Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, & Two-Spirit (MMIWG2S)

Violence against women is a significant issue in society. According to the World Health Organization, it affects one third of women around the world. Violence against women is also a serious issue in Canada, unfortunately. One particular group of Canadian women merit special attention: Indigenous women and girls in Canada experience a scale and severity of violence that constitutes a national human rights crisis. This informative video gives an overview of the history of trauma and abuse experienced by Aboriginal women in Canada. We trace its roots from early colonialism in Canada to recent actions by the Canadian government, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the release of the RCMP report on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women in Canada.

More than 18 young women, many of them from disadvantaged First Nations communities, have disappeared or been found murdered along the 724 kilometer stretch of Highway 16 in northern British Columbia since the late 1960's. These cold cases remain unsolved until 2012, when a special RCMP investigation linked DNA from one of the murder victims to deceased US criminal Bobby Jack Fowler. Unfortunately, this recent finding has done little to heal the wounds of Aboriginal communities who have seen dozens of their young women vanish along the "Highway of Tears."

It is estimated that over 500 aboriginal women have been murdered or gone missing in violent circumstances in Canada in the past 20 years. An Aboriginal woman in Canada is five times more likely to die of violence circumstances than a woman of any other race. These women come from all over the country, and from all walks of life and economic backgrounds. Stolen Sisters takes viewers inside this contentious issue, from the rolling farmland of Saskatchewan to the haunting depths of the dark alleys in Vancouver's dangerous Hastings district. You will hear the stories of the missing and witness one family's desperate search for their loved one.

'Finding Dawn' gets its title from Dawn Crey, one of the estimated 500 Canadian Native women who have gone missing or have been murdered in the last thirty years. Illustrates the deep historical, social and economic factors that contribute to the epidemic of violence against Native women in Canada and presents the message that stopping that violence is everyone's responsibility.

On the night of November 13,1971, Helen Betty Osborne, a 19 year old native Cree student was forced into a car by four young white men. Struggling and refusing to have sex with them, she was beaten, stabbed and brutally murdered. Frustrating the police in their investigation were the townspeople who despite knowing the truth, refused to help.