Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls, a Canadian Responsibility | Sophie Kiwala | TEDxQueensU

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