Anything Knitted and Crocheted: Why are Aboriginal women's murders ignored?

Anything Knitted and Crocheted

Welcome to my blog. I hope to blog about my knitting and crocheting as well as everyday life. The patterns that I post are original and as such there is copyright on them. When they are based on another pattern there is a link to the pattern.

My husband and I adopted a beautiful dog named Leo. He is a dachshund and absolutely adorable! we adopted him on June 23, 2010 and he has become the love of our lives.

I love to share patterns that I find along the way or to talk about some of the neatest designers that are out there today, so I love to post links to the designs or the designers.

So grab a cup a and sit and enjoy the blog.

Cora

Monday, May 18, 2009

Why are Aboriginal women's murders ignored?

NUPGE has supported this initiative with funding through its "Building International Sisterhood campaign" projects.

Ottawa (18 May 2009) – The Harper government is once again deflecting calls for a public investigation into more than 500 cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women.

Amnesty International, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and the Liberal Party of Canada have all called on the federal government to take more action on the alarming number of Aboriginal women and girls that have been murdered or gone missing in the past three decades.

In March, 2009 the NWAC released a second edition of Voice of Our Sisters in Spirit: A Report to Families and Communities.

The Sisters in Spirit Initiative is a multi-year research, education and policy initiative designed to investigate the disproportionately high number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

NUPGE has supported this initiative with funding through its "Building International Sisterhood" projects.

The key findings of the report include the fact that the number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada is extremely high, with over 520 cases confirmed since 1970. The percentage of cases of missing women and girls has remained constant, suggesting that there is a trend of ongoing disappearances.

For many years Native organizations have raised the issue of violence against Aboriginal women and girls. And in 2004, Amnesty International released a report entitled Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women In Canada. The report stressed the issue that the lives of Indigenous women in Canada are placed at risk precisely because they are Indigenous women.

Beverley Jacobs, president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), says that native girls and women still don’t get the same attention from police or the media when they vanish. Racism, stereotypes and discrimination are still the reality for Aboriginal families who are seeking help when a loved one goes missing.

About NUPGE International Women’s Projects

At the National Union’s 2006 conference, Building International Sisterhood, NUPGE announced that it would be developing partnerships with four women’s projects, one of which is the Sisters in Spirit initiative. At the NUPGE 2007 Triennial Convention a resolution was passed to provide support to the projects for three additional years.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE

More information:
Sisters in Spirit
Amnesty International

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The “Proselytize Knitting” Badge

The “Proselytize Knitting” Badge - A requirement for all Knitting Scouts, the recipient must do his or her bit to present knitting in a positive light, whilst at the same time avoiding all references to “hipness”, grandmothers, and yoga.

I’m always doing my part in this arena whether it’s spoken or written like in this blog. I teach at my local community league, which was a fluke. I am involved in the Alberta Avenue Initiative and was asked to teach both knitting and crochet. I start with dishcloths as it gives the basics.

The “MacGyver” Badge (Level One) - The recipient must demonstrate clever use of a non-knitting tool in a knitting-related scenario. For instance, recipient has used paper clips as stitch markers, or successfully whittled and then utilized bamboo skewers as dpns.

I’ve used all kinds of things as stitch markers when none were available, and have found clever ways of knitting cables without cable needles using skewers.