Violence No More at Ground Zero
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,
Girls, Trans and Two Spirit people
Newfoundland and Labrador
December 2016
On August 13 of this year, the It Starts With Us partnership
between No More Silence (NMS), The Native Youth Sexual Health Network, and
Families of Sisters In Spirit held its fourth annual Violence No More event.
For the first time the event was held outside of Toronto in what is now known
as St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), the traditional territories of
the Beothuk, Mi’kmaq, Inuit, Southern Inuit and Innu peoples— colonialism’s
“ground zero” in North America. This historic meeting took place thanks to
collaboration between NMS, the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre, and the
Department of Gender Studies at Memorial University. Indigenous grassroots
activists, community members, scholars and allies from across Canada, including
many based locally in NL, joined family members of missing and murdered
Indigenous women, girls, trans and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S) to share updates
on and insights into our respective organizing on this issue, and to strategize
about how to hold the Government accountable (especially to Indigenous
families, communities and nations) during the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada (the Inquiry).
Three years into our work on Ontario’s community-led database, our
volunteers have collected 186 names in total, of which 117 have been researched
and entered into the database. We have produced an interim draft report which
is currently undergoing a peer review. Our work on community lists in other
provinces and assisting families with tributes is ongoing and can be found at: http://www.itstartswithus-mmiw.com/
In the spirit of dialogue, and in alignment with the broad movement that
is Idle No More, we would like to share publicly our thoughts about the Inquiry
(how it should proceed; what possible difference it could make) as well as the
important and invaluable grassroots efforts that brought about the Inquiry and
that will persevere regardless. We are optimistic that the Inquiry process can
become The People’s Inquiry.
First, the Inquiry presents an opportunity to acknowledge the decades of
grassroots work done by Indigenous women, communities and nations, and their
allies to place this issue squarely on the public radar. It was this dedicated
labour that compelled the Trudeau Government to launch the Inquiry.
Moreover, we know that this grassroots work will endure. We see the Inquiry
as only part of what must be done to end the genocide directed at Indigenous
women, girls, trans and Two Spirit people across Turtle Island. Family members,
loved ones and survivors must continue to tell their truths in their own
formats, including by keeping records in parallel with the Inquiry if they so
desire. In short, Indigenous women and their communities must continue to tell
their own stories of MMIWG2S—and be heard.
Accordingly, our vision for the Inquiry centers the work done by
Indigenous women, communities, and survivors. We call on the Commissioners to
honour and build on this work, while treading carefully, respectfully and
compassionately. We also believe that, rather than “reinvent the wheel,” the Inquiry
should consolidate and update the information that we already have. The Legal
Research Strategy Coalition has compiled reports and their recommendations can
be found here: http://www.leaf.ca/legal-strategy-coalition-on-mmiw/. In this way, the Inquiry could
produce an indisputable historical record about MMIWG2S, akin to that of the TRC
on residential schools.
Second, given that the terms of reference have yet to be precisely defined, we
have questions about—and hopes for—a genuine, reciprocal relationship between
grassroots initiatives such as It Starts With Us and the Commissioners.
Importantly, we urge the Commissioners to adhere to Indigenous-defined terms of
engagement, including pre-inquiry insights into how this relationship should
unfold.
Third, we believe that stories are potentially transformative. By providing
the right kind of space and process in which Indigenous stories can be told and
listened to, the Inquiry could serve as a way to educate non-Indigenous settler
populations, and build understanding vis-à-vis their relationship with
Indigenous peoples. In that vein, we call on the Commissioners to create an
effective media strategy to engage the broader public with the Inquiry’s work.
Fourth, we highlight the compounded levels of marginalization faced by
Indigenous sex workers, trans, Two Spirit, queer and gender fluid individuals,
and others who are often left out of narratives about the Inquiry. These groups
should be centered in grassroots initiatives for change and in the Inquiry’s
work.
Fifth, while we appreciate how difficult the task of selecting commissioners
must have been, we note a heavy weight given to expertise in law and the
justice system in that selection process, and call on the Commissioners to seek
the collaboration of individuals with research and activist experience in
socio-political and cultural realms while undertaking the Inquiry. This
holistic approach to the issue is needed to ensure that the Inquiry explores
and clearly delineates systemic causes of violence against Indigenous women,
girls, trans and Two Spirit people, and avoids a narrow focus on the justice
system.
Likewise, we are aware of the enormous challenge of inclusivity—whose
voices will be heard—and call on the Commissioners to avoid tokenizing families
in an effort to meet that challenge. Here we reiterate our call for the Inquiry
to make gender and sexual diversity central to its investigative scope.
Sixth, we demand that the Inquiry’s recommendations be legally binding,
particularly when it comes to the comportment of provinces, municipalities and
police at all jurisdictional levels. We also have serious concerns about
referring families back to those very same authorities and institutions that
failed in their due diligence when it came to many cases of missing and
murdered Indigenous women, girls, trans and Two Spirit people.
Seventh, we call on the commission to ensure that supports are in place for
families (chosen ones included) not only during, but after the Inquiry. Those
of us who participated in the pre-inquiries saw that supports were sorely
lacking for those re-traumatized by the process. Past experiences show us that
when governments hold round tables or inquiries, grassroots groups are often
left—with little to no resources—to deal with those individuals who have been
triggered.
Eighth, we must look after the
health and well-being of our helpers, including the Commissioners. In
recognizing that there will be a call-out and search for support staff to
collect testimony and to follow community protocols in the process, we call on
the Commissioners to value the spiritual and psychological health of those they
employ, more specifically, that they provide adequate leave and access to
spiritual and counselling services for staff—and for themselves—as needed.
Vicarious trauma and other triggers are the nature of the work, and important
supports—noted above—may not be readily available in remote regions and
post-inquiry.
In sum, we are optimistic that social change will happen, independent of the Inquiry.
It is our hope that the Inquiry contributes to that change by honouring the
work being done on the ground by Indigenous women, families, communities and
nations, and the stories yet to be told.
Signed,
Catharyn
Andersen
Barbara Barker
Lindsay Batt, Memorial University
Students' Union
Maggie Cywink
Carol Lynne D'Arcangelis, Memorial University
Audrey Huntley, No More Silence
Beverly Jacobs
Sheryl Lindsay
Jeffrey McNeil-Seymour, Thompson Rivers University
Odelle Pike, Newfoundland Aboriginal Women's Network; Bay St. George
Cultural Circle
Amelia Reimer, St. John’s Native
Friendship Centre
Megan Scribe, PhD Student, University of
Toronto
Bridget
Tolley, Families of Sisters In Spirit
Alex
Wilson, University of Saskatchewan
Wanda Whitebird, No More Silence
Charlotte Wolfrey