Sisters in Spirit

Here is a campaign I just read about -- Sisters in Spirit -- which is aiming to raise awareness about the number of missing Aboriginal women in Canada. It is at least 500 since 1985. On the site, they list three Saskatchewan teenagers who went missing just this summer. It is very frightening to realize how little publicity these cases get.
The federal Liberals are supposed to be supporting them with some bucks for a hotline and database and research funds, but after the big announcement the dollars aren't coming.

Heritage Minister Liza Frulla, responsible for Status of Women, now says the money will be released sometime after that Oct. 17 hearing. She has been repeatedly criticized in the Commons for not moving sooner. "Over the summer six more aboriginal women disappeared," Conservative MP Lynne Yelich of Saskatchewan said Friday. "The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations issued a warning of the potential risk of abduction. The problem is real. The Liberal reaction is not. When is the government going to treat this with the urgency it deserves?"

I agree. Its has just too easy for society to ignore the disappearance of Aboriginal women; without this research, the magnitude of the problem is difficult to grasp. How many years did it take for the Vancouver police to realize that women were being systematically murdered? Even here in Saskatoon, we have had serial killings of Aboriginal women -- a fellow was convicted about 10 years ago -- and it looks like Edmonton may have a serial killer operating now.