Aboriginal Women's Action Network Address The World's Oldest "Profession"

Imagine for a moment, Mr. Prime Minister and Members of Parliament, that your daughter, your wife, your mother, or any other female relative or friend is being bought/rented for the purpose of providing sexual access to a stranger, either in a car, a hotel room, or publicly behind a dumpster. And that she is being used sexually by up to 20 strangers a day. Now do you think prostitution is okay?

By Citizen Correspondent Trisha Baptie

Date Posted: 09/15/08

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This is a letter from to Stephen Harper from AWAN, which I wrote about in a previous story. Gladys Radek and Bernie Williams along with others walked from Vancouver BC to Parliament Hill. Their goal was to bring attention to the plight of murdered and missing women across Canada, with emphasis on Aboriginal women. Here is the letter that was given to Mr.Harper's assistant today by the Walk4Justice group.

AWAN
Aboriginal Women's Action Network
Coast Salish Territories
Vancouver, BC

Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
Elected Members of Parliament,
Elected Chiefs, Hereditary Chiefs,
National Aboriginal Leaders.

Walk 4 Justice
Parliamentary Opening
September 15, 2008

As AWAN members, we support our sisters Gladys Radek's Vision and Bernie William's activism which spurred The Walk 4 Justice and honours 500 missing, murdered and prostituted women across Canada and their grieving families and communities. An overwhelming majority of these women were of Aboriginal ancestry and their lives count. Our sisters have walked from Vancouver, B.C. to Ottawa over the course of three months, and they have rallied support from Aboriginal leaders and their communities along the way. They have listened to people tell them of their women who have gone missing. Five hundred missing, and murdered, and prostituted women is a shocking and tragic count and sadly, is also a gross under-estimation of the death count. From signatures received as Walk 4 Justice crossed this land, the number of missing, murdered and prostituted women in Canada grew from 500 to approximately 3,000 as more stories were told along the way.

Historically, prostitution was never part of Aboriginal culture. On first contact with Europeans, brothels were established around military forts and trading posts because European women were not allowed to emigrate for the first 100 years of European occupancy. So, European men forced Aboriginal women into these brothels to service their sexual demands.

Present-day prostitution of Aboriginal girls and women is a continuing sexual violence resulting from historical oppression and it must stop.

Imagine for a moment, Mr.