Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

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Disappeared indigenous women are a highly overlooked group in society. Over the past 30 years, more than 1,181 Indigenous women have gone missing or have been murdered in Canada and the United States. They disappear without a trace. Mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, aunts, nieces, friends, partners. The Canadian and American governments have done little to prosecute these cases. Due to federal inactivity, Indigenous groups across the continent have begun self-led coalitions to raise awareness. Through art projects and installations, disappeared women are being remembered and avenged.

Indigenous women receive some of the harshest treatment with no attention paid to this epidemic. Sexual violence in Indigenous communities is commonly overlooked due to cultural difference. Police and authorities lack proper training to attend to Indigenous calls. Young girls, taken away from their families and placed into foster care or government-mandated boarding schools, are abused and assaulted. A 2009 study done by the Canadian government shows that Indigenous women are three times more likely to be a victim of a violent act. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reported in 2014 that Indigenous women are four times more likely to be murdered than non-Indigenous women. The RCMP report also states that Indigenous women are more likely to be murdered by people they personally know. Both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous men are at fault.[1]

Background

Andrea Smith's book, Conquest, discusses the intersectionality of the indigenous struggle, environmental issues, and women's suffering. In the book, she equates women's suffering to concrete issues prevalent in society, which are not usually associated with Indigenous women. Women's struggles and abuse are overlooked, buried in the fight for broader Indigenous freedoms. Acts of violence, rape, and murder are masked by the greater struggle, ingrained by colonial history, and unaddressed by any government. "Patriarchal gender violence" is the way in which colonizers inscribe their beliefs and authority on the colonized.[2]

Children were taken away from their reserves and families to be indoctrinated by colonial powers. They were brought to government sanctioned boarding schools, Canadian Indian residential school system, where they had no autonomy or freedom. While they were under the care of the boarding schools, they were raped, abused and some even killed. Some of the campuses had mass graves for the children that died as a result of harsh treatment by the teachers and counselors at the boarding schools. These schools also instilled violence into the Indigenous children's rhetoric, so when they returned to their tribes and started families, they were more susceptible to committing violent crimes within the household.[3]

Indigenous women are two times more likely than any other women to die from domestic violence.[4] Women are lost within the justice system and within Indigenous societies because their culture embraces restorative justice, choosing to take reconciliatory action instead of disciplinary force. Women are taught not to disrupt familial and tribal unity. They therefore employ "forgive and forget," as their individual justice, and rights are trivial in comparison to tribal camaraderie.[4] Colonial governments are wary to involve themselves in these matters, even if the assailant is non-Indigenous. The women do not receive the respect from their community or from the the state. Indigenous women have no control over their own lives or bodies, thus diminishing their self-assigned worth.

The Female Inukshuk

Kristen Villebrun, a local activist in Hamilton Canada, and around ten other Indigenous women have been constructing inukshuks on the Chedoke Rail Trail.[5] This trail connects to the Chedoke Creek, a watercourse in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. An inukshuk is a man-made stone structure commonly used for navigation or trail markers. Inukshuk translates to "in the likeness of a human".[6]

The women began the project in October, when they noticed that shadows cast by previously constructed inukshuks on the trail were lifelike and reminiscent of the missing women. These activists saw an opportunity to use these structures as a way of drawing attention to the issue of the missing women. They have constructed 1,181 inukshuks, working for six hours a day, four days a week.

The project has attracted many questions, with hundreds of people stopping to inquire about the inukshuks. The women have welcomed the questions, and they will continue to build the inukshuk women until they receive an official government-driven inquiry on the missing Indigenous women.[7]

Walking With Our Sisters

Walking With Our Sisters is a continual art installation, commemorating murdered or missing women and children from Indigenous communities. The project is community-led, from the creation of the piece, to the facilitation of the exhibit. The hope is to raise awareness on this issue and create a space for dialogue-based community discussions on this issue.

The art project is a collection of vamps from moccasins. A vamp is the extra layer of leather for the top lip of the moccasin. The installation has 1763+ pairs of adult vamps and 108 pairs for children. Each pair is authentic and custom made for each individual woman reported missing. The vamps represent the unfinished lives of the missing or murder women.

The project began in 2012, with a call to action issued on the social media outlet, facebook. People were being asked to design and create moccasin tops. By July 2013, 1,600 vamps were collected, more than tripling the initial goal of 600. Men, women, and children of all races responded to the call and became active in the project.

This floor installation travels to select galleries and art exhibition halls. Patrons are asked to take off their shoes and walk alongside the vamps, to ensure that they are not forgotten. People walk alongside them to show solidarity with these women. The installation is booked until 2019 and is scheduled for 25 locations across North America.[8]

This initiative is solely volunteer-based.

National inquiry

On December 9, 2015, the newly elected Canadian government, Canadian federal election, 2015, upheld their campaign promise and instate a National Inquiry. It is a two-phase process. The first calls for officials to meet with the families of victims and missing persons. They wish to collect all the information possible to ensure that these acts are not repeated. This inquiry is more than just a publicity stunt, the liberal government intends to rectify this behavior.[9] Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, set out a five-point plan to reestablish a relationship with the Indigenous groups of Canada. His speech was made in front of group of First Nations leaders in Gatineau, Que. The first point of his address regarded the missing Indigenous Women's National Inquiry.[10]

Other organizations

There are many organizations working to raise awareness and fight the colonial regimes limiting aid to Indigenous women and children.For ways in get involved or more information on activist groups, find the campaigns listed below:

Database

Here is a Missing and Murdered Women's Database for Canadian women and children compiled by CBC News

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ "No More Stolen Sisters". Amensty International. Amnesty International. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  2. ^ Smith, Andrea (2015). Conquest (3 ed.). USA: Duke University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-8223-6038-4.
  3. ^ Smith, Andrea (2015). Conquest (3 ed.). USA: Duke University Press. pp. 35–55.
  4. ^ a b Smith, Andrea (2015). Conquest (3 ed.). USA: Duke University Press. pp. 137–151.
  5. ^ Windigo, Delaney (November 12, 2015). "Inuksuks along Hamilton hiking trail created to remember missing, murdered Indigenous women". Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  6. ^ "What is an Inukshuk?". Inukshuk Gallery. Gallery Indigena. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  7. ^ Carter, Adam (November 5, 2015). "Aboriginal women remembered with 1,181 inukshuks". Remember Our Sisters Everywhere. CBC. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  8. ^ "Walking With Our Sisters". Walking With Our Sisters. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  9. ^ Narine Windspeaker Writer, Shari. "Federal government begins process for murdered, missing Indigenous women inquiry". Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. The Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  10. ^ Mas, Susana (December 8, 2015). "Trudeau lays out plan for new relationship with indigenous people". BC/Radio-Canada. CBC News. Retrieved 10 December 2015.

References

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