Rally outside of Ministry of Attorney General
at 720 Bay Street
12-12:30 Thursday April 2, 2015
Toronto, Ontario.
Media Contacts:
Chanelle Gallant (647.478.9488) STRUT
Audrey Huntley (416-408-3967 x 221) No More Silence
Hundreds in Toronto will be rallying to honour Indigenous mother Cindy Gladue, after her killer was acquitted of any wrongdoing.
Cindy Gladue was a 42 year old mother of two daughters, an Indigenous woman who was in the sex industry. In 2011 she was killed by an aggressor posing as a client who left her to bleed to death while he slept. During the trial, Cindy’s body was treated with horrific indifference as her wounded vagina was brought into court as evidence. Her killer admitted to injuring her but claimed it was an accident due to “rough sex”. The mostly white male jury believed him found Cindy’s killer not guilty of anything. He was acquitted and walked free.
Christa Big Canoe, the Legal Advocacy Director at Aboriginal Legal Services state.
“Cindy Gladue was killed in 2011. Her body is not whole in its resting place. In any other context this could be seen as desecration of her remains, but in this judicial process it is called preservation of evidence. It is simply horrific. It appears that the Court did not contemplate Cindy’s dignity, death rites, or any Indigenous perspective on caring for the dead.” She also stated, “I hope that Cindy’s remains will not continue to be held as evidence, or tendered as an exhibit should the Crown appeal the decision and be granted a new trial. We all want to see justice be done but never at the cost of human dignity.”
Across Canada, on April 2, 2015, Indigenous and sex work groups are standing in solidarity to protest the unjust ruling that released the man who killed Cindy Gladue. Other rallies and vigils are happening in Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton, Lac LaBiche, Treaty 3, Treaty 7/Blackfoot Confederacy (Calgary), St. Paul, Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Nogojiwanong (Peterborough), Kenora, St. John’s, Vancouver, Victoria with more joining every day.
Endorsed by Aboriginal Legal Services Toronto, Maggie’s: Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, Toronto Women in Politics, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), Idle No More Toronto, South Western Ontario Sex Workers, Families of Sisters In Spirit, Outburst: Young Muslim Women’s Project, Pomegranate Tree Group, Butterfly (Asian and migrant sex workers), RAMP (Radical Access Mapping Project), Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, George Brown College School of Labour, Rittenhouse, Anti-Colonial Committee in the Law Union of Ontario, Chocolate Woman Collective, Sex Professionals of Canada (SPOC), Toronto Rape Crisis Centre Multicultural Women against Rape, COUNTERfit: Women’s Harm Reduction Program (Riverdale Community Centre), The Redwood, No One Is Illegal–Toronto, London Prisoners Justice Film Festival
Coordinated by No More Silence and STRUT Toronto
Rallies happening across the country:
