Vancouver Women’s Memorial March marks 32 years

A large crowd is gathering in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Tuesday to mark the 32nd annual Women’s Memorial March.

The march is held in cities across Canada every year in honour of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG2S+). Making its way through the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, organizers say the march stops at various locations “where women were last seen or found.”

Crowds gathered for the Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver on Tuesday February 14th, 2023. (CityNews Image)

“The first women’s memorial march was held in 1992 in response to the murder of a woman on Powell Street in Vancouver. Out of this sense of hopelessness and anger came an annual march on Valentine’s Day to express compassion, community, and caring for all women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on unceded Coast Salish territories,” organizers explain online.

“Increasing deaths of many women and gender-diverse people from the DTES still leaves family, friends, loved ones, and community members with an overwhelming sense of grief and loss. Indigenous women, girls, two spirit, and trans people disproportionately continue to go missing or be murdered with minimal to no action to address these tragedies or the systemic nature of gendered violence, poverty, racism, or colonialism.”

Organized by Indigenous women in the Downtown Eastside, those who lead the annual march say the gathering is a way to grieve losses and “remember the women who are still missing, and to dedicate ourselves to justice.”

Related articles: 

• Canadians must play role in stopping violence against Indigenous women, girls

• Canada’s inaction on MMIWG calls to justice a ‘national shame’: NFSC

• MMIWG2S vigil takes place in Vancouver Monday, marks national day of action

In a statement, Premier David Eby says everyone has a responsibility to come together on Feb. 14 — and every other day — “to protect those who are most at risk of being targeted with violence.”

“This is an urgent issue confronting First Nations, our province and country,” the statement, also on behalf of Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity Kelli Paddon and federal Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin, reads.

Crowds gathered for the Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver on Tuesday February 14th, 2023. (CityNews Image)

“Colonialism, discrimination, racism, and other forms of systemic oppression mean that Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQ+ people are disproportionately vulnerable to gender-based violence.”

The officials say they are committed to “addressing the underlying root causes of violence.”

The march begins at 12 p.m. in the intersection of Main and Hastings streets. A healing circle will be held at Oppenheimer Park around 2:30 p.m. before a community feast is held at the Japanese Language Hall.

Road closures are in place throughout the march. Stay with CityNews 1130 for traffic updates every 10 minutes on the ones.