Image: Cheam First Nation / Cheam First Nation east of Chilliwack plans to commemorate the cause of missing and murdered Indigenous women at a march this weekend on Highway 9 north of its sovereign land. This poster about the march was released to area news media. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

March this weekend east of Chilliwack

Cheam First Nation east of Chilliwack to march this weekend to remember missing, murdered Indigenous women

Apr 29, 2024 | 1:22 PM

CHILLIWACK — Cheam First Nation east of Chilliwack plans to commemorate the cause of missing and murdered Indigenous women at a march this weekend on Highway 9 north of its sovereign land.

According to a news release from the band, Cheam First Nation will march this Sunday, May 5 to bring awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, 2-Spirit and other Indigenous victims in Canada.

The march will begin at 10 a.m. at 10235 Agassiz-Rosedale Highway and wrap up at Cheam Beach.

“Today we are honouring our most sacred resource, our life givers, our matriarchs,” Cheam First Nation Chief Darwin Douglas said. “We are remembering all of the loved ones that we’ve lost with our commemoration on this day. We want to bring awareness to the issue of missing and murdered, Indigenous women and we are asking for support in honouring them. Please join us on this important day.”

The Ministry of Transportation, RCMP and 604 Traffic Control have been engaged for everyone’s safety, including marchers and motorists. One side of the route will be open to single-lane alternating traffic between the approximate hours of 10 a.m. through to noon, with anticipated increases in traffic in this area for the entire day.

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“Reclaiming Power and Place,” the national inquiry’s final report, reveals that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people, Cheam First Nation wrote in its news release. The two-volume report highlights the need for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across the country. The report was released in 2019 and considers violence against Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people to be genocide. According to the inquiry, Indigenous women and girls are 16 times more likely to be murdered or to disappear than white women. The over 1,000-page document has more than 200 calls for justice, changes that advocates say must be made in many areas of Canadian society to end the crisis.

According to a band description on its website, Xwchíyò:m (Cheam First Nation), as part of the Pelólxw people, is a major community within the broader S’ólh Nation. The Xwchíyò:m have lived in S’ólh Téméxw for thousands of years. They have never ceded or surrendered title to their lands, rights to their resources, or authority to make decisions within their territory.