Friday, December 23

Fay Blaney says closer examination of violence against indigenous women needed in inquiry

by Amanda Siebert on December 21st, 2016 at 11:33 AM

fay blaney

For almost 40 years, Fay Blaney has worked tirelessly to bring to light the disproportionate level of violence faced by indigenous women in Canada.

“They are looking at colonization, and putting families first, and ‘systemic violence’—none of which are gender-specific,” the former UBC and Langara women’s-studies instructor tells the Georgia Straight during an interview at the Carnegie Centre. “There has yet to be any examination of male violence against women.”

In 2016, Blaney organized three national gatherings on the inquiry: on International Women’s Day (March 8), Aboriginal Day (June 21), and the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre (December 6).

Blaney likens these events to “feminism 101”, where she and other indigenous women—some from the Aboriginal Women’s Action Network (AWAN), of which she is a founding member—act as facilitators to raise awareness and gather information from the community.

Continued:

http://www.straight.com/news/847231/fay-blaney-says-closer-examination-violence-against-indigenous-women-needed-inquiry

Thursday, July 14

On The Farm: A story of survival

FRANCOIS MARCHAND

Published on: July 14, 2016 | Last Updated: July 14, 2016 2:38 PM 

































Vancouver — On The Farm (Unclaimed) is no easy movie-going experience. It shouldn’t be.
The film tells the story of the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton, the B.C. pig farmer who was charged with the murder of dozens of missing women, mostly sex workers from the Downtown Eastside. He was found guilty on six counts of second-degree murder in 2007.
A more sensational retelling of the story would be about Pickton, but On The Farm is clearly not about the character portrayed briefly by actor Ben Cotton, who doesn’t have a single line of dialogue and is simply credited as “The Farmer.”
Instead, On The Farm shines a light on the story of the women who were lost in the process of a drawn-out and botched police investigation. 

http://vancouversun.com/entertainment/local-arts/on-the-farm-a-story-of-survival