Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
On March 13, 2021 people from across the country united in a nationwide“Take Back Canada” rally to honour and commemorate the lives of those women who have been murdered or are missing. Families and friends of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit Individuals (MMIWG2S) and those wanting to bring awareness participated in various ways such as online forums, socially distanced marches and rallies, or from their homes by hanging a red dress from their windows or on their lawns in solidarity.
Photo Credit: Anita Cardinal-Stewart
The need to bring awareness for MMIWG and the “No More Stolen Sisters” campaign has gained momentum, especially in the last year with the noticeable increase in posts on social media circulating information about women going missing across the province. However, this increased awareness lacks media coverage or timely action from law enforcement in taking reports seriously or investigating those reports.
Closer to home, the murder of Billy Johnson last December has brought friends, family and community together in the heartbreaking search mission for recovery of her body every weekend for the last month.[1] Billy Johnson’s older sister Arianne Snakeskin said “we just want to bring her home and we want to bring awareness to the MMIW so that more families don't have to continue to go through this, it’s hard” in a Global News interview. In that same interview, she spoke about how the Edmonton Police Services’ (EPS) response was concerningly slow when her family reported Billy missing and for weeks would not release any information until the person responsible was charged. Further, when the family asked for help to search with a helicopter the EPS said it was too expensive.[2]
If we want to improve the safety of indigenous women and girls, there must be a concentrated effort to address long-standing inequities on a systemic level in the institutions that hinder those women and their families from getting the kinds of supports they need.
Attendees and participants of the “Take Back Canada” rally call on the federal and provincial governments to take action on the 231 calls for justice made during the national MMIWG inquiry. Standing together in solidarity is a way to bring national attention to these calls for justice and these campaigns, even if it is hanging a red dress in your window or going to a rally, the cause needs all our support to do so.
The pandemic creates additional challenges and increased situations of violence, which have had a profound effect on the health of women over this past year. It is estimated that one in five indigenous women reported being a victim of violence during the early pandemic months. According to a report [3] by the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), Indigenous women are 3.5 times more likely to experience violence compared to non-Indigenous women. The NWAC Report also found an increase in the number of violent incidents, usually by an intimate partner, and that one in five women reported being a victim of physical or psychological violence during the first three months of the pandemic.[4]
One of our ReconciliAction team members attended the rally in Edmonton this past weekend to stand as a witness and was very honoured to be apart of the emotional and impactful event. The words of the survivors and loved ones who held signs of those they are remembering must be witnessed, and we at ReconciliAction stand in solidarity with the MMIWG2S and No More Stolen Sisters Movements.
Thank you for reading.
Until next time,
Team ReconciliAction
[1] https://globalnews.ca/news/7638333/edmonton-missing-woman-billie-johnson-search/amp/
[2] Ibid
[3] https://www.nwac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Fact_Sheet_Violence_Against_Aboriginal_Women.pdf
[4] Violence against Indigenous women up during early days of pandemic (aptnnews.ca)
