Written by SCOTT STANFIELD
Citizen staff
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Saturday, 04 October 2008 |
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DIANE PAQUET
"How do I explain to my daughter that she'll be five times more likely to die from violence than all other women in this country?" Zatorski, a band councillor with the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, said at the Sisters in Spirit Vigil Saturday outside the courthouse.
The event was held in honour of the 509 indigenous women, identified in a 2004 Amnesty International report dubbed Stolen Sisters, who were murdered or who disappeared in Canada. According to research, 67 per cent of the women were murdered. As well, of the women whose ages are known, 66 per cent had yet to reach their 30th birthday.
"Those are all pretty alarming statistics," Zatorski said. "It's quite clear as indigenous women, we're forced to deal with some pretty horrific realities."
Three other speakers whose lives have been touched by violence also spoke Saturday. One was Diane Paquet, who has lost a number of women to violence.
"Some of my foster sisters are not here today as they could not take the pain any more," Paquet said. "My daughter, Tammy, was also a child of the foster care system, and she has just passed on as she could not take the pain any more."
Paquet -- speaking from the "same spot that I was afraid of 40 years ago, asking for some direction and some guidance for domestic violence" -- berated the justice system for continuing to fail women and children.
"Us, as aboriginal women and children, can be strong if we ask help from the creator in our hard times," she said.
Eva Murdoch remembered her daughter Jacqueline, whose DNA was found at the farm of accused serial killer Robert Pickton. Georgette Sachaney spoke on behalf of her daughter, Candace Kalmokoff, who was murdered by Vernon Kyle Wilson Jan. 1, 2006.
"That day, when I heard she died, I died," Sachaney said. "(But) I'm a survivor. I'm not prepared to feel sorry for myself any more. I am so mad, I am angry...We, as women, we have the power to change it. We have the power to change what's going on in our homes. We have to stop the abuse."
Zatorski said these stories are difficult but important to share because they can potentially save lives and "help change our fabric of society.
"I think it really is up to indigenous women to take our future into our own hands," she said.
Attendees were asked to sign Amnesty International petitions regarding action on missing and murdered women. These will be forwarded to the Minister of Public Safety.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 04 October 2008 )
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