Law and Society MMIWG Syllabus

In your respective groups you have worked to identify several sources relevant to the topic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). Our task now is to assemble an annotated bibliography. Please enter your sources below. If your selected article/text is already mentioned simply add your groups annotation to the existing reference.

Collective Bibliography

Author:

Hilary K. Brown

Title:

Teenage Pregnancy an Long-Term Mental Health Outcomes Among Indigenous Women in Canada

3 Keywords:

Indigenous women, poverty, transgenerational trauma

Annotation (group members):

A statistical study that calculates teenage pregnancies among Indigenous girls and the reasons behind them. Moreover, it talks about the effects of these pregnancies on the mental health, and financial stability of Indigenous girls. It focuses on the mental health and the effects of deterioration of mental health on domestic violence and abuse that Indigenous women and girls have to endure. That can help us understand why Indigenous women are marginalized. (Yvonne Liang, Icy Exiomo, Akhila Tirupasur, Jude Al-Ghoul)

Author: Mitch Miyagawa

Title: Documentary: A Sorry State

3 Keywords: Reclamation, Government Apology, Land

Annotation (group members): The film discusses government apologies and the subsequent effects (or lack thereof) once said apology is issued. It further addresses loss of land and the inability to sometimes reclaim familial or land / space of heritage and how this affects the way familial ties are able to be recreated. Indigenous women are continuously denied land ownership and other forms of autonomy as a result of governmental verdicts despite subsequent apologies. (Yvonne Liang, Icy Exiomo, Akhila Tirupasur, Jude Al-Ghoul)

Author:

Bob Joseph

Title:

21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act

3 Keywords:

Indian Act, Settler Colonialism, Indigenous History

Annotation (group members):

Bob Joseph pointed out contributing factors to the marginalization of Indigenous people, more specifically Indigenous women. "Joseph discusses the role of Indigenous women and how their status can be gained and lost through the policies enforced by the Indian Act. Losing a part of one’s identity can be detrimental to an individual’s sense of belonging in society" (Fiona Chan, Vanessa Chan, Yifan Guo). Indigenous women and their roles in the Canadian society were disrespected, ignored, and undermined in many ways. He mentioned how the Indian Act is the "primary cause of the vulnerability of Indigenous women today" (Joseph 23). Certain regulations in the Indian Act can be mentioned, and study in order to understand how they affected and affect Indigenous women now. (Yvonne Liang, Icy Exiomo, Akhila Tirupasur, Jude Al-Ghoul)

Bob Joseph discussed several consequences of the Indian Act including specific inequalities targeted towards women. For example, women were much more likely to lose her status. “If a women’s husband became enfranchised, she and her children would automatically also become enfranchised.” (Joseph, 2018) The Indian Act put women at a severe disadvantage which normalized the devaluing of Indigenous women. This contributed to long term negative impacts for Indigenous women and girls. (Elijah Foran, Marion Roger, Alexa Traboulay)

Bob Joseph’s 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act highlights the discriminatory acts committed by the Canadian state towards Indigenous peoples, as a result of the 1876 Indian Act. Joseph identifies oppressive clauses like the implementation of residential schools and the banning of cultural ceremonies. Joseph also included the 94 Calls to Action by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, which demonstrates steps Canada should take in the process of healing and reconciliation (Kiana Mahd, Agnes lebeau, Marianne El-Mikati).

Author: Stoler

Title: Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power; Gender and Morality in Making of Race

3 Keywords: Sexualization of Indigenous women, colonialism and sex, sex as power

Annotation (group members):

In Stoler's article, she explores how Indigenous women have been historically subjugated, and how sex has been used as a way to overpower Indigenous women and undermine their social, political and legal agency. In illustrating the various ways in which Indigenous women and white settler relations were negotitated, she is able to demonstrate how they affect contemporary issues today. (Matilda, Raney, Tait, Peyton)

Author: Jules Koostachin

Title: Niisotewak(Two bodies, One heart); Without Words

3 keywords: Personal story, Filmmaker, Indigenous women

Annotation: Jules is a female indigenous filmmaker and her mother is the survivor of the Residential School. She presents her films to the class. One is about how survivors of Indian Residential School remember their experience and narrate their story, both indigenous woman and man. The other one is about her two sons. They are twins and it is believed twins share one soul while have two bodies. Jules show how indigenous women can have her inspirational work in the present post-residential-school society.

(Yifan Guo, Vanessa Chan, Fiona Chan)

3 Keywords:

Colonialscape, sovereignty, Indigenous relationships with the land

Annotation (group members): Sarah Hunt's dissertation explores the concept of colonial scape, in which the process of colonialism is understood as ongoing, as colonial legacy continues to define the experiences of Indigenous people today. It limits mobility of Indigenous people, and continues to structure their legal, economic, cultural and political experiences (Matilda, Raney, Tait, Peyton). This essay tells us some of the indirect reasons why indigenous people especially women and girls may feel discomfort at home and would escape to their indigenous culture (Icy Exiomo, Akhila Tirupasur, Jude Al-Ghoul, Yvonne Liang).

Hunt reports that violence remains a daily reality for indigenous people in BC due to the existence of what she terms a colonialscape and the continued failures of settler law. Drawing upon past examples of violence, she claims that the empowerment of indigenous legal perspectives is a necessary step towards ensuring justice. (Timothy Chi, Ameena Davison, Carter Fewer, Charissa Purnomo).

Author:

Native Women’s Association of Canada

Title:

Fact Sheet: Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls

3 Key Words:

Statics, demographics, MMIWG, NWAC

Annotation :

This fact sheet shows some shocking statistics about the MMIWG crisis in Canada. Although it should be noted that these statistics aren’t precise.

Annotation (group members): The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has worked to document systematic violence impacting Indigenous communities, especially MMIWG, while raising awareness of the issue. They have produced 3 brief factsheets with information on causes of violence against Indigenous women as well as statistics (Flora, Emma, Aida, Smrithi, Courtney, Andreas).

Group Members: Dennis Kuang, Patrick Li, Charles Ding, Tessa Ilgenfritz, Riley McNair

Themes: Stigmatization, Healing, Intergenerational-Trauma

Annotation 1:

Janet, Smylie. “Missing and murdered Indigenous women: Working with families to prepare for the National Inquiry.” Canadian Journal of Public Health, vol. 107, pp. 342-346.

Janet brings in the narratives of many families who have experienced or felt loss of an Indigenous family member in their lifetime. What she discusses, is strategies to overcoming many of these cultural scars through working alongside families within governmental health services, in providing a more extensive and more efficient method towards reconciliation. Services should be targeted through facets of social transformation and inclusivity if we want to see healing in our Indigenous communities.

Annotation 2:

Morton, Katherine. “Hitchhiking and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women: A Critical Discourse analysis of Billboards on the Highway of Tears.” The Canadian Journal of Sociology, vol. 41, no.3, pp. 299=326.

Morton articulates the many ways in which Indigenous individuals have been racially segregated and discriminated within our society. One of the many ways are inclusive of Indigenous mobility: restrictions and boundaries through transportation means. Hitchhiking however has been paralleled towards a highly dangerous activity henceforth, but turns to be one of the only solutions for mobility. Morton describes that by tackling the roots of the problem, Indigenous mobility can be fixed alongside the detrimental perceptions.

Annotation 3:

Joseph, Bob. 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, Gwawaenuk Nation, Indigenous Relations Press, 10 April, 2018.

Joseph illustrates a separate governing structure for Indigenous peoples, which is neither subordinate or conforming to the official legal system. This initiative exemplifies the lack of attention of “indigenous issues” in Canada, which primarily reflects the standing concerns of MMIWG --that being assaulted and missing indigenous women and girls lack the priority in the current Canadian government.  As such, Indigenous women and children may receive the necessary attention and effort from investigators and law enforcement officers who utilize an alternative method of solving the cases.

Annotation (group members): (Connor, Ethan, Anis, Sunny, Arjun)

The main question the ext examines is: "in what ways were gender inequalities essential to the colonial racism and imperial authority?" The way that imperial authority structured was by racial distinctions and structured further in gendered terms. Due to our past, this is why indigenous women are increasingly valued as sexual objects.

Imperial Power

Annotation (group members): (Connor, Ethan, Anis, Sunny, Arjun)

This book focused on how Canada's Indian Act of 1876 has adversely marginalized the Indigenous population as a whole through Indian Agents, Residential Schools, and unfair laws, which subsequently has led to the intergenerational oppression of Indigenous people. Among this, the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls has been heightened by Residential schools its institutional racism and sexism (intersectionality).

Historical context

Annotation (group members): (Connor, Ethan, Anis, Sunny, Arjun)

This podcast discusses the continuing continuing of problem of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous peoples on Highway 16, also known as the Highway of Tears. Educational and Social issues were ever present in this podcast, showing how they both were connected in highlighting and enforcing inequality among the different 'types' of Canadians, creating an unequal and unfair gap between indigenous and European Canadians.

Author:

Jim Rankin And Patty Winsa

Title:

"Unequal justice: Aboriginal and black inmates disproportionately fill Ontario jails"

3 Keywords:

Institutional Discrimination, Overrepresentation, Incarceration

Author:

Connie Walker

Title:

Missing and Murdered (Podcast)

3 Keywords:

intergenerational, sixties scoop, indigenous history

Annotation (group members):

In these two seasons, Walker explores the injustices that Indigenous peoples face. In season one, Walker investigates the death of Alberta Williams, a young Indigenous woman, among many women, found dead along the Highway of Tears in BC. She talks about how residential schools affect indigenous people to this day. In season two, Walker investigates the effects of the Sixties Scoop on current indigenous peoples, while trying to find the young indigenous girl, Cleo, in the US (Kiana Mahd, Agnes Lebeau, Marianne El-Mikati).

Directed by:

Jules Koostachin

Title:

Without Words (Documentary)

3 Keywords:

survival, discrimination, trauma

Annotation (group members):

This documentary tells the story of two survivors, one in particular who focuses on her experience and survival of the residential school. She briefly talks about all the types of abuse she faced before she arrived and during her time in the residential school. She speaks about the emotional trauma of being separated from her parents, being forced to suppress her sadness and fear, and being assimilated into a new culture (Kiana Iranmahd, Agnes Lebeau, Marianne El-Mikati).

Author: Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Title: How to Tell My Kids

Keywords: testimony, residential school survivor, intergenerational trauma

Annotation: This short film shows a residential survivor who admits to not knowing how to love his children which essentially isolated him from them. As a result, he has unintentionally caused his family pain and suffering which ultimately embodies the intergenerational trauma that Indigenous people experience. It is situations like these, where Indigenous children and specifically girls and women may not feel 'at home,' they may begin to seek other ways that might fill the void. Then, as they venture out, many of them are exposed to even more unfair and potentially dangerous experiences outside of the home. (Icy, Yvonne, Jude, Akhila)