Odjick supports projects that bring aware-
ness to the crisis, like Walking With Our Sis- ters (WWOS) founded by Christi Belcourt (Métis) in 2014 and the REDress Project cre- ated by Métis multimedia artist Jaime Black in 2011. REDress was galvanized by the case of 19-year-old Helen Betty Osborne (Cree) who was murdered in 1971 by young men who were not charged or sentenced until more than 16 years later. On social media, Belcourt requested 600
pairs of vamps, the tops or tongues of mocca- sins, for WWOS to commemorate the women. To date, she has received 1,760. For her, this larger number represents “the last two-, three-, four-hundred years of our colonial history and the abuse of Indigenous women on a grand scale.” Odjick had a pair of vamps made for Maisy
Mocassin vamps for Maisy envisioned by her mother Laurie Odjick and sewn by Shilo Cote for the Walking With Our Sisters commemoration project.
girls have been entered into NWAC’s Sisters in Spirit database. In 2010, the Native Women’s Association concluded that “the intergenera- tional impact and resulting vulnerabilities of colonization and state policies – such as resi- dential schools, the 60s Scoop and the child welfare system – are underlying factors in the outcomes of violence experienced by Aborigi- nal women and girls.” The research blamed “a colonial process
that involved a deliberate strategy to un- dermine the influence and respect held by Aboriginal women and replaces the exist- ing social, economic and political systems of Aboriginal peoples with ones rooted in patriarchy and European understandings of femininity and masculinity.” In May 2014, the RCMP released a study
of 1,181 reported incidents concerning Ab- original women across all police jurisdictions in Canada since 1980. The review stated that Aboriginal women are 4.3 percent of the Cana- dian population, but account for 16 percent of female homicides and 11.3 percent of missing women. Unsolved cases of either missing or murdered Aboriginal women number 225. Many are calling for a public inquiry
to learn more about the fate of their loved ones. National headlines blazed the name of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine whose body was found in Winnipeg’s Red River on Aug.
38 AMERICAN INDIAN WINTER 2015
17, 2014. She was reported missing August 9. Fontaine was in provincial care under the child welfare system at the time. Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejected calls for a public inquiry, calling Fontaine’s death “a crime and not a sociological phenomenon.” Odjick supports a public inquiry since
families of the missing are calling for one, but she is skeptical about the outcome. “What is an inquiry going to bring? We have already had recommendations from family members. We sat down together and that research has been done for these missing and murdered Aboriginal women. It’s time to do something about it,” she says. “An inquiry is going to bring in recommendations. We have already talked to some of our families and they know what’s needed. “For me, I would like to see a commis-
sion that would have someone who would hear our stories, travel to see families, listen to us, ask us again what we need, what’s lack- ing. Now they have done that a lot already but you never see any action, it’s just put on a shelf somewhere,” she says. Odjick gets requests to speak at events like
“Wiping Away the Tears,” a yearly gathering of families who struggle with the issue. “That’s where a lot of my healing has happened be- cause that’s where families are going through the same thing I am,” she says.
by Shilo Cote (Anishinabe) who designed them with Maisy’s name and a butterfly outlined with sweetgrass. All of the vamps can be seen online at walkingwithoursisters. ca. About the exhibition, Belcourt says, “the whole thing is ceremony, and that’s what’s re- quired in order to properly acknowledge and honor the women’s lives.” Odjick wants projects like WWOS and
REDress to bring recognition about the many lives lost. “Awareness is all we can hope for. This is a big one. They [WWOS] have added on. I know they have added childrens’ vamps too now. It’s getting bigger.” As for the involvement of Aboriginal
offenders in violence against women, the National Women’s Association stated that the healing process “may involve reclaiming traditional gender roles and responsibilities to regain or maintain traditional ways of being. There is a need to establish culturally appro- priate healing resources for men who have committed violence, such as men’s support groups, counselling and sitting with Elders.” The NWAC report concluded, “Ending
violence against Aboriginal women and girls lies with both men and women, with both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities, as well as all levels of government. It ends with recognition, responsibility and cooperation. Violence against women ends with restoring the sacred position of Aboriginal women as teachers, healers and givers of life.” “The hardest thing is I might never
know what happened with my daughter,” says Odjick. X
Millie Knapp (Anishinabe), a freelance journalist, writes about art and culture.
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