Where are the Women? Who are the Men? Why is This Happening?

By Arisawe

So many questions to be answered before we can even begin to solve or bring closure to the cases of over 1200 missing and murdered indigenous women. These questions could be answered with an inquiry; however, Canada's solution is to throw more laws and harsher penalties at those who they happen to "catch" and prosecute. This isn't working.

In our territories, traditionally, women are held in high esteem. They are holders of the titles of the Roia:ne. They are keepers of the seeds of life, of food, of knowledge passed to children. Why then, do Indigenous women and girls suffer more violence than men and non-Indigenous women, and are more likely to die as a result of the violence?

These are questions that a group of students from a Niagara College Film class are hoping to get answered as they travel to Six Nations, Peterborough, Port Erie, Kitigan Zibi, Ahkwesahsne, Carlton University, as well as the Ottawa Parliament, and their next stop is the United Nations in NYC. The group is doing a documentary called, Our Sisters in Spirit, which will be completed by the end of April 2015.

Nick Printup is Onondaga and is Beaver Clan. He is the director of the documentary and he contacted Kontiwennahawi to ask if they would participate in the project by adding music, and to add their thoughts and words to the project. It goes without saying that the women were honored to be asked to contribute to this project and this past Sunday afternoon, we met at the Ahkwesahsne Freedom School.

Nick explained that he and the crew are in their 3rd year of study at Niagara. When they submitted their project to the college, the college only supplied $1600.00 toward the project, which is projected to cost $20,000.00 for equipment, travel, food and lodging. Through fund raising efforts, they were able to raise $12,500 through on-line donations. If anyone wants to make a contribution toward this effort, you may find them at Our Sisters in Spirit, 2015 Documentary website.

We've become all too familiar with violence against women. Every community has suffered a great loss when a mother or sister or grandmother or daughter is taken away from life in a violent way; but what is more tragic, is the attitude of those who believe, "she doesn't matter."