Valentine’s Day Women’s Memorial March

Saturday, February 14, 2015 will mark Calgary’s 7th Annual Valentine’s Day Women’s Memorial March. The Memorial March strives to raise awareness and inspire change in regards to violence against women. The event takes place at Scarboro United Church (134 Scarboro Ave SW) and begins at 6:30pm with speeches. The march begins at 7pm and light meal will follow.

Although gendered violence affects all women, Indigenous women face even more violence and unique risks. The Valentine’s Day Women’s Memorial March planning committee has shared the following facts online:

• A huge number of Indigenous women have been assaulted. The legacy of residential schools is alive – violence may have begun there, or have been perpetuated by people who lived in residential schools and experienced rape, physical abuse, and cultural genocide. Violence continues into adulthood, ranging from 48% to up to 90% of Indigenous women, assaulted at the hands of their partners, depending on the community in which they live.
• Indigenous women also experience racially-motivated attacks and are harassed on the streets by the public and police in far greater numbers than non-Indigenous women.
• Indigenous women are five times more likely to die because of violence than any other group of women in Canada.
• Unlike most women who are at a greater risk of being assaulted by an intimate partner, Indigenous women are equally at risk of being assaulted by a stranger– this is a clear indication of the racist and sexist underpinnings of violence against Indigenous women.
• Because of the continuing effects of the Indian Act, Indigenous women face insecurities related to housing, employment and access to services both on and off reserve, leaving them more vulnerable to violence.

Please join us, everyone is welcome.

If you would like to attend the event with the Women’s Centre please meet us at Scarboro United Church at 6:20pm. For more information please contact Rhoda at 403-264-1155 or Rhoda@womenscentrecalgary.org