Honour the lives of Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls this October 4th

Toronto – October 1, 2015 – On Sunday, October 4^th, the annual Sisters in Spirit (SIS) Vigils will see candles, drumming ceremonies and actions of remembrance resonate throughout Canada in honour of the more than 1,100 Aboriginal women and girls who have been murdered or have gone missing since 1980.

In 2014, there were 216 Vigils were held across Canada; growing from 11 Vigils in 2006. The Native Women’s Association of Canada has worked diligently to ensure that the lives of women and girls lost due to violence do not go unrecognized by the media and in Canadian communities.

Please take a moment to light a virtual candle this year online at www.October4th.ca. 

You can also show support by attending a Sisters in Spirit vigil. Locations can be found online at SIS Vigil locations 2015.  Further information is available through the Native Women’s Association of Canada website, along with useful resources that have been published on eliminating violence against Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

The Sisters In Spirit Initiative was started in 2005 as a policy, research and education initiative aimed at raising the public profile and community awareness of the high rates of violence that exist against Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.  Aside from a comprehensive database that was created to track past and ongoing cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada, this initiative supported statistical findings that continue to show that Aboriginal women and girls 15 years and older. are three to five times more likely to experience violence than non-Aboriginal women in Canada.

By taking part in the virtual candlelight Vigil or attending an October 4^th Vigil, we stand in solidarity with the Native Women’s Association of Canada and we support the ongoing demand for a national inquiry for missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.