Video: Women’s Warrior song #MMIW Event

posted to Yutube by Cheryl James on Oct 15, 2013

Keewatin Otchitchak Traditional Women’s Drum singing the Women’s Warrior Song, originally from the Sta’timc at Mount Currie, BC.

Police act like idiots during training session on missing, murdered Indigenous women

‘What do we do when we’re sending women in to do training on race relations and they feel violated?’

By Jody Porter, CBC News, September 13, 2016

Police officers in Thunder Bay, Ont., are being accused of verbally assaulting a facilitator who was delivering cross-cultural training on Indigenous issues, but a city official says it was all a misunderstanding.

Ottawa launches long-awaited inquiry into missing, murdered indigenous women

By Kristy Kirkup, The Canadian Press, August 3, 2016

GATINEAU, Que. – Family members wiped away tears Wednesday as the federal government outlined the terms of an inquiry into the phenomenon of missing and murdered aboriginal women – along with a price tag nearly $14 million higher than expected.

Three cabinet ministers were on hand inside the Museum of History’s great hall – a space bedecked with long houses, totem poles and artwork dedicated to Canada’s First Nations – to hand the reins of the nascent inquiry to independent commissioners.

Protesters accuse Manitoba government of stalling MMIW inquiry

Warrior flag flies outside Manitoba Legislative Building, July 2016.

Role police, CFS play in MMIW cases must be examined in national inquiry, protesters say

CBC News,  July 26, 2016

About half a dozen tents were set up outside the Manitoba Legislative Building by protesters who say the province is keeping a national inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women from getting underway.

Last week, Brian Pallister’s Progressive Conservative government said it is moving forward with an order in council in support of the inquiry, but officials are still in negotiations with the federal government over the terms of reference.

‘No foul play’ found in deaths of dozens of Indigenous women, but questions remain

CBC investigation finds suspicious circumstances in deaths ruled accidental or suicidal

By Holly Moore, Martha Troian, CBC News,  June 28, 2016

In dozens of cases where police say there is no evidence of foul play, the families of missing and murdered Indigenous girls and women maintain their loved ones may have been victims of homicide, a CBC News investigation has found.

Despite official rulings of suicide or accidental death, CBC News has found evidence in some cases of unexplained injuries, suspicious circumstances, failure to interview key witnesses and persons of interest who have never been convicted.

More than 100 indigenous women in N.L. murdered or missing, meeting told

Rally for missing/murdered Indigenous women. CBC.

Pre-Inquiry meeting held at the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre

By Mark Quinn, CBC News, March 31, 2016

A shocking number was revealed at meeting in St. John’s Wednesday: more than 100 indigenous women and girls are estimated to have been murdered or gone missing in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“It is a big issue, and that’s the point,” said Angus Andersen, who hosted the gathering of about a dozen people at the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre.

Highway of Tears gets $3M for transportation safety plan

Billboard warns against hitch hiking along Highway 16 in northern BC, also known as the “Highway of Tears” for the high number of missing/murdered women.

Funding comes after a recent meeting between transportation officials and First Nations leaders in the area

CBC News, Dec 14, 2015

The B.C. government is committing $3 million to improve public transit along B.C.’s so-called Highway of Tears.

The funding comes following a recent meeting between transportation officials and First Nations leaders in the area, to address concerns about the number of women who have gone missing or been murdered while hitchhiking Highway 16, which runs between Prince George and Prince Rupert.

Winnipeg police charge man, 53, with second-degree murder in Tina Fontaine death

Tina Fontaine, whose body was found in Winnipeg’s Red River on Aug 17, 2014.

by APTN National News, December 11, 2015
Winnipeg police have charged a 53-year-old man with second-degree murder in the death of Tina Fontaine.

Raymond Joseph Cormier, 53, was arrested Wednesday in the Vancouver area.

Fontaine, 15, was pulled from Winnipeg’s Red River on Aug. 17 2014.

Prime target: How serial killers prey on indigenous women

Annual Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women, Vancouver, BC.

Kathryn Blaze Baum & Mathew McClearn, Globe and Mail, Nov. 22, 2015

Indigenous women in Canada are roughly seven times more likely than non-indigenous women to die at the hands of serial killers, according to a Globe and Mail analysis that found at least 18 aboriginal females were victims of convicted serial killers since 1980.

New Highway of Tears documents uncover residents’ deep concerns

At least 18 women and girls, many of them aboriginal, have been murdered or disappeared along Highway 16 and the adjacent routes, Highway 5 and Highway 97, since 1969. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

36 pages of documents include reports about topics including missing women, hitchhiking and bus service

By Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press/CBC News, Nov 4, 2015

Newly released documents reveal northern British Columbia residents have deep concerns about transportation services along the so-called Highway of Tears — despite government statements about improved safety, New Democrats say.

Maurine Karagianis, the NDP critic for women, said Tuesday a year-old freedom of information request reveals residents want better public transportation on Highway 16, which runs more than 700 kilometres, from Prince George to Prince Rupert.