Justice Will Prevail

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Preamble:

Gladys Radek, a Lax il’u mother of five, and grandmother of five, from Northern B.C. is undertaking a most ambitious, and truly courageous walk for justice this summer to highlight the plight of the missing and murdered women from all across Canada. Gladys, a highly intelligent woman, is fiercely passionate about issues of social justice—especially in relation to First Nations people. Most importantly, she wants justice for First Nations women who are the most discriminated against in contemporary Canadian society.

Body:

The walk was borne out of her deeply committed activism concerning “The Highway of Tears” www.highwayoftears.ca [1], a lonely stretch of 720 kilometers between Prince Rupert and Prince George. It is called “The Highway of Tears” because women have gone missing and were murdered along this highway. The vast majority of the women were of First Nations ancestry. The RCMP has documented 18 murdered and missing women. Gladys fears the RCMP’s count is far too conservative. She estimates at least 44 women have gone missing, and most are presumed murdered. Gladys’ own niece is listed in this tragic count.

The Walk4Justice ground zero starts in Victoria, B.C. Its next stop is Vancouver where its send-off site will be Trout Lake. Walkers leave Vancouver on Saturday, June 21st to coincide with National Aboriginal Day. There are 19 scheduled stops along the way. Gladys’ vision is for the walk to be much like a “justice baton” which will be passed from community to community in the hopes that communities will raise awareness and funds for the next leg of the walk. The final steps of the journey end in Ottawa on Monday, September 15 to coincide with the opening of Parliament.

Gladys wants politicians and national aboriginal leaders to remember the missing and murdered women. National leaders must acknowledge that these women were loved by their families and by their communities. These families and communities have been left on their own to grieve with little or no community resources to help them heal from their losses. Politicians and First Nations leaders must be held accountable for upholding policies which sanctions violence against First Nations women.

In Gladys’s own words, “We need to let our leaders know that these women will not be forgotten and that we intend to stop this violence against our women. We organize in solidarity! Let’s build that bridge so that our future generations will not suffer as we did. Justice will prevail!

There are many practical way in which people can get involved to support the success of this walk:

Become a walker
Provincial organizations can gather information about their own missing and murdered women so these women will be represented at the rally in Ottawa on the final day
Communities across the country can hold fund-raising events to honour their own women—thereby strengthening our steps for justice
Accommodations at each stop along the way
Food
Gas/Drivers
Elder and youth participation
Spiritual Guidance
First Aid supplies
Shoes, runners
Socks (many, many, many socks because they need to be changed hourly)
Water supplies
Weather gear
Honorariums
Tobacco, sage, sweet grass, traditional medicines

Donations are gladly welcomed. Cheques can be made payable to The Aboriginal Mothers’ Centre Society (AMCS), 208-2019 Dundas Street, Vancouver, B.C., V5L 1J5 Phone: (604) 253-6262. Please note on your cheque the money is earmarked for The Walk4Justice. The AMCS has set up a separate account for this event.

Co-authors: Trisha Baptie and Jackie Lynne

Pullquote:

In Gladys’s own words, “We need to let our leaders know that these women will not be forgotten and that we intend to stop this violence against our women. We organize in solidarity! Let’s build that bridge so that our future generations will not suffer as we did. Justice will prevail!