By Sarah Rae

Locals lend perspectives after national inquiry launched today

Aug 3, 2016 | 7:00 PM

The country officially launched an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women today, and one Battlefords woman says it’s a step in the right direction.

Michelle Sanderson, who’s originally from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, said she wants to see real action come out of the inquiry.

“I hope that it sparks more conversations and more actions through the systems, but as well that individuals will start to be involved and be a part of the conversations and the work that’s needed to interrupt the phenomenon of missing Aboriginal women,” she said.

The inquiry, announced Wednesday, Aug. 3, will take place Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2018, and will cost roughly $53.8 million. Five commissioners will lead the inquiry, looking into the systemic issues that contribute to a high rate of violence against Aboriginal women.

Sanderson said she has worked with one of the commissioners, University of Saskatchewan law expert Marilyn Poitras. She said Poitras is a good pick for the commission and has a lot of insight into how oppression works. She said the fact Poitras was chosen gives her faith in the selection process, even though she doesn’t know the other four commissioners.

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As the former achievement consultant for First Nations and Metis students at Living Sky School Division, Sanderson said she’d like to see students given the skills to analyze problems from different perspectives at a young age.

“We have to interrupt the inherent sexism and racism that’s out there and have some critical conversations through education and through bringing it out in the open where it can be questioned,” she said. “If we don’t talk about it, those systems remain in place, so ideally what I’d like to see is kids having the critical skills to analyze the events they see by getting a bigger picture of how these things started in the first place.”

Sanderson said she’s seen First Nations women fighting for recognition first hand, as she was one of the lead organizers of the Walking with our Sisters event in North Battleford.

Walking with our Sisters is a crowdsourced art exhibition as well as a catalyst for conversation. Sanderson said it started as a small group of women saying they need to do something to raise awareness about missing and murdered indigenous women.

There was a huge response from the community, with lots of people coming to the exhibition and sharing their own stories of loss. Sanderson said it raised awareness of just how much of a problem there is, and not just in other communities.

“What would be really great systemically, we put that education in our school systems and talk about some of the leading reasons behind the loss of vulnerable people in our societies,” she said. “But also if we could interrupt the racism and sexism and classism that’s so normalized in our everyday life, then I think we’d be doing justice to the future generations that are coming up because it’s not just an indian problem, it’s not just an indigenous problem, this is everybody’s problem and this is everybody’s responsibility as well.”

Sanderson said even though they might not be involved in the inquiry, community members can work to stop violence against Aboriginal women. She said communities can have conversations about how they’re affected and share stories of loss. In individual homes, people can start conversations with their families when they see a missing or murdered woman in the news and interrupt the silence around the problem.

“I think it’s our responsibility to be that community voice, to put in our perspectives and to share our stories as well, as hard as that may be,” she said.

Sarah Rae is battlefordsNOW’s court and crime reporter. She can be reached at Sarah.Rae@jpbg.ca or tweet her @sarahjeanrae.