Three Yukon First Nations women are organizing a protest against violence on Tuesday.
They want all Yukoners – women, men, aboriginal and non-aboriginal – to attend.
“This rally is to end the violence against women and children and to make it a safe place for our children and the children of tomorrow,” said Lorraine O’Brien, who is helping organize the event as a citizen, not in her new role as president of the Yukon Aboriginal Women’s Council.
This type of violence has become normalized, and it shouldn’t be, she said.
The rally will run for one hour, from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
It will take place across the street from the Council of Yukon First Nations building on the corner of Second Avenue and Black Street.
The location is no coincidence.
Tuesday will mark another meeting between First Nation government leaders.
“We’re doing it then so the leaders can see that we’re still there and we’re not going away,” she said.
O’Brien has led the charge to have Eddie Skookum removed from his position as chief of her First Nation, the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation, since last summer.
She began this fight after Skookum’s 21-year-old girlfriend was found beaten and bloody in the parking lot of a Haines, Alaska motel July 4, 2010. Skookum was charged with felony assault, but pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and was ordered into a 30-day treatment program for alcohol abuse.
“It’s still a part of this,” she said. “We’re still calling for his resignation.”
Contact Roxanne Stasyszyn at roxannes@yukon-news.com