Vancouver community holds rally to call for protection of women

In 1997, the burnt body of Sot Lot's daughter Cassandra was found next to a road in a remote part of a Vancouver suburb. However, 18 years later, the killer is still at large.

This is not an isolated case. From 1980 to 2012, 1,017 aboriginal women were murdered in Canada. Like Cassandra, many were residents of the impoverished downtown Vancouver neighborhood.

On Saturday, Lot joined thousands to march in Vancouver's downtown east side to honor Cassandra and all the women from the community, who have died due to violence. The event is now in its 25th year.

"My daughter is one of the missing-murdered. Remains unsolved. So I'm here to ask the government of the day for a national inquiry on missing-murdered First Nations," she told Xinhua at the rally.

The killings of aboriginal women represent 16 percent of all female murders in that period, far greater than their four percent representation in Canada's female population. Critics say Canadian police and government have failed to protect aboriginal women and girls by neglecting their communities.

"I was not the perfect mom. God knows that's why my daughter wandered up down here. She came down here. Her addictions brought her down here. She never got to see me heal, neither did I get to celebrate in her healing," Lot said sadly.

The march in Vancouver was partly a memorial, and partly a call for action for the public and all levels of the government to reverse a tide of violence and neglect that has led to immeasurable pain and suffering for a countless number of residents of this downtown Vancouver community.

In January, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights publicly supported the creation of a nationwide inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada.

The report highlighted failings by police and government, and called for a national action plan that involves aboriginal communities.

Twenty-five years ago, Vancouver's politician Jenny Kwan attended the first memorial march. Kwan, a member of Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, told Xinhua that she was here once again in support of the aboriginal community, in support of the family members, in support of the community, and to call for an end to the violence against women.

"We need to address the root causes. We need an national inquiry," Kwan said. Endi