Wake up CANADA!!! There is genocide occurring in your own backyards. Hundreds, if not thousands, of First Nations women and girls missing and murdered across this country – and the majority of these cases remain unsolved. These deaths and disappearances, however, are just the tip of the iceberg. Seventy-five percent of First Nations women will not reach age eighteen without being sexually abused. Of sex crimes reported to police forces, 75% of cases involved young First Nations women under age eighteen. First Nations women are still most likely to live in poverty, earning less then $12,000 a year, and are most likely to sole parent children. First Nations women continue to be underrepresented in formal leadership, and thus, our concerns are often pushed aside and ignored. The Indian Act continues to govern all of our lives – status or not – and divides and conquers us as Indigenous peoples. And all of this violence is important because it has enabled the colonization of First Nations over hundreds of years. Violence against First Nations women IS a sovereignty issue! Violence against First nations women is ALL of our concern – because in the words of AWAN “your freedom is tied to our and ours to yours”. Stand up today and refuse to let this genocide continue a moment longer! (Robyn Bourgeois)