Participants light candles at a vigil held on Saturday, Oct. 4 to honour the memory of murdered Aboriginal women. The Sisters in Spirit Vigil, a small part of the larger Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), was organized to raise awareness of the prevalence of violent crime against Aboriginal women and to promote further action to ensure their safety. Aboriginal women make up approximately three per cent of the Canadian female population, but staggeringly, 10 per cent of female homicide victims in Canada are Aboriginal women. With support from the NWAC, Sisters in Spirit aims to navigate the criminal justice system in search of further protection for Aboriginal women from violent crimes.
