User:AboriginalAbel/sandbox

#AmINext

 * 1) AmINext is the social media campaign that began on September 5th 2014 by Canadian Indigenous (Inuit) women Holly Jarrett. Jarrett is personally motivated after dealing with the murder of her cousin, Loretta Saunders, who was a student at St. Mary's University in Halifax . Jarrett aims to inspire a public inquiry into Canada's missing and murdered aboriginal women.This call for inquiry is anchored in the larger social context and prevalence of violence towards women; especially aboriginal women. Women across the country are taking photos of themselves holding up signs bearing the stark question, and posting them to various social media sites using the hash-tag #AmINext.

Background

 * 1) AmINext is a feminist movement that combats the roots of violence against Indigenous women which are anchored in patriarchy and colonialism . Statistics from Amnesty International state that women (ages 25-44) are five times more likely to die from male perpetuated violence.Indigenous women are positioned in dangerous intersections of gender class and race.

Political Discourse
Activists believe that the trend of violence against aboriginal women is anchored in colonial history. This view is not shared by the Canadian federal government. The campaign is trying to convince Canadian Prime Minister Harper, to change his mind on the issue of calling a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women; which his government has repeatedly made clear, is not necessary. Harper has rejected the request for formal inquiry into the more than 1,100 cases of missing or murdered aboriginal women in Canada, and his stance on the issue is that the issues are “first and foremost” crimes and should be dealt with by police. Harper has repeatedly turned down calls for an inquiry. When asked about the ongoing calls for a public inquiry he was quoted to be saying “We should not view this as a sociological problem." To which he received this response from A Twitter user who identifies herself as Jessica Penney: She tweeted an #AmINext picture that also said, "Because it IS a sociological phenomenon,".

The federal government has, however, said it is willing to take part in a round table discussion about the issue as called for by the premiers. The government has also said it has taken action to deal with the problem, including setting up a national DNA missing person's index and introducing 30 justice and safety initiatives aimed at helping native women.

Social Media Campaign
Social media campaigns have recently become the norm, and the popularity surrounding the use of "hash-tags" has provided a means to stay connected and up to date with advancements. In her Facebook post, Ms. Jarrett writes: "In support and memory of our 1200 murdered Indigenous women in Canada....I am posting this picture. I challenge the following to do the same and post a picture stating "Am I Next???" . Although social media outlets provide momentum for campaigns such as this, they often loose momentum as quickly as it was acquired. This has sparked a debate regarding the effectiveness of such campaigns, questioning the long-term value of posting a video or photo of yourself online. When addressed with this inquiry, Jarrett replied that what makes her campaign different is that: "We are not asking for money... we are asking for support" . She went on to say: "I really think that if people understand all of these issues and we start talking about them, I really think the general Canadian public is not going to let these issues go"

Despite high hopes and thousands of social media and mainstream media attention, Jarrett admits that she doubts the campaign will convince Ottawa to launch such an inquiry, but says what's more important is making Canadians aware of the issue."I don't think that this is going to spark an inquiry in itself, I think it's going to spark change in other people ... to want to dive into an issue and say, 'Hey, let's Google that."

However, one downfall of the campaigns primary platform being social media is that facts of the case were scrutinized. Comment feeds regarding the campaign are scattered with individuals who are critical of the phrase, "Am I Next," saying it victimizes aboriginal women. But Jarrett said she's still encouraged by the discussion."As long as we're talking about it, that's way further than we were last year."

#IAmNotNext
As though in response to the criticism faced by the original hash-tag #AmINext; a new social media campaign is taking a tougher approach about missing and murdered aboriginal women; choosing not to ask #AmINext, but instead declare: #ImNotNext. According to Jarrett, both hash-tags are movements to attain the same end result, which is justice for aboriginal women. Jarrett has accepted the new hash-tag as a way of maintaining solidarity rather than creating divisions within the campaign. This new hash-tag creates broader grounds for relation and continued the emphasized theme of unification. Also, as a result, has had positive effects as it has  accelerated the campaign. The social media trend is gaining momentum with many aboriginal woman identifying with this new declaration and resulted in them sharing photos of themselves with the new message 'I'm not next'.

Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women
Over the past 30 years, 1,200 aboriginal women have been recorded murdered or missing in Canada. Even more have likely vanished unnoticed. Stories of bodies found and loved ones lost are becoming increasingly normalized. so much so, that the general public has adopted the term “Highway of Tears” to refer to an 800 stretch of Highway 16 between the northern towns of Prince George and Prince Rupert, in British Columbia. Along that road, 18 women (most of them aboriginal) have disappeared since 1994. The same thing had happened before in the same place – almost twenty young women disappeared, or were killed there between the late Sixties and the early Eighties – but until recently these crimes have received little media attention; one running hypothesis is that this is due to the fact that the majority of victims have been Aboriginal women.

The RCMP have reported that there are 225 unsolved cases of either missing or murdered Aboriginal females: 105 missing for more than 30 days as of November 4, 2013, whose cause of disappearance was categorized at the time as “unknown” or “foul play suspected” and 120 unsolved homicides between 1980 and 2012. The total indicates that Aboriginal women are over-represented among Canada’s murdered and missing women.

Testimonials