Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls

HAMILTON - McMaster University commemorated a plaque for the families of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) yesterday on campus - a large step forward considering not so long ago indigenous people would lose their status as an Indian for simply attending a post-secondary school.

About 60 people wearing white ribbons and holding carnations gathered outside the Windsor Assembly Plant Tuesday morning to remember murdered women, including the 14 Ecole Polytechnique students killed 27 years ago Tuesday. The men and women attending a service by Unifor Local 444 to end violence against women heard the names of the victims read as red ribbons were placed on a wreath.

APTN National News The Assembly of First Nations regional chief from British Columbia resigned from the missing and murdered Indigenous women portfolio Tuesday after he became embroiled in a controversy over an Instagram photo he posted over the weekend.

(Nahanni Fontaine, former Special Advisor on Indigenous Women Issues is shown here in 2010 at a MMIW Christmas event she organized called "Never Forgotten" at the Manitoba Legislature. The Conservative government said they haven't found any evidence of the work she performed.)

December 6, 2016 marks the 27 year anniversary of the mass femincide at École Polytechnique. Vigils will be held across Canada to commemorate the murder of 14 female engineering students. On that day in 1989, a lone gunman entered a classroom of 60 engineering students and ordered the men to leave.

The B.C. government has shown its support towards a family liaison unit for families involved with the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered indigenous Women and Girls. The government passed an order in council last week that gives the commissioners of the National Inquiry the authority to examine matters within jurisdiction of the province.

The governing Progressive Conservatives haven't appointed a special adviser on Indigenous women's issues because, they say, there's no evidence the previous adviser did any work. Premier Brian Pallister said in June he asked MLA Nahanni Fontaine to provide a record of the meetings or research she conducted while serving as the special adviser to the previous NDP cabinet.

Women's rights advocates are strategizing to ensure they will be heard during Canada's upcoming inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women -- whether they're invited to the table or not. Indigenous feminists and allies in Vancouver have already held two public meetings to identify a group agenda so that, when the inquiry begins early next year, they will be organized to make their concerns clear to officials.

An NDP MLA was outraged to learn about the PC government's decision to dissolve an indigenous issues committee and special advisor position she once held, calling the plan "offensive to indigenous people" in Manitoba. St.

On Dec. 6, 1989, 14 female engineering students at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal were gunned down because they were women.

An art show and sale is being held to raise awareness of missing and murdered indigenous women and children.

Jennifer Roulette knows what it feels like to live in poverty and to lose her home, all while being a single mom. The 33-year-old Winnipeg mother of four says she can relate to the people on the street whom she now spends her time helping.

In October, Canada's unions staged a unique and powerful performance with music by A Tribe Called Red, video, holograms and dance to honour Canada's missing and murdered Indigenous women. Learn more about how unions are standing for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls: http://www.fairnessworks.ca/missing-murdered-indigenous-people/

Winnipeg police are expected to release details about an arrest made in a 2014 homicide in the North End. Police would only say the victim was killed in December 2014 in the area of Selkirk Avenue and Charles Street. CBC News will update this story as Winnipeg police release more information at an 11 a.m.

OTTAWA, TORONTO and KAMLOOPS, Nov. 25, 2016 - The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) today recognizes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as designated by the United Nations in 1999. AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde, together with the Chair of the AFN Women's Council Denise Stonefish and AFN Regional Chief for British Columbia Shane Gottfriedson are urging men and women from all walks of life to unite in the global effort to end violence against Indigenous women and girls in all its forms.

Seated in a large circle in Winnipeg's Thunderbird House, a small group of people came together for a pipe ceremony on Saturday to offer healing and support for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women. "There's a need for healing for these people," said Robert Sneep, who organized the event.

File photo By Sidney Drmay From Nov. 21 to Nov. 23, the Image Arts building on Ryerson's campus lit up in shades of red for the support of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, transgender and two-spirited people.

"Look, it's Amber," says Vivian Tuccaro, pointing to the sun as it breaks through clouds over Leduc, Alta. She smiles as the rays reach her face. It's Tuccaro's first smile since the beginning of a rally in honour of missing and murdered Indigenous women such as her daughter, Amber Tuccaro.

In This River, Katherena Vermette trains an intimate and personal lens on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and shows the lengths families will go to bring their loved ones home. In 1991, Vermette's brother went missing from Winnipeg, and six months later his body was found just north of Grand Beach, Man.

Efforts of Winnipeg volunteer group Drag the Red highlighted in This River

As the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women slowly gets started and as cross-country runner Caribou Legs wraps up his six-month, 7,400-kms run to bring awareness to the issue, one Saskatchewan writer is doing her small part to help out.