Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women in Canadian Crime Films by Katelyn Mackenzie A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts Department of Sociology and Criminology University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © 2018 by Katelyn Mackenzie ABSTRACT The issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) in Canada has been prevalent for several decades. It has recently gained, and continues to gain, public awareness, and media have played an important role. A number of recent Canadian crime films have focused on MMIW and it is important to look at cinematic representations because they offer unique frames for viewing and interpreting the issue of MMIW. The research questioned how MMIW are represented as victims in four Canadian crime documentary films about MMIW. Employing a visual and narrative analysis, informed by the language of film, the research was conducted using a step-by-step viewing process, repeatedly watching the films, while watching for new details in each viewing. The films revealed themes that presented MMIW in complex and contradictory ways, and as victims of broader social injustices, rather than as victims of a particular crime. i Acknowledgements I would like to thank several people for their support and guidance during my thesis research. My thesis supervisor Dr. Sonia Bookman who inspired this research. Dr. Bookman provided feedback on ideas and drafts of my thesis for nearly a year, and was always available to brainstorm. Her guidance, expertise and encouragement have been invaluable. I would also like to thank Dr. Raymond Currie for volunteering his free time to review my thesis proposal and several chapters of my final thesis, and for providing valuable feedback. Additionally, thanks to my thesis committee members, Dr. Andrew Woolford and Dr. Brenda Austin-Smith, who provided feedback and helpful suggestions of additional literature, which strengthened my final analysis. Thanks to my friends and family for their patience and understanding while I disappeared into my research analysis for months on end! Finally, special thanks to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the funding to complete this research. ii Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………. i Acknowledgments …………………………………………………………………………… ii Chapter 1: Introduction ……………………………………………………………………. 1 Purpose of this research………………………………………………………………. 4 Significance and Implications……………………………………………………........ 4 Researcher position………………………………………………………………….... 5 Chapters…………………………………………………………………………….... 5 Chapter 2: Literature review……………………………………………………………..... 9 Representation…………………………………………………………………….….. 9 Film and Documentary film……………………………………………………….... 11 Crime Film………………………………………………………………………….. 16 Canadian film industry……………………………………………………………… 18 Indigenous peoples in Canadian film……………………………………………….. 19 MMIW in media…………………………………………………………………..… 21 Indigenous women as criminal……………………………………………… 22 Indigenous women as blameworthy ………………………….…………….. 22 Visible/invisible……………………………………………………………... 24 Nameless victims in the serial killer discourse..…………………………….. 26 Theoretical Approach……………………………………………………………..… 28 Cultural criminology………………………………………………………………… 28 Feminist theory…………………………………………………………………….... 30 Settler colonialism and Indigenous feminist theories……………………….. 32 Concluding remarks…………………………………………………………………. 36 iii Chapter 3: Methods ………………………………………………………………............. 38 Methodology ………………...……………………………………………………… 38 Data Selection………………………………………….……………………………. 40 The Data: The Films………………………………………………………….…..…. 41 Analysis Process…………………………………………………………………….. 45 Initial viewing and the language of film…………………………………….. 45 Summarizing and connecting the themes………………………………….... 48 Coding themes and stepping back ………….………………………………. 49 Being Reflexive in this Research…………………………………………………… 50 Concluding Remarks………………………………………………………………... 51 Chapter 4: Representing Indigenous Women in Canadian MMIW Documentary Film: Complex, Contradictory images …………………………………………………………. 52 How is Indigenous Identity Represented? .................................................................. 52 Affirming Identity........................................................................................... 53 Invisible .......................................................................................................... 55 Complexity and Contradictions: Individualizing the numbers, stereotypes, survivors, and agency ………..................................................................................... 57 Getting to know the women: Individualizing the numbers …………………. 57 “Humanizing” the women? ............................................................................ 61 Challenging and reinforcing stereotypes ........................................................ 63 Survivors: Divergent Narratives ..................................................................... 64 Confronting the Serial Killer Discourse ......................................................... 66 Agency: Passive victims, victim blaming, or active agents? ......................... 68 Advocacy and Hope .................................................................................................... 73 Advocacy……………………………………………………………………. 73 Traditions and culture……………………………………………………….. 77 Hope…………………………………………………………………………. 78 Concluding Remarks................................................................................................... 79 iv Chapter 5: The Causes of Crime in Canadian MMIW Documentary Film: Social Injustices ...................................................................................................................... 81 Colonialism: Institutions, Processes, Legacies............................................................. 82 Land: Traditional Land, Loss of Land, Displaced Communities, and Migration……. 86 Socioeconomic Influences: Poverty, Addictions, Sex Trade Work………………….. 87 Gendered Violence: Violence against women ............................................................. 91 Environments: Places, space, mobility ........................................................................ 92 The Justice System: Policing Practices, Distrust, and Systemic Racism…………….. 95 Disinterested police and systemic racism……………………………………. 96 Distrust of the justice system………………………………………………… 100 The Media: Stereotypes and Silence ............................................................................ 106 Critiques of media representations and stereotypes………………………….. 107 Music…………………………………………………………………………. 108 Mainstream media and news…………………………………………………. 109 The Serial Killer Discourse .......................................................................................... 110 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................................... 112 Chapter 6: Conclusion……………………………………………………………………... 114 Research Findings ....................................................................................................... 114 Conclusions from the Findings.................................................................................... 117 Canadian films – more critical? .................................................................................. 119 Limitations and Future Research ................................................................................ 120 References………………………………………………………………………………....... 122 v Chapter 1: Introduction Violence against Indigenous women in Canada is a widespread problem; it is estimated that there are over 1000 Indigenous women who have either gone missing or who were murdered between 1980 and 2012 (RCMP, 2014, p.7). While Indigenous women in Canada constitute 4.3 percent of the overall population, Indigenous women self-report violent victimization at rates nearly three times higher than non-Indigenous women (Brennen, 2011; RCMP, 2014). Further, Indigenous women and girls in Canada suffer heightened rates of poverty, incarceration, homelessness, and victimization, and they are much more likely to die as a result of violence (Kuokkanen, 2015; Monchalin, 2016). This violence has been called a human rights issue by Amnesty International, as it is violence based on both gender and race, and compromises the dignity and worth of Indigenous women (Amnesty International, 2004). The issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) in Canada has been prevalent for several decades; however it has recently gained, and continues to gain, public awareness. There have been significant shifts in the discourses that surround the issue of MMIW, in part due to the increased visibility of the issue in the media. Calls to action from Amnesty International’s ‘Stolen Sisters’ report in 2004, and the initiatives of the Native Women’s Association of Canada in 2005, have contributed to the perception of the issue of MMIW as an epidemic (Comack, 2012, p.198). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada published 94 Calls to Action, and Call to Action #41 under the subheading “Justice” is the need for a public inquiry into missing and murdered “Aboriginal” women and girls (2015a, p. 4). Public calls for inquiries into MMIW were initially not well received by political leaders: in a 2014 interview, former prime minister Stephen Harper stated that the issue of MMIW was not high on the government’s radar (Maloney,