A Memorial March Honored Canada's Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women

This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.

At Canada's largest and longest-running memorial march for murdered and missing aboriginal women, Lorelei Williams lighted a candle to honor her murdered cousin and her missing aunt.

"I come for my missing auntie Belinda Williams. She's been missing since 1977—she's still missing today," said Williams. "And for my cousin Tanya Holyk. She went missing in 1996—her DNA was later found on Robert Pickton's farm. That's who I come for, that's why I do the march."

The annual ceremony draws attention to the fact indigenous women are nearly four times more likely to be murdered in Canada than non-indigenous women. On February 14, Williams joined a chorus of thousands attending marches across the country, all calling for public inquiry into the crisis.

"There's a war on our women, and it needs to be dealt with," she said.

Now in its 25th year, the walk circles Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, scattering tobacco, roses, and the smell of smudged sweetgrass where women have been lost or killed. Red roses tell a story of a murder; yellow ones denote a missing person. Elders lead prayer and song, while survivors of violence, addiction, poverty, and systemic racism share personal stories with the crowd.

"This is my only daughter," a mother announces to onlookers, holding a large photograph of Cassandra Antone, killed in 1997. "I'll never get to see her wedding."

Calls for an inquiry have grown stronger since an RCMP report released last year confirmed significantly higher rates of violence toward aboriginal women and girls. News of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine's unsolved murder last summer, followed by the brutal assault of 16-year-old Rinelle Harper in December, sparked protest and debate in Winnipeg (where both crimes occurred) and across the country.

But Canada's governmental leadership has so far dismissed this long-simmering movement. In December, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told CBC's Peter Mansbridge a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls "isn't really high on our radar, to be honest."

Harper told Mansbridge the phenomenon has already been studied, and that resources should go toward preventing and punishing crime instead. British Columbia's government funded its own inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women in 2011, which found racism, sexism, and critical police failures marred many local investigations.

"He really needs to give his head a shake," Williams says of Harper, adding a national inquiry should be high on his list of priorities. On each arm she wears photos of her lost family members. "We really need to get to the root causes of why this is happening to our women across Canada."

For indigenous families impacted by Canada's most high-profile serial killer, Robert Pickton, justice and closure remains elusive. Michele Pineault, whose daughter Stephanie Lane was also identified on Pickton's Port Coquitlam farm, recently learned that BC coroners had been keeping her daughter's partial remains in storage since 2003.

"To have your daughter's skeletal remains returned 11 and a half years later, it's an injustice," Pineault says of the coroner's "oversight." At the time of the trial, investigators told her there wasn't enough DNA for a murder charge to hold up in court. "There are families now wondering if what they've buried is even their family members."

If such mistakes could happen following the largest crime scene investigation in Canadian history, Williams worries about what that means for smaller, less publicized cases. "When I found out there was new evidence I was so shocked," she said. "How many more cases can be solved if they'd just looked in their storage lockers?""

Vancouver's indigenous women continue to march every year so these missteps are not forgotten. But in sharing all this pain, many also begin to find peace and solidarity.

"When we connect we're actually healing," Williams said. "I never used to be able to do a whole walk… I would maybe come down for half an hour or an hour, and it was too overwhelming for me.

"Now that I have a lot of support and other family members I can do the whole walk," she added. "We're here together, raising awareness of this issue so it doesn't happen to any other families."

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