Montrealers march for missing and murdered Indigenous women
Marches held in cities across Canada, vigil held on Parliament Hill
Hundreds took to the streets of downtown Montreal Tuesday night for the annual march and vigil in honour of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
The march, now in its 11th year, also took place in cities across Canada and included a Parliament Hill vigil attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Bridget Tolley organized the first march in 2005 in honour of her mother Gladys Tolley, who was struck and killed by a Sureté du Québec police cruiser while crossing a highway in 2001.
A Montreal police investigation ruled her death an accident, but Tolley has been fighting for more than a decade to have the case reopened.
Action needed 'now'
Participants gathered at Place Émilie-Gamelin outside the Berri-UQÀM Metro station for a number of speeches before the march began.
One speaker, Melissa Mollen Dupuis, told CBC Montreal's Homerun Tuesday afternoon that the launch of a federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women in September is welcome, but more needs to be done.
"There needs to be action now because this commission is going to take over two years," she said.
"For those two years, we're going to see missing women on our Facebook pages and we're going to hear of the young women being victims in communities, so we need action now."
With files from Neil Herland