Helping families of MMIWG

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This article was published 30/05/2016 (3717 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bernadette Smith’s induction into the Order of Manitoba will be bittersweet.

On May 12, it was announced that Smith and 10 others will receive the province’s highest honour. The 2016 class will be inducted into the Order of Manitoba on July 7 at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

Smith, a Métis woman who grew up in the North End, is an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) and their families. Her sister, Claudette Osborne, has been missing since July, 2008.

“Super honoured, but it was emotional for me, because the reason I’m receiving the award is because of the work I’ve done as a result of my sister missing,” Smith said.

“You’re humbled to be receiving it, but you’re also emotional at the same time because you’d give that award back to get your sister back.”

When her sister went missing in the summer of 2008, Smith said she and her family “didn’t know what to do or where to go.”

Feeling that the police were not doing enough, that November Smith and her family organized a public search event for Claudette. But, beyond the family and a busload of people from Norway House — Claudette’s hometown — Smith said nobody showed up.

In January, 2009, Smith and her family held a public vigil for Claudette outside the Lincoln Motor Hotel, the place where she was last seen. Smith said the story was much the same.  

“Again, it was just our family there,” Smith said. “We’re going ‘What the heck is going on here? Why isn’t our community connected to this?’ I get that she’s Indigenous and there is a divide, but this could happen to anyone. We need to start working together.”

Disappointed but not discouraged, Smith took a lead in organizing the Coalition for Families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women of Manitoba, creating a network of support for families of MMIWG.

She and other concerned community members also started working with the police and the media to improve the situation for MMIWG and their families.

“The portrayal of our women was always looking at the negative and almost giving the community permission to say ‘Oh, they deserved what they got,’” Smith said.

“We started working with the media, saying ‘We don’t want you to portray our loved ones like this.’ They’re our mothers, our sisters, our daughters. They had aspirations. Just really trying to humanize them.”

Smith was also instrumental in the development of Drag the Red, as well as Ka Ni Kanichihk’s missing persons toolkit and the annual No Stone Unturned concert.

No Stone Unturned started in honour of Claudette, but Smith said it’s become to honour all murdered and missing people.

“We’re not looking at gender or race, it’s about bringing community together,” Smith said.

“Where we were at when my sister went missing to where we’re at now, we see tons of people that are non-Indigenous getting involved in this issue and coming together and supporting one another and helping one another.”

Smith said she’s seen improvement on the issue of MMIWG, be it from government, police, media or the public, but noted that there is still lots of work to do.

“It affects all people and it could happen to anyone and we need to get involved in helping change the landscape of Canada,” Smith said.

“We’re all just humans trying to be.”