A demonstration calling for justice for Cindy Gladue will take
place at noon tomorrow, Thursday, April 2, at the Law Courts Building in
Edmonton, 1A Sir Winston Churchill Square.
Gladue, a 36-year-old Edmonton woman who worked in the sex
trade, died in June 2011 following an encounter with Ontario trucker Brad
Barton.
Her death was the result of massive blood loss from an
11-centimetre wound in the side of her vagina, while she lay in a bathtub in
the Yellowhead Inn.
Arrested and tried for first-degree murder in the Provincial Court of Alberta, Barton was acquitted
by a jury on March 18.
The demonstration is being held to protest the verdict and to
underline calls for the case to be appealed. A petition to that effect addressed to Alberta
Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Jonathan Denis has also been set up.
While her death is first and foremost a personal and family
tragedy, the case of Cindy Gladue has become a rallying point for people
concerned about issues including missing and murdered aboriginal women, safety for
sex workers and violence against women.
“This is another example of the way aboriginal women in Canada
are marginalized, erased, and denied justice,” states a release issued by
organizers of the Edmonton demonstration.
“Additionally, Ottawa has repeatedly ignored requests for an
inquiry into Canada’s shameful secret. On May 16, 2014 a report by the RCMP
identified 1,017 women and girls were murdered between 1980 and 2012. A
homicide rate that is approximately 4.5 times higher than that of all other
women in Canada.”
Justice for Cindy Gladue and all indigenous women in the sex
industry is the demand put forward by the organizers of a demonstration planned
for Toronto tomorrow.
“Though the circumstances of Cindy’s death and trial are
gruesome, her story is not unique, nor is the indifference of the Canadian
legal system to an indigenous woman, especially those in the sex industry,”
according to a statement on behalf of No More Silence and STRUT Toronto.
“This verdict is an abomination--and it represents a larger
pattern of deep and relentless violence by individuals and the state against indigenous people. We support those who are calling for an appeal to the
verdict in this trial--but we also know that for indigenous women, especially
sex workers, the court systems will never provide justice. The legal system did
to Cindy exactly what it has done to thousands of indigenous women--to
over-police and under-protect.”
They call for measures including the decriminalization of sex
work and creation of safe spaces for it.
Demonstrations have also been organized for tomorrow in more
than 20 other communities across Canada. Information links are available on the
Justice For Cindy
Gladue Facebook page.
The Edmonton event will begin with an opening ceremony and
prayers, followed by procession with drums from the Law Courts Building to
Churchill Square, where it is expected to arrive at 12:30 p.m.
Following an honour song, Fawn Lamouche will give a statement
from family, to be followed by presentations by Grand Chief Bernice Martial, Treaty
Six; Grand Chief Steve Courtoreille, Treaty Eight; and Muriel Stanley Venne, of
the IAAW and Aboriginal Commission on
Human Rights and Justice.
