ItStartsWithUs
| ItStartsWithUs | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 📆 Years active | 2013 - Present |
| Movement | Social, Political (non-party) |
| 🌐 Website | itstartswithus-mmiw.com |
| Twitter= | |
It Starts With Us , stylized as ItStartsWithUs, is a website, collective, and community-led database related to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) social issue.[1] The website is founded and run in conjunction with the Indigenous community and activist groups Sisters in Spirit, Families of Sisters in Spirit (FSIS), No More Silence (NMS), and Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN). The website and its initiatives aim to aid Indigenous peoples through public awareness and advocacy while creating independent, community-based structures of support.[2] The website and its related advocacy is created in response to the disproportionately high number of Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit individuals that have gone missing or have been murdered in Canada over the past 30–40 years.[3]
Campaign Background[edit]
In April 2013, the organizations No More Silence (NMS), Families of Sisters in Spirit (FSIS), and the Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN) set out to create a community-led database documenting missing and murdered Indigenous women. The website campaign, ItStartsWithUs, which features the database was launched on July 20, 2014. This date also marked the one year anniversary of Bella Laboucan-McLean’s death; her story was also the first tribute to be shared on the site. The community-led database that the website displays is the result of the combined efforts of the following programs and their decades of work.[4]
Sisters in Spirit (SIS), established in 2006, is the first government-funded collection of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. However, the federal government halted funding for the program in 2010.
FSIS, established in 2011, has worked to draw connections between violence against Indigenous women and Canada’s violent colonial past and present. The organization differs from SIS as it is fully autonomous. The main goals of the organization include the creation of safer spaces where families and communities have a voice and the establishment of transformative strategies.
NMS is an organization that has worked to gather names of missing and murdered Indigenous women for the past ten years. Over 300 stories were documented by co-founder Audrey Huntley.
The NYSHN has worked largely alongside the Highway of Tears initiative: a project dedicated to seeking justice for the families of women who have gone missing or been murdered along Highway 16 in British Columbia. For the past decade, the NYSHN has supported, and they continue to support, Indigenous youth leadership and advocacy related to issues like sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice.[5]
Community Building and Activism[edit]
Following an increase in pressure for a national inquiry by family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women, Families of Sisters in Spirit (FSIS), No More Silence (NMS) and the Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN), collectively issued a press release addressing the lack of government response to key issues affecting Indigenous communities.[6] The report names various forms of colonial and national state violence Indigenous women have faced including foster care, prisons and social services as the grounds to develop autonomous, community-led initiatives.[7] The report also points out that Indigenous women, girls, Two Spirit, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning intersex, and asexual (LGBTTQQIA) often do not conform to traditional gender binaries resulting in an increased vulnerability to violence and disappearance both on and off Indigenous territory.[7]
FSIS has appealed to state organizations and government institutions, providing testimonies to the State Committee in 2011 and the Special Committee in June 2013.[7] FSIS and NYSHN also participated in meetings with the United Nations Committee for the elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People.[7] The result of these official appeals have not yielded any significant changes or progress towards justice since the government only implements three of sixty-three of the inquiry’s recommendations. (11)[7]
The report points out that a lack of support from “colonial agents in government, policy-making, media, police, and the legal systems” has prompted many Indigenous families to hire independent investigators.[7] The report also calls for a shift in focus from state-led programs to community building and support in the form of family support, educational resources and teach-ins, community-based media that challenges current stereotypes, youth leadership and intergenerational organizing, support for sex workers, and regional organizing.[7]
Media[edit]
Affiliates of ItStartsWithUs have been involved in creating multiple documentaries, with a focus on the families and communities of missing and murdered Indigenous women and children.[8]
In 2005 Audrey Huntley conducted interviews with 45 family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women to create “Go Home Baby Girl”. The documentary was part of the “Traces of Missing Women research road trip” for CBC Television. Filming took place over the summer of 2004 and aired on national television in 2005. The project stemmed from Audrey Huntley’s work on the NMS campaign that had been gathering names of missing and murdered Indigenous women previously for a number of years.
In 2006 a documentary was created about murdered women and children who had gone missing from Highway 16 in northwestern British Columbia. Highway 16 became known as the “Highway of Tears”. The Highway of Tears Initiative and The Native Youth Sexual Health Network teamed up in seeking justice for the families and communities of those who had gone missing on Highway 16. Over a span of 2 years the two groups travelled across the region working with youth, Elders, families, and communities. The result was the documentary “Building a Highway of Hope”. The film came about after a 2006 symposium was held in response to the communities’ demand for action in accountability for the many deaths connected to Highway 16. The symposium yielded 33 recommendations that addressed the need for better community services, to prevent future deaths.
Stories about ItStartsWithUs have appeared in numerous media outlets including but not limited to; Open Democracy,[9] Indian Country Media Network,[10] rabble,[11] Talking Radical Radio Podcast, and Nation Rising.[12]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Why a Community-Led Database? ItStartsWithUs, n.d. Web. http://www.itstartswithus-mmiw.com/partners
- ↑ "Background". ItStartsWithUs, n.d. Web. http://www.itstartswithus-mmiw.com/background
- ↑ "Fact Sheet: Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls". Native Women's Association of Canada, n.d. Web. https://www.nwac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Fact_Sheet_Missing_and_Murdered_Aboriginal_Women_and_Girls.pdf
- ↑ "Launch of Website for Missing/Murdered Indigenous Women on Anniversary of Bella Laboucan-McLean's Death". Idle No More, 2014 July 16. Web. <http://www.idlenomore.ca/launch_of_website_for_missing_murdered_indigenous_women_on_anniversary_of_bella_laboucan_mclean_s_death>
- ↑ "Background." Itstartswithus, n.d. Web. <http://www.itstartswithus-mmiw.com/background>
- ↑ "Press Releases". Native Youth Sexual Health Network. http://www.nativeyouthsexualhealth.com/pressreleases.html. n.d.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 "Supporting the Resurgence of Community-Based Responses to Violence". Native Youth Sexual Health Network. http://www.nativeyouthsexualhealth.com/march142014.pdf. n.d.
- ↑ "Media Links". Itstartswithus, n.d. Web. <http://www.itstartswithus-mmiw.com/links>
- ↑ Huntley, Audrey. "It starts with us: Breaking one of Canada's best kept secrets." 50.50 Inclusive Democracy, 2015 April 21. Web. https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/audrey-huntley/breaking-one-of-canada%27s-best-kept-secrets-it-starts-with-us#.VTZZzUEoJmA.twitter
- ↑ "Taking Control: Indigenous in Canada Compile Own Database on Missing and Murdered Women". Indian Country Media Network, 2013 Sept 25. Web. https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/first-nations/taking-control-indigenous-in-canada-compile-own-database-on-missing-and-murdered-women/
- ↑ "Naming, understanding, challenging violence against Indigenous women". Rabble, 2014 Jan 2. Web. http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/talking-radical-radio/2014/01/naming-understanding-challenging-violence-against-indig
- ↑ "Indigenous Nationhood Movement". NationsRising, n.d. Web. http://nationsrising.org
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