Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls

More than 100 kilometres and over a year later, a Manitoba teen's mission to bring attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women is getting recognized on a high-profile new platform. Tracie Léost and her 115-kilometre run last summer are the subject of a new music video from American musician Cass McCombs and the subsequent articles in Vogue magazine and online music magazine Pitchfork.

Sharon Acoose remembers being groped as a child by an uncle who paid her in pocket change for her trouble - the earliest roots of a life scarred by sex work, drug use and jail time. "He would give me a quarter ...

The experiences of sexual and physical abuse among Indigenous women and girls are so pervasive they are expected to take over next year's national inquiry into murdered and missing Aboriginal women, The Canadian Press reports. Hearings are set to begin ... "

The Quebec government's reaction to widespread allegations of abuse by police in and around Val-d'Or was criticized by Indigenous leaders at a news conference in Montreal today. The leaders want more funding from the province to deal with the effects of systemic racism, and also want an independent inquiry called on the abuse issue.

Cass McCombs released his great new album, , back in August via ANTI- (his first for the label). Now he has shared a video for "Run Sister Run." Befitting its title, it features a girl who runs, although it's much deeper than that.

In August 2015, Tracie Léost, a 16-year-old Manitoban track and field athlete, ran 115 km from Oak Point to downtown Winnipeg to raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Her Journey of Hope raised over $6,000 for the Families First Foundation, an organization that helps the families of MMIWG.

Mufty Mathewson silhouettes a photo of a red dress. She has started a project called the REdress Photography Project, which is intended to highlight the 1,181 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. - image credit: Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye REDress Project

Premier Philippe Couillard indicated a newfound openness on Tuesday to holding an independent inquiry into police relations with Indigenous Quebecers. His government has spent more than a year resisting calls for an inquiry from those who have said it was necessary following allegations that Quebec provincial police officers abused Indigenous women in and around Val-d'Or.

And with its insidious links to suicide, violence and mental health problems, the issue of child sexual abuse is poised to be a key theme in next year's long-anticipated national inquiry into the tragic phenomenon of murdered and missing indigenous women.

Sunday, November 20th, 2016 Sharon Acoose remembers being groped as a child by an uncle who paid her in pocket change for her trouble - the earliest roots of a life scarred by sex work, drug use and jail time. "He would give me a quarter ...

Brad Firth finished his cross-country run in St. John's Sunday for missing and murdered indigenous women. Nicknamed "Caribou Legs," Firth is renowned for his running abilities and plans to do it again for victims of residential schools. NTV's Leila Beaudoin reports.

It has been 18 months since several Indigenous women from the Val-d'Or area first went public with claims they were repeatedly abused and intimidated by Quebec provincial police officers. Coming forward brought disruption and doubt. But they soldiered on, they said in a statement earlier this week, in the hope the sacrifices would be worth the justice rendered.

The aboriginal women spoke of sexual violence and intimidation by police, and "starlight tours" in which officers drove them out of town and let them walk home to sober up. On Friday, a year after their explosive allegations shook Quebec, the women learned why none of the officers would face criminal charges.

NEMASKA, Eeyou Istchee, QC, Nov. 18, 2016 /CNW/ - The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee)/Cree Nation Government is deeply disturbed by reports concluding that the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) will not prosecute any of the charges of abuse brought forth by Indigenous women against officers of the Sûreté du Québec.

QUEBEC CITY, Nov. 18, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - The Minister responsible for Native Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Kelley, the Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for the Status of Women, Ms. Lise Thériault, the Minister of Public Security, Mr. Martin Coiteux, the Minister of Justice, Ms. Stéphanie Vallée, and the Minister for Rehabilitation, Youth Protection, Public Health and Healthy Living, Ms. Lucie Charlebois, and the MNA for Abitibi-East, Mr. Guy Bourgeois, have chosen to set the record straight, following the tabling of the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales' report on allegations of police violence in Val-d'Or.

The situation in Val-d'Or is exactly the type of situation that the National Inquiry will look at. Policing is a crucial government service that certainly falls under the Inquiry's mandate. The Commissioners will continue to watch the situation in Val-d'Or, Quebec.

François Thisdale and Melanie Florence share the $30,000 prize for their children's book about a young girl grieving the loss of her mother.

When Connie Walker was in grade 10 or 11, she wrote an editorial, published in her local paper, about Pamela George, a young Indigenous mother who was murdered in Regina by two white university students. "The trial was so contentious," recalls Walker, "because they were two white guys and there was so much made [of the fact] that she was a sex worker.

Katherena Vermette has written and directed a short documentary about a volunteer search party on Winnipeg's vast Red River. This River, presented by CBC Docs, is an NFB production. This River follows Drag the Red, an organization that routinely conducts searches in the river for clues around the disappearance

The B.C. government has issued an order-in-council that some legal advocates fear places new restrictions on the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women. Attorney General Suzanne Anton said the order-in-council confirms the province's support for the inquiry by giving commissioners the power to examine relevant matters within B.C.