Walk4Justice continues to seek change

Nineteen more women have been murdered or gone missing across Canada since the Walk4Justice walkers began their three-month journey to Parliament Hill June 21.
“When we walked in 2008 to Ottawa, we carried 2,932 women’s names nationally then; what is sad is we’re going backwards (with now) a little over 4,200 women’s names nationally,” said Bernie Williams, one of the co-founders of Walk4Justice. “What is even sadder is that when we left on June 21, just a month and a half ago, we have lost, or murdered or missing, 19 women right up to date when we landed here.”
Williams said about 75 per cent of the 4,200 women missing or murdered nationally are Aboriginal women.
“I have a mother that was murdered in the (Vancouver) Downtown Eastside,” Williams said. “I have lost three sisters that have been murdered in the Downtown Eastside.”
Williams’ brother was also murdered while she was taking part in the first Walk4Justice walk in 2008. All 12 of the Walk4Justice walkers have been affected by friends or family members who have been murdered or gone missing.
“We are tired of mopping up the blood of our women down there,” Williams said. “And I want to challenge the chiefs here, you have family members out there. You need to bring them home because they are dying.”
Williams and Gladys Radek co-founded Walk4Justice in 2008 to raise awareness about the plight of missing and murdered women across Canada. The B.C-based non-profit organization has completed three other walks, including an earlier walk to Parliament Hill in 2008.
Radek’s niece, Tamara Lynn Chipman, disappeared off Highway 16 (the Highway of Tears) near Prince Rupert, B.C. without a trace in September 2005. The Highway of Tears is a 720-kilometre stretch of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert in northern B.C., where many women have been murdered or gone missing since 1969.
The walkers are promoting a National Missing and Murdered Women’s Symposium for October 2011 and are calling for public inquiry to look into cases of missing and murdered women across Canada during their walk to Parliament Hill. They said their walks would continue until justice is served.
The Walk4Justice walkers were met by Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy, Thunder Bay Coun. Paul Pugh and a group of about 40-50 people at City Hall in Thunder Bay Aug. 13. The walkers also met with community members Aug. 14 at the West Thunder Community Centre and left Thunder Bay Aug. 15 enroute to Ottawa.
“We have been pushing really hard to look at the judicial system to make sure the system works for all of us, especially for First Nations people,” said Beardy, who presented the walkers with a NAN flag to carry with them on their walk to Parliament Hill. “I presented them with the flag to say we support you, what you are doing is very important.”
Full Moon Memory Walk organizer Sharon Johnson, whose 18-year-old sister Sandra was found murdered in 1992 on the Neebing-McIntyre Floodway in Thunder Bay, helped organize the Walk4Justice gathering in Thunder Bay.
“What brings me to these gatherings is to just be a voice for other family members and other women like myself that have been affected by violence,” Johnson said. “It is never easy to do something like this. We just do the best we can and hopefully our voices are being heard, hopefully our message is getting out there.”