Calgary Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women

"We Love You and Miss You "  - February 14, 2012
Calgary Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women

Calgary, AB – 2012 is the fourth year that Calgarians will gather on Valentine's Day to honour the memories of women gone missing or murdered in Canada and to keep alive the hope that justice will be seen for these women and their families. Held at Scarboro United Church, the Calgary Valentine's Day Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women will begin at 6:30pm.

The first memorial marches were organized in Vancouver to call attention to the alarming numbers of women who vanished and were never heard from again. Some later turned up dead. The majority of the missing women are of Aboriginal background, fueling concerns that Native women and girls are being targeted. Since the 70's, more than 3,000 women have gone missing or been murdered.

Despite the slow but steady disappearances and deaths of women, relevant Canadian authorities have largely ignored the issue. This is slowly changing, and the level of public awareness around the missing and murdered women is increasing, due in part to grassroots initiatives like the memorial march and the persistent lobbying of family and friends of the missing.

In 1991, the community of downtown eastside Vancouver came together to mourn a woman killed on Powell Street. 21 years later, the community still gathers to remember their friends, all women who have disappeared inexplicably over the years. Today, there are memorial marches across Canada, including the major cities, a list that is a disturbing testament to the nation-wide breadth of the disappearances and deaths.

The organizers of the Calgary Valentine's Day Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women invite everyone on Valentine's Day to share in the loving remembrance of missing and murdered mothers, grandmothers, wives, sisters, daughters, nieces and granddaughters. With this march, they hope to send a message to all the women who may yet be reunited with their loved ones: we love you; miss you.

For more information about the issue of missing and murdered women in Canada or the annual memorial march, please email [email protected] or visit Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women Calgary on Facebook.