Each doll represents women who are loved and missed by their children and families. These dolls are both story and map, because they represent a specific place and time where another person has heard the stories of the missing women. Each and every doll created for display blankets becomes a type of map. According to one article, a young student explained that the dolls were faceless because “society has stopped looking for them”. The reasons the dolls remain faceless is to show not only how Aboriginal women are devalued in society, but that each doll can be any Aboriginal woman who experiences forms of violence in their lives. Each doll created is a visual representation of each missing woman. The faceless doll project is an initiative begun by the NWAC, so that the many missing and murdered women would not be forgotten. Their mission is “to help empower women by being involved in developing and changing legislation which affects them, and involving them in the development and delivery of programs promoting equal opportunity for Aboriginal women.” Their report concludes that ending the cycle of violence against Aboriginal women is the responsibility of all of us – all genders, all levels of government, and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities alike. The NWAC began the Sisters in Spirit Initiative in 2010. Information on the inquiry can now be found at the government of Canada website. This is interesting, given that 53% of current cases remain unsolved! It was not until this year that current Prime Minister Trudeau has made promises to begin a Federal inquiry into the matter. In fact, former Prime Minister Harper refused to hold a federal inquiry into the issue, insisting that “most” cases of murdered Aboriginal women had been solved.
70% of the murder cases occurred in urban areas.ĭespite these horrible statistics, very little has been done on a National level to address the problem.53% of current murder cases remain unsolved.Over half of the women were 31 years or younger.The majority of missing women disappeared from the western provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba).Some key findings of the NWAC 2010 report are:
The dolls we created become storybooks, visual art, and ‘maps’ which represent murdered and missing Aboriginal women.Īccording to the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), researchers identified almost 600 Aboriginal women, who are missing or murdered, over a five year period. While we enjoyed decorating felt dolls and eating strawberries and bannock with community members, this activity was part of a much more serious and mostly invisible issue facing First Nations women today. The event was co-sponsored by the WIC and OPIRG-Guelph. This was held at the Guelph Women in Crisis Center (WIC). As part of our Solstice celebrations this year, my family participated in a Faceless Doll-making workshop.
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