organizing in Nova Scotia and hoping to meet in Ottawa! *******************************

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS! (letter from Gladys...):
Good day friends and allies.
We are preparing for a very powerful journey across the country called the Walk4Justice for the missing and murdered women.
We are overwhelmed with response from communities across the country. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for offering all your support. We would like to know who is walking with us from town to town so we know how many people we need to accommodate and feed.
We need:
- contact information and support letters from everyone to ensure that all arrangments are secured.
-to gather your information about the missing and murdered women and their family's so we can represent them properly in Ottawa.
-to hear from organizations and individuals who can work on each of these concerns from every town, city and province.
-to know who our spiritual leaders will be and we would like to honor yours and follow our traditional protocol across the nation.

From the communities we request:
-involvement in putting the banners and pictures of their loved ones together so we may honor them through prayer and let families know we will be their voices.
-fundraising events to help W4J pay for supplies such as food, gas, medical, shoes, socks, weather gear, sunscreen, blankets, honorariums, tobacco, sage, sweetgrass and traditional medicines and all supplies needed to make this journey a success.
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All cash, goods and services donations can be forwarded to the Aboriginal Mother's Center Society in Vancouver, British Columbia, at 208-2019 Dundas Street, Vancouver, BC V5L 1J5 or phone 604-253-6262. The cheques can be made out to Aboriginal Mother's Center Society and include re: walk4justice, an account has been set up for this walk by Penny Irons, Executive Director of AMCS.
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We thank you in advance for your generous support!Please, come join us if you can!

Respect
Gladys Radek, Bernie Williams, Nicole Tait, Vikki Peters, Telsa Pratt, Renee Pratt, Rose Shah'traa, Don Wright
-your Walk4Justice Working Group

walk4justice2008@yahoo.ca
skundaal@yahoo.ca
ndnprincess_89@yahoo.ca
rosevox@hotmail.com

Contact Info

Email:
walk4justice2008@yahoo.ca

Website:
http://walk4justice.piczo.com/?cr=6

Office:
http://www.highwayoftears.ca

City/Town:
Vancouver, BC

Route Plan From Vancouver to Ottawa

Leaving / Arriving

1. Vancouver June 21, 08 / Merritt June 23, 08
2. Merritt June 24, 08 / Kamloops June24,08
3. Kamloops June 25, 08 / Mount Robson June 30, 08
4. Mount Robson July 1, 08 / Edmonton July 3, 08
5. Edmonton July 6, 08 / Calgary July 8, 08
6. Calgary July 10, 08 / Medicine Hat July 12, 08
7. Medicine Hat July 14, 08 / Swift Current July 16, 08
8. Swift Current July 18, 08 / Regina July 22, 08
9. Regina July 24, 08 / Brandon July 26, 08
10. Brandon July 28, 08 / Winnipeg July 30, 08
11. Winnipeg Aug 1, 08 / Kenora Aug 3, 08
12. Kenora Aug 5, 08 / Ignace Aug 7, 08
13. Ignace Aug 9, 08 / Thunder Bay Aug 11, 08
14. Thunder Bay Aug 13, 08 / Marathon Aug 15, 08
15. Marathon Aug 15, 08 / Wawa Aug 16, 08
16. Wawa Aug 17, 08 / Sault Ste Marie Aug 19, 08
17. Sault Ste Marie Aug 21, 08 / Sudbury Aug 24, 08
18. Sudbury Aug 25, 08 / Toronto Aug 29, 08
19. Toronto Sep 2, 08 / Tyendinaga Sep 4, 08
20. Tyendinaga Sep 8, 08 / Ottawa Sept 12, 08
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PLEaSE SIGN THE PETITION THAT IS GOING TO OTTAWA AND FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LISTS...

http://www.petitiononline.com/glradek/petition.html
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JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL!!
"Hey peeps. We need some serious help here! We need recruits for the walk for justice! Walkers, drummers, singers, dancers, family members, youth, elders, women and men. We need NATIONAL community involvement - people to help with schedules and to coordinate events across the nation. Lets do it together for our beautiful women and their children! Please, lets fight for their justice!
Thank you. Please email W4J and let us know of your efforts. Thank you all for your most valuable support.

Respectfully
Gladys Radek
Advocate for the Highway of Tears
Primary Coordinator - Walk4Justice Working Group
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Mike McIntyre is going to interview Gladys Radek about the Walk4Justice and the Highway of Tears for his Mike on Crime / Crime & Punishment radio show. It will be starting tonight at 6 p.m. Pacific time,about an hour 1/2 from now.If you are not in Canada you can listen to the show online at the following link.If you have never heard Mike's show its a great listen,he does great interviews and helps lots of families out.

http://cjobam.corusradionetwork.com/sha ... ?id=cjobam

Walk Across Canada Puts Focus on Missing, Murdered Women

A walk across Canada to raise awareness of the deaths and disappearances of Aboriginal women is being organized by a Vancouver group, one of the aims being to secure a public inquiry into the long-standing issue.

The "Walk for Justice" will leave Vancouver on June 21, National Aboriginal Day, and is expected to arrive in Ottawa to coincide with the opening of Parliament on September 15.

The deaths and disappearances of Aboriginal women in Canada have been going on for over forty years. Some have been murdered, some are missing presumed dead. Some seem to have disappeared into thin air.

Gladys Radek, an organizer of the walk, says 80 per cent of the 3,000 missing women in Canada are aboriginal. Radek's niece, 22-year-old Tamara Chipman, disappeared from Highway 16 — the infamous "Highway of Tears" in northern British Columbia — in 2006.

While the RCMP doubled the number of women who have gone missing along Highway 16 from nine to 18 last October, Amnesty International estimates at least 32 have disappeared. Radek, however, pegs it at 44, a number she arrived at through her own research.

All but one of the women who have gone missing on the highway is Aboriginal, and some First Nations leaders believe this fact should be given more attention by investigators.

However, in February 2006 the B.C. Solicitor General rejected the suggestion that the cases were given a lesser priority because most of the victims are Aboriginal. This is no comfort to Radek.

"Serial killers are targeting our women right across the country," she says. "The police, judicial system and all levels of government are failing to protect us as citizens of Canada."

While a number of the missing and murdered women were drug addicted prostitutes living out a desperate existence in some of the seediest districts across Canada, some had regular jobs or were attending university, says Radek.

"This is all a big stereotype and it's not fair to say that they were all facing addictions. I think it's wrong for people to assume this just because they were First Nations."

In 1996 a shocking government statistic showed that aboriginal women were five times more likely to die as a result of violence than any other group of women in Canada.

Neegann Aaswaakshin, community development coordinator for Sisters in Spirit, an initiative of the Native Women's Association of Canada, says the situation is now at crisis levels and poverty is a large part of the problem

Sisters in Spirit is giving a series of workshops in the hope of getting more action on the missing women cases, she says.

"[The workshops] provide education and awareness to the justice community about the high number of missing and murdered aboriginal women to really grab their attention so they will understand the gravity and critical nature of the situation."

While she was in Winnipeg giving a workshop last year, says Aaswaakshin, over the course of a mere four days seven new cases of missing aboriginal women were reported in that city. Some were teenagers; all were under the age of 30. A 2004 Amnesty International report cites a history of governmental policies in Canada that have torn apart Aboriginal families and communities, eventually propelling a large percentage of women into extreme poverty, homelessness and prostitution. The vulnerability of these women is in turn exploited by "indigenous and non-indigenous men to carry out acts of extreme brutality against them," stated the report. Aaswaakshin says a "racist attitude among the justice community" is not helping matters.

This is echoed by Joyce Green, a political science professor at the University of Regina who says "the reality of racism" means that institutions are less likely to take the problems of aboriginal women seriously.

"Until we can deal with the legacy of racism and continuing racism I don't think we're going to get very far in dealing with the traumas that indigenous women suffer," says Green.

Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre, spokesperson for the RCMP in B.C. and for the Missing Women's Task Force, agrees that progress has been slow in making an arrest in the Highway 16 disappearances but he denies that racism is a factor.

"There could be nothing further from the truth. This is not about race, not about gender. These are human beings whose lives were taken or who have disappeared and most likely met with foul play, and that's not what we're about."

Lemaitre, who recently had a meeting with some of the missing women's families, says the geography of the region poses a problem, adding that police are sharing resources on the missing women file nationwide.

Thanks to Project Kare, a joint task force between the RCMP and Edmonton police, 40-year-old Thomas Svekla was arrested in 2006 on suspicion of murdering two women in the Edmonton area. On Tuesday, Svekla was found guilty of killing Theresa Innes, 36, but not 19-year-old Rachel Quinney.

However, the search continues for one or several serial killers suspected of murdering more than 70 women whose bodies were found in the Edmonton area. Many of the women were Aboriginal, most of whom worked in the sex trade.

About 100 people will be leaving Vancouver for the walk to Ottawa, with more expected to join in along the way. A rally will take place on Parliament Hill on September 15.

Victoria resident Rose Henry, an outreach worker for homeless women, plans to take part in the walk "to remember the women from Victoria who have mysteriously vanished" over the years.

Henry herself was almost a statistic. She was attacked and left for dead in a dumpster in Alberta 26 years ago, naked in minus 36 degree weather.

"The walk is a part of my healing journey too," says Henry.

LINK

*MEDIA ADVISORY *

For Immediate Release
WALK4JUSTICE 2008 For the Missing Murdered Women of Canada Presents Petition, Urges Inquiries at Parliament Hill, Ottawa Ontario

Monday September 15, 2008, a group of walkers from Vancouver, British Columbia, community activists and family members present the cases of over 3000 missing murdered women from communities across the country to the Government of Canada. A petition with well over 2900 signatures calling for public inquiries into these cases will be presented at this time.

The names of these 3000 + women to date will be presented to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, including case information, along with resolutions passed by Aboriginal Chiefs from British Columbia to the Atlantic Provinces, urging the call for a full public inquiry into the disappearances and deaths of women from all walks of life from urban and rural communities. Names of men are also included on this list. The list of names has been compiled over decades and has yet to be released in its entirety. This is the first occasion at which this information will be made public and follows on the heels of "The Apology" made to First Nations, Inuit and Metís residential school survivors, June 11, 2008.

Organizers of the walk and the full-time volunteer walkers who have made this journey, walking since June 21st, 2008, arrive in Ottawa, gathering at Minawaashin Lodge, 474 Catherine Street at 9:00 am EDST. Press and the public are invited to attend. The group will be joined by supporters and walkers, arriving first at 9:30 am at Human Rights Monument, 161 Elgin Avenue, continuing on to Parliament Hill for rally and further presentations at 10:00 am EDST. A press conference is scheduled at 11:00 am EDST in Press Room 130-S, Centre Block, House of Parliament.

Respected Elder William Commanda, Algonquin Nation, of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg will offer prayers to begin the day’s scheduled speakers and presentations, at 10:00 am EDST. Family members and representatives of the missing murdered women will have opportunities to address dignitaries and the public. Chiefs from several communities, including Chiefs from BC, Elijah Harper and other dignitaries will address the Government of Canada. Invited speakers will address systemic violence and abuses of authority leading to women becoming dispossessed and vulnerable to abuse. Status of Women Canada and representatives of Native Women’s Association will comment on the crimes women face in their communities. Members of Parliament who will offer support include Hon. Libby Davies,MP, Vancouver East and Hon. Jean Crowder, MP Nanaimo-Cowichan, Federal NDP Aboriginal Affairs Critic.
First Nations drumming and singing groups have been invited to support and take part.

Elders have made this journey, joined by youth, women, men, professionals, union representatives and family members who have been effected by loss and of their loved one’s violent deaths, including the children of murdered family members. Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, the Aboriginal Mother’s Centre, Amnesty International, CUPE, CUPW, other labour groups, Aboriginal Friendship Centres and many organizations have provided financial and in-kind donations to support this Walk4Justice initiative. Hundreds of citizens have taken part in presentations made to communities as Walkers traveled, many making financial contributions to ensure success of Walk4Justice’s goal of representing the lives and voices of women who are loved and missed. New cases have occurred as Walk4Justice has traveled the country. These women’s cases are added to the disturbing tally that continues to grow.

Contact: Gladys Radek 1-778-839-0072
Bernie Williams 1-604-880-3650

media or general inquiries may be sent to
Gladys Radek : walk4justice2008@yahoo.ca
or Don Knight: decarostudio@shaw.ca

Emotional plea for inquiry into missing women
Aboriginal women from B.C. and their supporters from across the country converged on Parliament Hill yesterday to speak out about missing and murdered family and friends in hopes of raising awareness and ending the violence.

The Walk 4 Justice left Vancouver June 21 to present a petition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, asking them for a public inquiry into the 3,000 women -- 80% of them aboriginal -- who have been killed or gone missing over the past decade.

Neither was in the House of Commons at the time.

"You being here and supporting the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women is really important, not only for those women who have gone missing or been found murdered, but also for their families, children and nations," Beverly Jacobs, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, said to the crowd of about a hundred.

"When a woman has gone missing or been found murdered, it affects their friends and families so much. We all want change. We all want things to be better. We want things to be peaceful and for us to be able to live in a very safe place. Right now, for aboriginal women it's not safe."

Jacobs said the federal election campaign shouldn't prevent the government from acting.

"We know there's an election in process, that shouldn't matter. Every politician, every person who can make a change should make the commitment to us that they're gong to address the safety for aboriginal women and young people."

A message left with Chuck Strahl's spokeswoman was not immediately returned

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