‘Stop warring on our women’: rally for Cindy Gladue

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This article was published 02/04/2015 (4158 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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“This time, do not put Cindy’s body on trial. #WomenAreSacred.”

Those words, written in thick black ink on the side of a cardboard box, served as a sort of mission statement for Thursday’s vigil/protest held in honour of Cindy Gladue, the 36-year-old Cree woman at the centre of a controversial homicide trial whose verdict shocked the entire country.

Just before the 60 or so people braved the snow and wind to gather at Oodena Celebration Circle at the Forks, news broke that Crown prosecutors in Alberta had filed an appeal late Wednesday over the acquittal of Bradley Barton, the man who was charged with first-degree murder after Gladue’s body was discovered in the bathtub of his Edmonton hotel room. She bled to death from an 11-centimetre wound in her vagina while Barton slept. Barton’s lawyers argued the injury was the result of rough sex; the prosecution insisted the wound was a result of a weapon.

The news of an appeal earned cheers at the vigil/protest, which was organized by Manitoba Moon Voices Inc. and was one of several scheduled events set to take place in cities across the country today.

But while an appeal feels like a victory of sorts for those who wrote letters and spoke out against what many saw as an unjust verdict, it doesn’t erase the further indignity Gladue faced in the courtroom when her preserved vagina was admitted as evidence — a revicitimizing and dehumanizing decision that has outraged many Canadians.

It’s more than another disturbing detail in a trial filled with them; it’s an affront.

“I’m still numb about what they did this woman,” said Alberteen Spence, one of the protesters who spoke. “This country has to stop warring on our women.”

“We have to acknowledge that her body hasn’t been laid to rest completely yet, and that’s why we’re here today,” said Ko’ona Cochrane, program manager of Manitoba Moon Voices Inc.

Yvonne Bertrand was angry. “I was fit to be tied when I heard about this,” she said. “Why aren’t the media showing (Barton’s) face? Women need to be protected.”

Many tears were shed, burning hot against frozen cheeks. People exchanged comforting hugs and offered tobacco to a sacred fire that managed to roar despite the wind. The fire burned not just for Cindy, but for all the other indigenous women in this country for whom justice has not yet come — and those for whom justice will never come.

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca