Less than six months ago, Helyna Rivera uttered her last words to her grandmother over the telephone. 

"Grandma, how are my babies?" she asked. "I gotta go. Please say a prayer that I'll be safe."

But prayers couldn't protect the 25-year-old mother trapped in an extremely abusive relationship. Rivera was only 17 when she met the first man of her life. 

And she loved him. Even though he was a control freak who wouldn't let her have a life of her own.

"She wore a tremendous mask but we knew at times there was trouble," says Renee Hess, her grandmother. "And we didn't know the depth of her trouble until it was too late."

Feb. 14 annual Women's Memorial March Canadian directory

Below is a list of national events occurring on February 14, courtesy of Their Spirits Live Among Us.

Fwd: Over the years, the February 14th Women's Memorial March has expanded to cities across these lands, as well as internationally.

The march is an opportunity for all cities and communities to come together to grieve the loss of our beloved sisters and remember the women who are still missing. We encourage all women to journey and heal together by organizing memorials on this day because women face physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual violence on a daily basis.

Rally on first day of sham missing women's inquiry

The Deets:
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
701 West Georgia

The call-out:

Monday October 3, Vancouver Coast Salish Territories -- calling the Missing Women's Commission of Inquiry a "disgrace" and an "insult to women in the Downtown Eastside," the Coalition of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre (DEWC) and Feb 14th Women's Memorial March Committee (WMMC) have announced today that they will not be endorsing or participating in the inquiry.

Sisters in Spirit Vigil 2011 - Toronto

The Deets:

Tuesday, October 4, 2011
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Allan Gardens
South of Carlton and North of Gerrard between Jarvis and Sherbourne
Toronto, ON

The Call Out:

Native Women's Resource Centre along with several partnering organizations is hosting a "Sisters In Spirit Vigil." As we have in past years we are holding the event at Allan Gardens the beautiful park located across from our home at 191 Gerrard Street East.

A British Columbia inquiry into the mishandling of the Robert Pickton police investigation is scheduled to begin in October of this year. Major concern has arisen from groups shut out of the inquiry for lack of government funding to participate.

The government inquiry was called to examine why police failed to catch serial killer Robert Pickton as he murdered sex workers and others from the Downtown Eastside, including many women who were First Nations. Pickton later confessed to killing 49 women abducted from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.