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Violence is a daily reality for Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in Canada.

According to Statistics Canada:

• While Indigenous women make up four per cent of all women in Canada, they account for 24 per cent of female murder victims.
• Between 2001 and 2015, homicide rates for Indigenous women were nearly six times higher than for non-Indigenous women.
• Indigenous women experience violent crime nearly three times more often than the national average.

Â鶹´«Ã½ University’s Indigenous Education and Cultural Services (IECS), together with Durham College’s (DC) First Peoples Indigenous Centre (FPIC), will host the REDress Campus Campaign Monday, February 10 through Friday, February 14 to raise awareness, generate conversation, inspire action and honour those who have been touched by the historic and ongoing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S) crisis.

Inspired by Métis multidisciplinary artist Jamie Black’s , the university’s and college’s REDdress Campus Campaign will feature a similar art installation of red dresses: a visual reminder of the staggering number of women who are no longer with us. The dresses will be displayed at:

• Â鶹´«Ã½'s Social Science, Humanities and Education Library in downtown Oshawa (61 Charles Street Building)
• DC’s Centre for Collaborative Education (CFCE)
• Other key locations around the university’s and college’s shared campus location in north Oshawa.
• DC’s Whitby campus and Pickering learning site.

The university and college will also host a series of related events throughout the week:

Monday, February 10:

Opening ceremony featuring guest speaker Suzanne Smoke

• 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• CFCE, Atrium

Suzanne Smoke, Ginew Kwe, Golden Eagle Woman, sits with the Bear Clan, Medicine Clan from Alderville First Nation, Mississauga’s of Rice Lake. She is a Women’s Traditional Dancer, Speaker, and Facilitator. She is also an Anishinaabe Water Walker and shares teachings on the importance of our sacred water, which is Nbiish in Anishinaabe language. 

Tuesday, February 11:

Violence Against Women, Violence Against the Land

• noon to 1:30 p.m.
• CFCE, First Peoples Indigenous Centre, Room 141

Kim Wheatley, an Anishinaabe Ojibway Grandmother from Shawanaga First Nation, will speak about the connection between violence against women and violence against the land that is causing climate change.

Wednesday, February 12:

Arts Open House

• 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• CFCE, First Peoples Indigenous Centre, Room 141

Make your own commemorative tile necklace and watch one of the documentaries and keynote speeches that will be shown in a viewing marathon.

Red dress beading workshop

• 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• CFCE, First Peoples Indigenous Centre, Room 141

Learn the art of beadwork, one of the most celebrated art forms for many First Nation, Métis and Inuit peoples, from local Indigenous artist Meaghan Morris. In this workshop, participants will bead using a red dress stencil.

 

Thursday, February 13:

Art as Action and Protest: Honouring MMIWG2S

• 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• CFCE, Global Classroom, Room 145

In this special Global Class conversation, Karyn Recollet and Jaime Black will speak about their art and work in connection with the crisis of MMIWG2S and lead a conversation with students and other participants. Meagan Muscat from Â鶹´«Ã½ University will moderate the discussion.  The event will also feature a Big Drum performance by members of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

Karyn Recollet is Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s Women & Gender Studies Institute, and is a Cree woman originally from the Sturgeon Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan. Her research and writing explores Indigenous futurism as well as Indigenous performance, hip-hop culture, and Indigenous hip hop feminism, with a particular focus on new Indigeneities produced in urban hub spaces as they shape solidarity movements and social activism.

Jaime Black is a Métis multidisciplinary artist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and creator of . She studied English Literature at the University of Manitoba and has an Education degree from The Ontario Institute of Studies in Education. She is currently a mentee with Mentoring Artists for Womens Art (MAWA).

In her artwork, she attempts to create a dialogue around social and political events and issues, through provocation or creating space for reflection. She is particularly interested in feminism and Aboriginal social justice, and the possibilities for articulating linkages between and around these movements.

Friday, February 14:

Women’s Memorial March

• noon to 12:30 p.m.
• Campus Library, Fireside Reading Room, second floor

Participate in this sister event of the 29th-annual . Each year, the march provides an opportunity for the community to come together to grieve the loss of beloved sisters, remember the women who are still missing, and dedicate themselves to justice.

Closing ceremony and feast

• 12:30 to 2 p.m.
• CFCE, Global Classroom, Room 145

 

Questions? Stop by the Baagwating Indigenous Student Centre at the university's downtown Oshawa location, or contact Carol Ducharme, Indigenous Programming Specialist, at ext. 6795.