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An Analysis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada

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An Analysis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada Social Denial: An Analysis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada Rebecca Bychutsky A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of Ottawa for the Master’s Degree in Sociology © Rebecca Bychutsky, Ottawa, Canada, 2017 Dedication To those Indigenous women and girls who are missing and forever lost. And to those who work tirelessly to find them. Acknowledgements With sincere gratitude, I acknowledge the support and assistance of Willow Scobie and Karine Vanthuyne. Their willingness to participate in the construction of this thesis is deeply appreciated. Also, I am forever grateful for the contributions made by José López. His time, thoughts, and guidance throughout this process have been invaluable. It is a privilege to have received the unyielding support of my parents and siblings. My parents, Rachael and Vadim, taught me to critically reflect and pursue justice. They inspire me in all the work I do – to them I owe every gratitude. Most notably, I would not have completed this work if it was not for the constant encouragement I received from Shawn Betel. His earnest passion for education and critical discussion challenges me to create work I am proud of. I thank him for keeping me happy, for keeping me sane, and for accompanying me on walks with the dog. ii Abstract Key words: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), Social Denial, Indigenous women, News Media Understood sociologically, denial is best conceptualized as a social practice. As a phenomenon, social denial refers to patterned behaviour where actors both know and do not-know about uncomfortable truths (Cohen, 2001). Put simply, social denial is a socially reproduced blindness in the face of traumatic events and processes. In opposition to social denial is a different social practice, bearing witness. Bearing witness is engaged when society’s actors give voice to those who would otherwise be silent. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from Stanley Cohen’s work States of Denial and Fujiko Kurasawa’s work Global Justice, this thesis aims to critically reflect and explore the registers and mechanisms of both social denial and bearing witness. The exploration of social denial is sociologically relevant, and generally important, as a means for understanding the role it plays in society, and to further understanding what social denial is and how it works. The better actors understand an issue the more capable they are of addressing it. This thesis conducts a media frame analysis of selected published articles from the National Post and the Globe and Mail that speak to the issue of MMIWG. This analysis reveals social denial through the frames “culpable victim”, “poster child”, and “the extra”; and bearing witness through the frame of the “honourable victim”. The analysis and research of this thesis reveal how social denial covers up the relevance of colonialism with respect to MMIWG. Furthermore, it suggests that social denial acts to both camouflage the gritty details underlying MMIWG and erase the identities of MMIWG. iii Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................... 6 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................... 6 Colonialism ......................................................................................................................................... 6 Residential Schools and the TRC ....................................................................................................... 11 Historic and Intergenerational Trauma as Connected to MMIWG ................................................... 16 Colonialism, Land Dispossession, and Trauma ................................................................................ 22 Indigenous Women and MMIWG ...................................................................................................... 24 Historic Relationship of Indigenous People and the North American Media .................................... 27 SOCIOLOGY OF DENIAL .......................................................................................................................... 29 Denial: Definitions and Concepts ..................................................................................................... 29 Denial: Theoretical Frameworks ...................................................................................................... 35 BEARING WITNESS ................................................................................................................................. 47 Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................................................... 47 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................................... 51 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY ............................................. 53 KEY CONCEPTS ...................................................................................................................................... 53 Suffering and the Media .................................................................................................................... 53 Women as victims: Femicide ............................................................................................................. 57 Stigma and stereotyping of Native women: The Squaw/The Princess ............................................... 58 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................................................. 60 Combining the Elements of the Theoretical Framework ................................................................... 60 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................... 63 Media Frame Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 63 Shortcomings to research .................................................................................................................. 67 CHAPTER 3: FRAMEWORK ANALYSIS AND REVIEW OF MMIWG .............................................. 69 COMMUNITY RESPONSE ......................................................................................................................... 73 Sisters in Spirit (SIS) .......................................................................................................................... 73 Symposium on Highway of Tears ...................................................................................................... 75 GOVERNMENT OF CANADA RESPONSE .................................................................................................. 77 Forsaken ............................................................................................................................................ 77 RCMP and Police: Reports, Projects, and Criticisms ....................................................................... 78 ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP ...................................................................................................................... 85 Forever Loved ................................................................................................................................... 85 NGO RESPONSE ..................................................................................................................................... 86 Amnesty International Stolen Sisters 2004 and No More Stolen Sisters 2009 ................................... 86 GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS MADE .................................................................................................. 87 FRAME ANALYSIS: BEARING WITNESS .................................................................................................. 90 Community Response ......................................................................................................................... 91 Academic Response ........................................................................................................................... 92 NGO Response ................................................................................................................................... 93 CHAPTER 4: FRAMEWORK ANALYSIS CONTINUED: MEDIA FRAME ANALYSIS OF SELECTED NEWS MEDIA SOURCES AND TINA FONTAINE .......................................................... 97 iv TINA FONTAINE ...................................................................................................................................... 98 Culpable Victim ................................................................................................................................. 99 The Poster Child .............................................................................................................................. 105 The Extra ......................................................................................................................................... 109 Summary of Findings ......................................................................................................................
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