SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Songwriter Leela Gilday has inspired Nancy Peel, executive director of the Native Women's Association of the NWT, with her new album Calling All Warriors.

Leela Gilday released her third album, Calling All Warriors, in Yellowknife Tuesday night. - photo courtesy of Dave Brosha

Peel said she is pleased Gilday chose to highlight the issue of violence against aboriginal women in the title track of her newly released CD. Gilday launched the new album in Yellowknife with a concert at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, scheduled for Tuesday night.

"I have great admiration for a young woman such as Leela Gilday for putting this journey for change for aboriginal women across this country," said Peel. "Making it a focus of a song is certainly something that takes a lot of courage and insight on her part. Any awareness to the public in general is certainly a step in the right direction for aboriginal women in the North."

More than a dozen other musicians are following Gilday's lead this weekend by using their music to remember the lives of hundreds of indigenous women who have gone missing or been murdered in Canada in the last three decades.

The artists are performing at an awareness-raising coffee house hosted by Amnesty International Yellowknife and the Native Women's Association from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20, at Northern United Place.

Respected Dene elder Be'sha Blondin will open the evening with a prayer song. The program features performances by Dana Sipos, The Dawgwoods, Stephen Kakfwi, Wake Up Hazel, and James Boraski and Momentary Evolution. The event is part of the No More Stolen Sisters campaign, a Canada-wide initiative to focus attention on violence against aboriginal women.

"We hope that people will join us in this event, to show that violence is not acceptable in any way, shape or form," Peel said. "I think this campaign helps to build awareness so that to some degree others in the community may make a commitment to change, and change attitudes towards these aboriginal women in our community and society."

Approximately 80 per cent of victims of violent crime in the territories are aboriginal women, Peel said. According to a report by the Status of Women of Canada, aboriginal women between the ages of 25 and 44 are five times more likely than non-aboriginal women of the same age to die of violence, she added. As of July, 2009, the list of missing and murdered indigenous women compiled by the Native Women's Association of Canada amounts to 520 women.

Petitions will be displayed at the event, and copies of the Amnesty International report, titled No More Stolen Sisters: The Need for a Comprehensive Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada, will be shared as well.

"We decided as a group this year that we needed to look at something that's affecting Canadian society," said local Amnesty International volunteer Jill Christensen. "It seemed to be a good time to do this. Freedom from violence is a human right."