Scugog Island First Nation: Speech Analysis

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I would like to start my speech by honoring the Huron-Wendat Nation, Metis Nation of Ontario, Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation and Six Nations of the Grand River, whose traditional land we are currently gathered on (Shahzad, 2017). On behalf of all Canadians I would like the acknowledge and apologize for all of the horrific things that indigenous peoples in Canada have experience since it was colonized by European settlers, and the struggles these communities continue to face due to the actions of colonizers and the Canadian government. There are approximately 1,200 documented cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada since the 1980’s, however Indigenous female groups …show more content…

Roberta Mackinnon, Brandon Bear Clan President shared her stories at a community hearing for Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women in Manitoba, in October of this year. One of Mackinnon’s friends died while hitchhiking from British Columbia to Alberta in the eighties (Clarke, 2017). Her niece went missing in Grand Prairie, Alberta in 2007 and has not been heard from or seen again (Clarke, 2017). Mackinnon also shares her experience of hitchhiking along ‘The Highways of Tears”, which is a 720km stretch of highway that runs from Prince Rupert to Prince George in British Columbia – infamously named after the dozens of women who have disappeared or who have been murdered along it. While hitchhiking, Roberta and her friend were picked up by a truck driver who made disturbing comments such as, “nobody would ever find you” and “bears can smell blood and they would tear you apart and there would be nothing left” (Clarke, 2017). They were able to escape this situation by deceiving the driver and hiding in a washroom. The friends then separated as it was easier to hitchhike alone, and when Roberta Mackinnon reach Grand Prairie, Alberta she was informed that her friend had been found dead in a

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