IMG_20190214_121649

On February 14, the Annual Women’s Memorial March took place in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, marking 28 years since the local community first marched in response to the murder of a woman on Powell Street.

The annual Women’s Memorial March, led and organized by a group of predominantly Indigenous women in the city’s Downtown Eastside neighborhood, commemorates the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women from the community.

Since the first march in 1992, thousands of community members and allies continue to gather annually to pay respect to the lives of Indigenous women and girls, upholding the community’s culture of resilience.

This year’s march began, as per tradition, at Carnegie Community Centre, where family members were invited to speak before the general public arrived at noon for speeches by local activists.

The march route included stops at various locations in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood where missing women were last seen or heard, and culminated in a healing circle at Oppenheimer park.

A sombre but beautiful energy prevailed, as locals gathered in the spirit of resilience and hope and community accountability.

On Valentine’s Day — with snow in forecast — the Downtown Eastside community continues to come together to honour and grieve the lives of women, missing and taken too soon, and recommit to justice.

Tania Ehret is rabble’s Operations Coordinator. 

Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!

Tania Ehret

Tania Ehret is rabble.ca’s Operations Coordinator. Tania first joined rabble as contributing editor and served in the voluntary role of Indie Inside coordinator until 2016. She’s involved...