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Families Compile Own Database of Missing and Murdered Women
There was a time when Colleen Cardinal could not talk about her family without choking on her grief. "It took me a long time to talk about what happened to my sister," said Cardinal, from Saddle Lake Cree First Nation in central Alberta. "I'm a family member who lost two women to murder."
Her eldest sister, Charmaine Desa, was murdered in downtown Edmonton in 1990. And Cardinal's sister-in-law, Lynn Minia Jackson, was found in a field in 2004 in Wetaskiwin, about 73 kilometres south of Edmonton.
Cardinal's story is not unique, and this puts her among the legions of family members fed up with a lack of progress in getting to the bottom of the issue of violence against aboriginal women in Canada. She is part of a movement to take control of matters affecting not only her family, but thousands of others. Born of their determination is a newly launched community-based database of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, compiled by the victims' families themselves.
Two grassroots organizations in Canada, No More Silence and Families of Sisters in Spirit, have teamed up to compile the database, which was launched on Sept. 12. The database will record the date of disappearance and death for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. It will hold details such as date of birth, nation, childhood and family background, education and work history, level of permission for use of data and primary contact information.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/09/28/Missing-Aboriginal-Women-Database/
Her eldest sister, Charmaine Desa, was murdered in downtown Edmonton in 1990. And Cardinal's sister-in-law, Lynn Minia Jackson, was found in a field in 2004 in Wetaskiwin, about 73 kilometres south of Edmonton.
Cardinal's story is not unique, and this puts her among the legions of family members fed up with a lack of progress in getting to the bottom of the issue of violence against aboriginal women in Canada. She is part of a movement to take control of matters affecting not only her family, but thousands of others. Born of their determination is a newly launched community-based database of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, compiled by the victims' families themselves.
Two grassroots organizations in Canada, No More Silence and Families of Sisters in Spirit, have teamed up to compile the database, which was launched on Sept. 12. The database will record the date of disappearance and death for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. It will hold details such as date of birth, nation, childhood and family background, education and work history, level of permission for use of data and primary contact information.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/09/28/Missing-Aboriginal-Women-Database/
