Missing Murdered Indigenous Women Girls a Canadian Responsibility
hi everyone
nice to see everybody out here before i
begin
i want to be clear that when i speak of
missing and murdered indigenous women
and girls
that i’m speaking as an ally and not as
an indigenous person
and i can’t refer to this subject
without first providing historical
context
how did we get here i want you to
imagine
being trapped inside a body that could
not speak
imagine that all around you things are
happening to you people are talking
there’s lots of activity
but you can’t participate and
imagine this world as a young indigenous
girl
too frequently raised by broken
angry adults coping with their own
issues with ptsd from childhood trauma
mental illness drugs addiction and
violence
she exists as a fearful observer
of the world around her watching others
succeed
go to school and obtain good careers
this world is our canada
this is the legacy that we have created
for indigenous peoples
living far from services programs and
recreational opportunities that
many of us will take for granted some
girls from indigenous communities
particularly remote ones have few
options
other than to figure out how to escape
shouldn’t every person have the right to
speak and be heard
to fully engage with the world and
develop their own
natural gifts and abilities
instead the legacy of canadian canada’s
treatment of indigenous peoples has
resulted
in their being entombed inside
silent bodies silent
in that they’re prohibited from fully
engaging
in a self-fulfilled life just by virtue
of the culture
into which they were born it is
undeniable that
institutional and individual racism
sexism
poverty addiction insecure housing
and lack of economic opportunities
increase
indigenous women’s vulnerability to
violence
this is inherently unfair
we have shattered generations of adults
through the actions of successive
governments governments who thought that
they knew better
but they were wrong now some context
about me and
why this fight fuels me i’m the product
of a polish father and a scottish mother
so i guess you could say a rebellious
streak was bred right into my bones
my life would have been a lot easier and
our house
a lot more peaceful if my father could
have gone back to the time when girls
were seen and not
heard the scottish part of me however
would have
none of this the battle lines were drawn
early in our house and dad and i were
digging in our heels
on many an issue the contest of wills
sharpened my sense of justice in ways
that were
somewhat silent to me until the field of
politics
i could not then and i will not now
ever accept that girls and women
should be treated any differently than
boys and men
the heightened sense of justice and
fairness for all
existing deep within my being often came
out
blazing when i was working in a
constituency office in kingston
helping someone who had fallen through
the cracks through no fault of their own
and then going to bat for them against
that
conservative government
became my passion i get you you
understand why
so thank you dad i decided to run for
office after that following my heart and
my desire to improve people’s lives and
became the member of provincial
parliament for kingston and the islands
in june
of 2014. the first official event that i
went to
was held in market square in kingston on
june 21st
the day now referred to as national
indigenous people’s day
among those making presentations were
representatives of the native women’s
association of canada
who had launched the faceless dolls
project the year before
it was the first time that i had the
opportunity to view the panels of
faceless dolls
and looking at the rows upon rows upon
rows of dolls
absolutely took my breath away but
remember the context
you can pass by the panels and
experience a deeply
challenging issue that’s reflected in a
somber art display
or you can really take in the enormity
of it all
understanding that every doll is
faceless
because the women and girls they depict
are gone
their cases remain unsolved and they
remain practically forgotten
by society at large we can
feel to the very depth of our being
that each of those dolls each of those
statistics
is representative of a mother daughter
sister aunt or cousin
and looking at the faceless dolls we can
feel
the pain of family members
like nicole’s mother eleanor who lives
right here in kingston and is with us
this evening
she still waits for her phone to ring
with a clue
or news that someone has been charged
in her daughter’s death many family
members
live in hope that the ringing phone will
mean
that a loved one has finally come home
or the news that no one wants that a
body has been found
this is the daily reality that these
families face a reality representative
represented in each one of those dolls
i knew as i stood in market square that
day that my journey in politics at least
to some extent
was being cast i resolved to do
everything in my power to
affect some much needed change and
justice for indigenous peoples
we know the stark picture painted by the
statistics
you’ve probably heard them before
sixteen percent of female homicides are
indigenous women and girls
this is astonishing when you consider
that indigenous women only make up four
percent of the entire national
female population i know right
context indigenous women are
seven times as likely to be
disproportionately affected by
all forms of violence 12 times more
likely to be murdered and missing than
other women
16 times more likely to be murdered than
caucasian
women and three times more likely
to be sexually assaulted than
non-indigenous women
how do we communicate the context behind
those sad statistics
following that event in market square i
borrowed the four panels of the native
women’s association and brought them on
tour
in kingston to increase the awareness on
this tragic subject
i took the panels to high schools and to
religious communities and support i was
really surprised to learn
how little was known about missing and
murdered indigenous women
these visits were emotionally
overwhelming for all who were present
the most riveting and challenging
conversation that i had
during my visit was to the islamic
center of kingston
a young boy of about 10 years old of age
was in attendance
and i was torn when i saw him i didn’t
know if i should sanitize the
conversation for him
should i make it age-appropriate or
continue as i had throughout the tour
informing as many people as possible
about the horrendous statistics
i decided to push on the stark numbers
attached to this dark subject
filled the mosque while my heart
kept going out to that year old boy
what was he thinking what was he feeling
when i i concluded he raised his hand to
ask a question
he wanted to know why we couldn’t do
something to set up a buddy system
within our community
so that if a woman needed help somebody
would go and get her
beautiful he not only got it
but he offered a solution out of the
mouths of
babes he also got the context of the
situation that it is
unacceptable the woman clearly had to be
protected
plain and simple we know the danger that
exists for indigenous women
but it is not just the responsibility of
any one person
agency or organization to look out for
them
the solution is up to all of us
we have to work together with indigenous
people to get it right
remember this legacy that i spoke of
when i first began this talk which
resulted in the fracturing of family
relationships
and the enormous challenges created as a
result
there’s little wonder that some
indigenous women seek refuge
by leaving their home and family
environment
they attempt to escape this can be such
a toxic situation as well
and become a nightmare of addiction to
drugs
alcohol or worse
in his work the scream part of the
historical context
goes back to and gave rise to this
legacy of despair
and it’s captured beautifully by the
work of the artist
kent monkman in his work entitled the
scream
there’s a port there’s a portrayal of
the pain
and anguish and that’s been inflicted on
indigenous peoples as families and
communities
are irreparably torn apart the result of
a government-sanctioned policy
designed to take the indian out of the
child
i was once present when a child was
apprehended by the cas
and i can tell you that no matter what
the underlying circumstances
are that moment absolutely ripped my
heart out
imagine being present when not one child
is being taken but a whole
village compounding this tragedy was the
fact that no one knew the abuse
that those children would suffer with
many more
many of them never returning home during
my service as the parliamentary
assistant to the minister of indigenous
relations and reconciliation
i had the opportunity to travel to
shaplow ontario
for the signing of a tripartite treaty
agreement
between the province of ontario the
government of canada
and the shaplow cree band while on route
to the signing ceremony our hosts
asked if i wanted to see where the st
james residential school had been
located
and i said yes as we travel along the
razor strait highway
they pointed out to the site where the
school had been
now just a clearing of well-kept moan
grass with a thick
ominous forest standing behind it as a
backdrop
then they asked if i wanted to see the
school’s
cemetery you heard me right
the school’s cemetery we pulled over
got out of the car and came to the
wrought iron fence
and plaque marking the spot we went
through the gate and
down a little hill and around a corner
no piece of land on which i have stood
through all my years on this earth spoke
to me as poignantly as did that piece of
land
it was as if each little grave was a
gaping wound in the earth and it
filled my chest with a sickening raw
and shameful grief
the place was stifling with an acrid
emotion it was hard to be there
what i found most disturbing was where
the cemetery was situated
caretakers of those sweet little
innocent children
chose a spot concealed from public view
away from the road down a ravine and out
of sight
to bury the dead their students
round stone markers outlined the small
bodies buried in shallow graves
some graves had a more formal stone but
not many
a canoe located in the cemetery
symbolized paddling the star journey
from
earth to heaven the words inscribed on
the paddle inside the canoe
read as follows may the warm winds
blow gently on your canoe paddles
may the moccasins of your small feet
make happy tracks
and may the rainbow always touch your
shoulders
we can no more make indigenous peoples
in
our own image than we can reverse time
and undo the damage that we inflicted
upon them
what we can do is make it incumbent upon
each and every one of us
to discern and discover our own way to
reconcile
with indigenous people through working
together with them
in order to keep indigenous women and
children safe
the sad legacy is clear we smothered the
smudges
silenced the drums the songs the
traditional languages
we stifled the dance and worst of all
we ripped children from their mother’s
arms
we can take bold steps to create a new
legacy of hope
healing the wounds of history and not
resting
until every canadian truly understands
and accepts the concepts
of reconciliation in their hearts and in
their minds
we need to accept the historical wrongs
that were committed in order that this
relationship may be renewed for
generations to come
building a legacy of hope cannot be
contained in a one-time
act or simply declared within the
observance
of a nationally recognized single day
true reconciliation the real work needed
to mitigate further tragedy in the lives
of indigenous women girls and their
families is a generational
commitment the context we need to create
for ourselves
is that we become unfailingly familiar
with
the vulnerable around us beginning right
at our front doorstep it will mean
something different for each of us
but a starting point become familiar
with the 231 calls for justice
enumerated in the 2019 federal report
and
adopt one two five or as many as you can
it’s imperative that we prioritize the
safety of indigenous women and girls
the systemic and social causes
that make them more vulnerable to
violence
each one of us can and must
play a role justice murray sinclair’s
statement describes the mission before
us and the
heart of the legacy we hope to build and
that we are called on to build and he
said
starting now we all have an opportunity
to show leadership courage
conviction in helping heal
the wounds of the past as we make a path
towards
a more just more fair
and more loving country
the subject of missing and murdered
indigenous women and girls will not
no longer need be a footnote in canadian
history
it needs to be the title until we can
stem the tide
of new cases and it’s important because
it speaks to who we are as a nation
we need to build the canada that we want
for the future
and we must tolerate nothing less
the time is now thank you so much
merci beaucoup
you