Why Are Indigenous Women Missing In Canada?

Why Are Indigenous Women Missing In Canada?

Why Are Indigenous Women Missing In Canada? A deep important question that has been asked for generation after generation with no concrete answer.

For many years a scary trend has arisen and has shown more and more of our Indigenous women and girls turning up missing or murdered. To find out why this is happening we have to go back to the time after the first contact with the Europeans on this continent to try to understand why these tragedies are becoming more frequent.

Let us explore more deeply into the issue as to Why Are Indigenous Women Missing In Canada?

So Why The Red Dress?

It is said in First Nation’s culture’s that the color Red is the only color that the spirits can see. It is also used to symbolize the blood that has been spilled from the missing and murdered indigenous women. The emptiness of the dress is meant to symbolize the missing women who are suppose to be wearing them.

Before Colonization

Before Colonization, many Native American Tribes lived on this continent. The tribes at this time knew the importance of the life of a girl, for the women are the life-givers to all creatures.

Many of the tribes went to war but many of the women were spared or some taken in order to live with other tribes.

At this time many women and men lived mostly without clothes in order to escape the hot summer sun.

There was nothing sexual about it at this time it was just people cooling off.

First Contact.

When European’s first came to this continent they were astonished by the way First Nations people lived, most of them naked, dirty, and of course brown.

Because of the way their appearance many of the settlers looked at them to be more like animals than humans.

Because they weren’t considered humans in their eyes many of the First Nation’s people were subject to many brutal, horrible, terrible acts.

Because of their long voyages on the sea, many of these “men” were sexually excited being around these naked women. The belief at this time was that only a body that was “pure” could be violated so people like prostitutes could be raped without damnation to hell.

So in other word’s the “dirty” women at the time would be considered “rapeable” to the dirtyness the presented.

Not knowing that the dirt that was found on the Natives at this time was used on purpose to camouflage from enemies and to keep the body cool. Many of the women, men, girls, and boys were subject to rape and murder.

A Couple Hundred Years Later

It wasn’t until June 2, 1924, that Native American’s were considered “citizens” in the United States. It wasn’t until 23 years later that Canada followed suit and made the First Nations tribes of Canada, “citizens” of the country.

By this time the trend of treating Native American people badly had already become a normal thing. Because of the conditioning, programming, and negative limiting mindset of passed down to them by their ancestors, many colonizers still ignorantly continue to treat native people poorly.

Native women though seem to fall victim to people with evil intentions more than Native men or anyone in that matter. Let explore why that is.

In nature, the females have always seemed to be the smaller and weaker gender, physically speaking. With this negative limited learned way of thinking that Native People are less superior. Along with the logical way of thinking that women are physically weaker.

Many indigenous women fall prey to men or women who look at them as a way to fulfill an ancient primal need for sexual pleasure or for monetary gain like selling them into the sex trade.

Many of the victims who fall prey to these evil individuals are females who have been alone. Simply walking home, living on the street, wondering away for a moment from their parents.

Some of these victims have never been found and some have been found dead with their bodies found in horrible gruesome states.

Some may argue that many of these women should of “just stayed home”, but the truth of the matter is way more complicated than that.

Loss Of Identity

During the time of colonization of the United States and Canada, many of the First Nations people were subject to many hardships at the hands of the early governments.

With things like residential schools, rapes, abuse, displacement, abduction, and ceremonies not being practiced many of first nations people became lost.

Having endured unspeakable trauma and having no idea where to go many of the first nations people began drinking “fire water” brought to them by early settlers.

Not knowing how to deal with this past pain in a healthy way caused many parents to abuse their own children which caused them to abuse their children and created a long negative cycle of abuse that still continues to this day.

This is why you see many first nations girls and boys on the street is because they have no idea where they belong. Many of them join gangs as a way to have a way of belonging.

Many of these victims of abuse get lost to addictions such as meth, alcoholism, and many more.

Some of these people who battle addictions also have kids that they cannot care for, due to their crippling need for the substance they are addicted too.

Many Indenegious children end up in a system governed by people who still believe that Native lives are not as important.

Much like a trend, this belief or way of thinking is often presented to be as “okay” to certain individuals.

Many indigenous children get placed into homes with people still have this limiting mindset of first nations people and of women.

When many of these children go into these foster homes of people who do not have a good wholesome view of people and natives in general, they will most likely, unfortunately, suffer physical, emotional, mental, and sexual abuse.

Tina Fontaine.

In 2014 an Indigenous teenage girl named Tina Fontaine was reported missing to Winnipeg Police on July 31, 2014.

Her aunt later said that Tina had stayed with her during August 1–3.  On August 5, Tina phoned her CFS worker and was subsequently picked up by members of CFS and Winnipeg Police Service. 

What happened to Fontaine between August 5 and August 8 is unclear, but she remained a missing youth. She was then at a youth shelter in the early morning hours of August 8 but left shortly after.

At 5:15 a.m. on August 8, 2 officers encountered her in a truck with an alleged drunk driver as part of a traffic stop but did not take her into custody, even though she was known to be missing.

The 2 constables were suspended for their actions and left the police force.

At 10 a.m that day she was found passed out in an alleyway near Ellice Avenue in Winnipeg and was escorted to the hospital.

She was treated before being checked into a hotel placement then she soon left the hotel afterward. She was then reported missing again on August 9.

At around 1:30 in the afternoon on August 17, her body was found wrapped in plastic and a duvet cover which was the weighed down with rocks in the Red River In Winnipeg.

The Police believe she had died on or around August 10.

A man named Raymond Joseph Cormier was charged in December 2015 for the murder, Cormier was acquitted by a jury on February 2018.

Following the death of Tina Fontaine, the Canadian Human Rights Commission requested a full inquiry into the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.

In 2016 and the change in government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that a national inquiry for “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls” would be undertaken. 

With so many other cases of murdered and missing aboriginal woman it’s pretty fair to ask why did it have to take the death of this beautiful innocent young girl before Canada actually did something?

This question still lingers on my mind but even with efforts from Canada and United States the number of missing and murdered Indigenous females still continues to rise.

Awareness Day

The National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was declared May 5, 2018, as a national day of awareness in order to raise the concern for the crisis and to remind people on issues affecting Indigenous women.

With the ongoing racism, murders, and abduction of our women still continuing to this day, it’s hard to believe that one person or any government can do anything at all, but this is not true.

On this day and many other days, you will often see people wearing red in honor of these girls who have gone missing or have gotten murdered.

The reason why bringing awareness about this topic is so important is that the more we talk about it and show our concern other people will begin to care as well. It doesn’t take much light to light up the darkness much like it doesn’t take much hope to plant the seeds needed to grow the tree of change.

This awareness day is just about plant an idea, a seed, a tiny sliver in the mind of man kind to become better as a people and to become better an individual’s. This awareness is make those people aware who have the limiting negative mindset about Native American people a little bit more educated and to show that we, First Nations people are human.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Statistics

The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has created a database for the Women who have went missing and/or murdered. The association do a lot of research for every case and believe there are much more cases to document.

Out of the 582 Cases that they researched:

• 67% are murder cases (death as a results of negligence or homicide);
• 20% are cases of missing Women or Girls;
• 4% are cases of suspicious death-deaths regarded as natural or accidental by police, but considered suspicious by family or community members; and
• 9% are cases where the nature of the case is unknown-it is unclear whether the Women was murdered, is missing or died in suspicious circumstances.
• 55% of the cases involve younger Girls under the age of 31
• 17% of the Girls are 18 years or younger
• In Canada, 54% of the cases were in Western canada.
• 70% of the Women disappeared from an urban area
• Indigenous Women are 3x as likely to be killed by a stranger than non-Indigenous Women
• The National Homicide rate for Indigenous Women is at least six times higher than for other women
• 1,017 Indigenous Women and Girls have been killed between 1980 and 2012 according to Police

Tribute and Honouring to Missing and Murdered Women

The Powwow World has done a lot to give awareness to MMIW and one of their songs is so powerful. It talks about standing up for Indigenous Women and doing our best as warriors to protect them.

The lead singer of the group is Jacob Faithful and he leads his group in a great way. The song they sing is in the Cree language and the translation of the song is:

“Us men need to protect our Women. So that no further harm will be bestowed onto them. Protect our Women.”

How you say this in Cree is:

“Kīyanow kanapewīyah kitswemnowāk. Eh kiy-iywāk kaktamahīcik kaktamahīcik nakatokāytahn kitswemnowāk.”

One of the biggest stages of Powwows is the Gathering of Nations. Here many of the head lady dancers used the spotlight to create awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women through specials called, “Red Dress Specials”.

In this video Tia Wood was Head Young Lady for GON Powwow and uses her talent to sing before her Red Dress Special to bring awareness to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

In this video above, Jayda Gadwa sings a beautiful song for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

She was a head dancer at Gathering of Nations and used the platform to bring awareness to this topic that the world needs to know about.

If you Know Anyone Who Falls Into The Topic Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women…..Please Write Her Name in The Comments Below So We May Remember Her Forever