Hundreds of people attended a vigil outside Place des Arts to demand equal access to justice for Canada’s aboriginal women.
The vigil was organized in response to the revelation of allegations of abuse against aboriginal women in Val d’Or by Surete du Quebec police officers.
The Quebec branch of Idle No More is among the groups that organized the event. Representatives from Amnesty International and the Quebec Native Women’s Centre as well as organizations that help all women who are victims of violence also came to show support.
The groups say calls to action have been issued before, but not enough has been done to deal with what they say is systemic discrimination against aboriginal women.
"We know it's not fair to generalize about police, but they're aware of this problem and they've known about it for a long time, and they need to do something about it," said activist Ellen Gabriel.
Vigil at Place des Arts in support of aboriginal women and an end to violence. https://t.co/bJkSwnEwpO
— Cindy Sherwin (@CSherwinCTV) October 29, 2015
“What’s important to understand is a lot of people are not aware of what’s going on in Native communities, are not aware of the real lives of native women …. The situation has brought that to light and I hope more consciousness from the general population,” said Diane Matte from CLES, an organization that fights the sexual exploitation of women.
The hope, says Nakuset, executive director of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal, is that the women who came forward to tell their stories see footage of the vigil.
"When they see this, they're going to feel like they did the right thing, that there is support behind them and it's important to speak," she said.
Melissa Mollen Dupuis, the co-founder of the Idle No More movement in Quebec, says her inspiration comes from her two-month-old daughter.
"I don't want my daughter to end up on a poster of missing and indigenous women, I want her to have a real life. to have access to what Canadian society has good to offer," she said.
In an open letter, the groups are calling on prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau and Premier Philippe Couillard to live to up their promises to end violence against aboriginal women and hold the inquiry that Trudeau has talked about into missing and murdered indigenous women across the country.
