One of the most powerful, unifying sensations I have of the February 14 Memorial March is when hundreds of us join hands in a circle at Main and Hastings, and again at the end of the March around the totem pole in Oppenheimer Park. Holding hands can mean different things, but the underlying theme is always friendship and love. We can’t stop the drug-related deaths (only our own) so we join hands to honour the lives of the women who have died. We join to grieve and to organize. We join our voices to sing, to pass on information, and to argue for those so marginalized most people don’t believe they have the same rights as everyone else, to justice, police protection, adequate housing and medical attention.

These women were not nameless, they were not faceless, they were not just a number on a list - they were human beings deserving of empathy, love, support, caring and most of all understanding. These women were mothers, daughters, sisters, aunties, cousins, grandmothers, girlfriends and friends. It is important that public pressure remain on public officials to find out who was responsible for investigating the disappearances of these women, and why the lack of action so many years prior to Pickton’s arrest.

Each panel of the Quilt/Banner is to be 18” x 24”. Come out and sew a panel or write the name of a woman you know who we want to remember with this Memorial Quilt.

Diane Wood