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Memory March: Shoe memorial honours slain women

A silent walk takes place in Abbotsford in honour of murdered and missing women in Canada.

A silent walk ceremony will be held in Abbotsford on Sunday, March 25 in honour of the memories of murdered and missing women in Canada over the past five years.

The event will be staged by the Art Matters Society, a charitable organization that aims to stop violence and raise awareness through live theatre and community events.

This year, a “Shoe Memorial” will also be held in remembrance of women murdered in B.C.

The collection of new and gently used shoes will be donated to The Warm Zone – a women’s drop-in centre – in Abbotsford, and the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre.

The Memory March will run from noon to 3 p.m. at the Civic Plaza in Abbotsford (off Trethewey behind the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium).

Speaker Gladys Radek from walk4justice, will open the ceremony and vigil in the circle of the Shoe Memorial at 1 p.m. There will be a display of more than 4,000 names of women and children lost to violence.

Mary Billy began “The Femicide List”  after the Montreal Massacre in December 1989, when gunman Marc Lepine fatally shot 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnique.

At the time, the list contained 1,865 names of murdered women and children across Canada.

Art Matters Society director Gwynne Hunt assumed responsibility of the list in 2005.

Participants will have a chance to pay tribute to the victims by bringing shoes directly to the memorial, or by dropping off donations at A & D Music, 2613 Montrose Ave in Abbotsford after March 1.