MMIW conference to provide way forward

When Josh Alexis got the opportunity to help Karen McCarthy plan an upcoming three-day conference on murdered and missing Indigenous women, he jumped on board.

Alexis felt McCarthy was “going about it the right way,” and after his community of Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation recently had two women go missing--including a family member of his--he can relate to the cause. But he reminds people not to
stereotype, as not all murdered and missing Aboriginal women have addictions issues or live on the street.

“Misty (Potts Sanderson) was a smart woman… a highly educated woman, and active in cultural ways. When you want to have drum practice, she’s not there… when you want to ask for environmental advice, she’s not there,” he said of how the loss affected. “There’s grief in everything about your life… because the dynamics are different in First Nations communities. Everybody is intertwined.”

The Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation has teamed up with Onion Lake Cree Nation to cohost The Spirit of our Sisters Gathering on murdered and missing Indigenous women. The event will take place Sept. 28-30 in Edmonton.

“I had to go through my own issues, growing up with addicted family members and poverty, and I managed to go to school, and raise my kid without addictions,” said McCarthy, a coordinator for the event. “I’ve found myself in situations
where I could have ended up as a missing and murdered Indigenous woman, so these issues are really close to home and that’s why I think if we work together we can understand them.”

McCarthy first realized the need for the event after hearing last spring that Canada had sent aid to Nigeria for kidnapped school children. She found it disturbing that Harper would send aid overseas while showing little concern for the missing and
murdered Indigenous women issue in his own country.

She then gained the support of notables like former Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Ovide Mercredi, Assembly of Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak, former Chief of Driftpile First Nation and activist Rose Laboucan, and AFN Alberta
Regional Chief Craig Mackinaw, establishing two steering committees, an advisory council, and a panel of First Nations Elders.

“It’s open to anybody as long as they register and pay the fee. But the families (of victims) don’t pay, they are sponsored and invited to come. It’s not just targeted to Aboriginal people because the issue needs to be supported and worked on from all areas,” said McCarthy.

While some politicians have registered, the intention is not political, said McCarthy. The three-day event is organized into a variety of themes that will open up discussion about how and why Indigenous women have gone missing, and determine what can be done about it.

“We’re looking at presentations that go back into our history like colonialism, the sixties scoop, and child welfare, and educating delegates about intergenerational trauma,” she said. “A lot of people don’t understand why Indigenous people are the way they are today.”

Speakers include Dr. Gabor Mate, a Vancouver-based doctor and author of popular addictions psychology book, – In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts–. He will follow presentations on residential schools, and relating eye-opening information about the link between childhood trauma and addictions in adulthood, said McCarthy.

At the end of the conference, McCarthy hopes to write a final report based on the findings. 

“We’ll be dialoguing solutions and action planning… If we can take information from this gathering and move forward, we can bring it to another region and continue gathering,” she said.