Show your heart on February 14 & 15
Toronto – February 7, 2018 – On February 14 and 15, activists can show their heart and share their solidarity for a better future for First Nations children, and for justice and safety for women and girls.
Have a Heart Day is an annual call to bring equal funding and services to First Nations children living on reserve. This initiative by the First Nations Children and Family Caring Society (the Caring Society), is a youth-led reconciliation campaign to help ensure First Nations children get a fair chance to grow up safely at home, get a good education, be healthy, and feel proud of who they are.
Dozens of Have a Heart events are planned across the country. To participate in a Have a Heart Day event in your area on February 14, or to join in the Have a Heart event at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on February 15, find out more at www.fncaringsociety.com/have-a-heart.
UFCW Canada has supported the Caring Society campaign every year since its inception. “It is an issue that we can not waver on,” says UFCW Canada President Paul Meinema. “First Nations children living on reserve continue to receive substantially less funding for schooling and social services than other children in Canada. As the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled, this discrimination must end.”
Women’s Memorial Marches also take place on February 14, at a number of locations across the country. The marches and vigils honour and acknowledge the loss of thousands of women and girls who have lost their lives due to physical, mental and emotional violence. They also call attention to the disproportionate percentage of Indigenous women and girls gone missing or murdered at a rate that far exceeds any other demographic in Canada. These memorial marches provide an opportunity to show solidarity in the fight to eliminate violence for all women.
Some of these February 14 marches include:
Toronto – 13th Annual Strawberry Ceremony for Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans and Two-Spirits
Location: Police headquarters, 40 College Street at Bay Street
Event starts at 12:30pm
Only banners created in memory of women who lost their lives due to violence are allowed.
Vancouver – Annual February 14th Women’s Memorial March – DTES
Location: Carnegie Community Centre Theater (401 Main street)
Event starts at 10:30 a.m., and march starts at noon
Calgary – 10th Annual Valentine’s Day Women’s Memorial March
Location: Scarboro United Church, 134 Scarboro Avenue SW
Event starts at 6:30 p.m., followed by march at 7 p.m.
Look to social media for other February 14 marches planned in your community.
For more information regarding UFCW Canada’s work on anti-violence against women initiatives see www.ufcw.ca/women. To find out more about UFCW Canada’s work on Reconciliation see www.ufcw.ca/reconciliation.
