What: Press Conference on launch of report Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in
Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with report authors, collaborators and supporting organizations
When: Wednesday April 3, 2019 at 10:30 am
Where: Union of BC Indian Chiefs boardroom, 3rd floor of 312 Main Street, Vancouver
March 27, 2019 – Vancouver: The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (DEWC) is releasing Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on Wednesday April 3 at 10:30 am at a press conference in the UBCIC boardroom, 3rd floor of 312 Main Street.
This comprehensive and unprecedented report is the culmination of a participatory process with 113 Indigenous women and 15 non-Indigenous women in the Downtown Eastside regarding the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. DEWC is a party with standing in Parts II and III of the Inquiry. In a neighbourhood known as ground zero for violence against Indigenous women and girls, Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is an extraordinary 220-page report with Indigenous women detailing compelling stories alongside rigorous research and holistic recommendations.
According to report co-author Carol Martin (Nisga’a and Gitanyow), “This report is the first of its kind with raw data and community research in the Downtown Eastside with Indigenous women’s leadership. Our valuable, beautiful, and strong Indigenous women warriors share their powerful first-hand realities of violence, residential schools, colonization, resource extraction, family trauma, poverty, housing, child welfare, being two-spirit, police, legal system, opioid crisis, and more in this report.”
“This report must not collect dust on a shelf. The brave work done by 128 grassroots women must be acted upon with urgency. We call on all levels of government to immediately implement the 35 key recommendations to end all gendered colonial violence against Indigenous women, girls, trans and two spirit people,” states report co-author Harsha Walia.
This report has received widespread local and national support including from the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, BC Assembly of First Nations, Yellowhead Institute at Ryerson University, BC Government Employees Union, UFCW, and Hospital Employees Union. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs says, “This report is comprehensive and compelling. DEWC is one of the few safe spaces in the DTES exclusively for self-identified women and their children, and thus uniquely positioned to author this ground-breaking report.”
Report will be available on April 3, 2019 here: https://dewc.ca/resources/redwomenrising
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Carol Martin: 604-440-1638
Harsha Walia: 778-885-0040