‘We are still fighting’: 34th Women’s Memorial March draws thousands in Vancouver

An emotional procession took place in the Downtown Eastside to remember murdered Indigenous women.

An emotional procession took place in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Friday to remember, grieve and honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and gender-diverse people.

Diamond Poorman’s sister Chelsea went missing in 2020 on Granville Street, in the city’s downtown core.

Two years later, her body was found in the backyard of a Shaughnessy home.

“She had been reported missing to police more than 19 months earlier,” Poorman said.

“It’s been really hard. I just think that there needs to be a lot of change and a lot of justice.”

‘Our issues are real’

Poorman’s story was one of dozens shared at Friday’s annual women’s march.

Carol Martin helped organize the event, which is now in its 34th year.

Its roots are steeped in tragedy, founded after a young woman named Cheryl Ann Joe was murdered in the Downtown Eastside in 1992.

“It started off on the sidewalks with us drumming, with just a few of us around the block,” she said.

Now, the march draws hundreds of people, who stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a winding sea of red walking through the neighbourhood.

Every so often, the group stops to commemorate where women were last seen or found.

“Our issues are real,” Martin said. “We are still battling. We are still fighting.”

‘We feel cornered’

Both Martin and Poorman said justice is lacking from both law enforcement and governments, who have power to address the root causes of gender-based violence.

“We feel cornered,” Poorman said.

Maura Gowans grew up in foster care in the Downtown Eastside and testified in the National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which released its final report in 2019.

“I wanted other young women to be safe, to not ever go through the harms that I went through,” she said.

“And the thing I want to say about testifying in the Inquiry is, all of see there are no changes. There are no changes.”