Take Back the Night this year is happening on September 21, 2013 at Central Neighbourhood House at 349 Ontario Street and is organized by the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women against Rape. The focus of this year’s take back the night will be Honouring and Reclaiming Take Back the Night – Self Determination of Indigenous people.
Statistics show that Indigenous women are more likely to experience violence than non-indigenous women due to structures that enable and encourage violence against Indigenous women. According to the Native Women’s Association of Canada, more than 580 Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or have been murdered in Canada. Most of these cases have happened in the past two decades and nearly have the murder cases remain unsolved. Indigenous women face multiple forms of oppression and ongoing historical racism as well as sexism.
By relying on the criminal justice system, the anti-violence movement has often denied and alienated the experiences of Indigenous women. It diverts power away from the women and towards the state, which is often responsible for perpetrating violence against Indigenous and other marginalized communities.
Self Determination refers to the right of people to participate in and influence the systems that affect their lives, politically, socially and culturally. Women at Nellie’s discussed the importance of what self- determination means for them and included the following concepts:
- participation
- reclaiming survivorship
- awareness
- not giving up, overcoming obstacles, having faith in yourself
- speaking up, not holding onto shame or internalizing it
- standing for your rights, be the author of your own life
- being part of a community to nurture yourself to sustain confidence
As an anti-violence organization, Nellie’s works from a women-centered principle that recognizes women are the experts in their own lives and respects their right to self-determination. By putting women at the center, the anti-violence movement is more likely to challenge responses to violence that alienate and disempower women and uphold structures of state power.
Nellie’s also understands that violence against women takes multiple and intersecting forms of oppression, such as racism, colonialism, sexism, anti- semitism, classism, ageism, ableism, heterosexism, and transphobia, and therefore, strategies to address violence against women must take into account multiple forms of oppression. Come visit Nellie’s Booth at Take Back the Night at the Community Fair at 4pm, and join Nellie’s in the Take Back the Night march to eradicate all forms of violence against women!
For more information on the event: http://www.sexualassaultsupport.ca/Resources/Documents/TorontoTBTN.pdf
