The Ongoing Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls

 

We have watched the first two episodes of Three Pines, the adaptation of the best-sellling crime novels by Louise Penney. I've noted before that Penney's writing has become more sophisticated over time but despite our earlier enthusiasm we've been intermittent in reading the more recent books in the series because our credibility was stretched by so many murders in and around a small, rural village in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. 

We are enjoying the series as it starts in no small part because the veteran actor, Alfred Molina, is an excellent Inspector Armand Gamache. One of the key departures from the novels is the thread about a missing Indigenous woman, a teen, who Gamache is determined to find even though no one else in authority seems interested. Penney approves of this addition and wishes she'd thought of it. Not only is one of Gamache's sidekicks rewritten as Indigenous, they hired Tracey Deer, whose film Beans is excellent and who is Mohawk. Deer directs two episodes and serves as a consultant for the entire series, alongside Katsitsionni Melissa Fox and IllumiNative. 

By coincidence, or providence, we also began watching the series, Alaska Daily, starring Oscar winner Hilary Swank. She is an investigative reporter who is reluctantly in Anchorage investigating -- you guessed it -- a missing Indigenous woman. She is partnered with an Indigenous reporter who resents the presence of an outsider and knows that the police have done little to find the missing woman.

In both series families are grieving and have deep mistrust of authority figures, for good reason. It's significant that both series have chosen to address the terrible toll of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. But this is not fiction. 

As we began watching last week we were also hearing about the arrest of a despicable, racist, white supremacist male for the murders of four Indigenous women in Western Canada. Three have been identified and their names are Morgan Beatrice Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, and Rebecca Comptois, 24. Indigenous leaders have asked the name of the accused murderer not to be used out of respect for those who died such terrible deaths.

The news of these murders has made news around the world. Here in Canada rallies and vigils have been held and there is a call for a national state of emergency to be declared for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. At a news conference Point Douglas MLA and MMIWG family member Bernadette Smith said:  "It's become a genocide against us. I should feel just as safe as any non-Indigenous person to walk this street" 

Indigenous journalist puts it this way in a tweet which is jarring but don"t we need to be jarred?:

Brandi Morin 

@Songstress28

Media headlines should be stating: “Rampant Genocide wiping out Indigenous Women & Girls while society sits idle” “Indigenous Females murdered at the hands of Colonial Establishment” “Urgent Crisis: The slaughter of Indigenous Women in on-going Genocide”

11:26 AM · Dec 4, 2022 from Stony Plain, Alberta

The United Church of Canada has encourage congregations and members to be aware of the MMIWG crisis and the inquiry into the disappearance of at least 2,000 women and the the findings in Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Here is a prayer which was shared as the inquiry was underway and which still has meaning today: 

Great and Holy Mystery, Comforter, Advocate,

Receive our prayers at this sacred time for the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirited people

They have waited for a very long time to share their stories
They have waited for a very long time to obtain a true sense of justice and reach a true place of peace

Receive our prayers, at this important time, for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

May the inquiry unfold in a way that honours those who have been lost and that respects in every way in which it acts, speaks, and conducts its business, the needs and wishes of the families and loved ones of those who have been lost. 

I'm enjoying paying attention to the "outside in" art in our home during this Advent season & reflecting on it in my Groundling blog https://groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2022/12/outside-in-art-for-advent.html