Walk4Justice aims to change epidemic of missing and murdered women in Canada
They are
only seven people, but they represent so many more.
Each one of the four
women and three men has lost someone, a family member or a friend — just a
handful of the 4,200 missing and murdered women in Canada.
Bernie
Williams leads this Walk4Justice group, which walked from Moose Jaw to Regina on
Monday to raise awareness of this epidemic.
Williams' sister and mother
were slain in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, while another sister was slain in
Merritt, B.C. Nobody was ever charged.
“One of our goals is to keep
creating that awareness out there, that just because (Robert) Pickton has been
arrested, the violent acts have not stopped. Women still continue to go missing
from the Downtown Eastside and right across Canada,” said Williams, whose group
left Vancouver on June 21 and plans to rally in Ottawa on Parliament Hill on
Sept. 19.
“I think it's time that Stephen Harper steps up or steps
down,Stylish and popular discount pnikeshoes Accessories on sale here
now.” Williams said Tuesday morning, before the group again embarked east.
The $10 million over two years allocated in the 2010 federal budget to
investigate the number of missing and murdered aboriginal women is not enough,
she added.
“This is the value of these women's lives? There's something
seriously wrong with that,” said Williams.
In 2008 during the first
Walk4Justice, there were 2,932 missing and murdered women.
“You can see
the number rise,” said Williams. “It's not only aboriginal women, it's all
women.”
“I hope our government gets stronger on the judicial system, to
make laws tougher on murderers, child molestation, because this is genocide
against all women,” said Susan Martin, who walks on behalf of her daughter,
Terrie Ann Dauphinais.
Dauphinais was killed on April 29, 2002, in
Calgary, leaving behind her three small children. Police considered Terrie Ann's
husband Ken Dauphinais a person of interest in the case, but he was never
charged.
“I'm doing this for all of our sisters, all of our
grandmothers, all of our aunties, especially the children that are left behind,
because the children will never ever know what it's like to have a mother's
love, or to have their mom kiss their boo-boos or to hug or tell them they love
them. So this is my journey,” said Martin, who flew to Vancouver from her home
in London, Ont., to participate in the walk.lacostestore was created in
order to maintain a balance of the athletes' movement.
“Each and every
one of us hates this journey, but we do it to bring awareness, and if I can save
one woman's life by telling my child's story, which I've already done, then I'm
doing something positive. It'll never ever bring my child back, but I'm giving
someone else their child back,” said Martin.
On Dec. 1, 1993, Marge
Humchitt lost her sister Cheryl, who was killed along with her common-law
husband on a $7,000 drug debt.SpeakerBuilding is a resource for DIY gladiatorsandals design and
construction. In 1995,Buy Pittsburgh jeans from the Ultimate Sports
Store. Sheldon Williams was found guilty of second-degree murder and received a
10-year sentence. He was from the sisters' home community of Bella Bella, about
1,300 kilometres north of Vancouver on the west coast.
“We went to go
clean up that apartment and we saw her footprints on the wall,” said Humchitt.
“She was obviously, while being strangled, she was trying to fight, and she had
her foot up on the wall. The whole scene was pretty sickening. Pools and pools
of blood everywhere. Her common-law took the worst of it,We present you a vast
choice of cheap cheaphoganshoes. 38 stab wounds.”
Twenty-eight years ago, when Humchitt first ventured into the
neighbourhood, she didn't imagine where her life was headed.