Micro galleries highlighting MMIWG stories aim to reconcile through knowledge and art
The only way to make change is through knowledge, says Indigenous elder
When Sheila Joris stumbled upon a colourful display of books at her local Ikea store, the artwork on the fabric book covers immediately caught her eye.
What peaked her curiosity was the names of several missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) from across Canada were printed in bright gold letters on the books.
Upon further research, the Strathroy, Ont., business owner was "astounded" to learn the number and stories of women and children whose families never heard from them again. It inspired Joris to showcase the display at the front window of her downtown store, KYIS Embroidery, to create more awareness.
"It's just a way of me showing that I care," she said. "Some of these families didn't get any help to find their loved ones and I think it's really sad. Their stories deserve to be heard."
Joris's shop is one of many spaces throughout the country taking part in the Canadian Library (TCL) project. A micro gallery art installation that aims to raise awareness around the MMIWG crisis.
WATCH | Business owner Sheila Joris expresses why she cares about the stories of MMIWG:
"The only way we're ever going to achieve any sort of reconciliation and break down barriers is once there's education for everyone and it starts by having these important conversations," said Shanta Sundarason, a Toronto-based activist leading the grassroots project.
Since they started their efforts in October 2021, participants have collected book donations of any genre. They order fabric covers designed by Indigenous artists, each one with the name of a missing or murdered Indigenous woman or girl.
More than 8,000 books have been collected so far. Ultimately, they'll be pooled together and displayed at a national museum or gallery by the end of this year, Sundarason said, adding that she wants them to be an educational tool to memorialize the lives lost.
It's going to take a lot to build up trust between settlers and Indigenous people.- Shanta Sundarason, founder of TCL
Sundarason, who came to Canada from Singapore 12 years ago, felt a responsibility as an immigrant to educate herself and others on the stories of residential school survivors and the systemic discrimination that many Indigenous people still face, she said.
"To find out that there's so many people in a country like Canada who still don't have clean drinking water was very horrifying and there's been so much that's happened to these communities," she said.
"It's going to take a lot to build up trust between settlers and Indigenous people who have been trying for decades to tell us the stories of what they've been through."
TCL is displayed at every Ikea store in Canada, as well as at cafés and hospitals, and more recently at the York Region District School Board, Sundarason said.
A collective step toward reconciliation, says elder
TCL has received overwhelming support from Indigenous elders. At first, many of them were skeptical of the project but eventually provided their guidance to its team, Sundarason said.
In Calgary, TCL is spearheaded by linda manyguns, a Blackfoot woman from Siksika Nation in southern Alberta who uses only lower-case letters for her name to acknowledge the Indigenous struggle for recognition.
Also Mount Royal University's associate vice-president of Indigenization and decolonization, manyguns said she was fascinated by TCL's inclusiveness and its ability to bring the MMIWG crisis to the forefront in a way that centres on their family members' voices.
"There's a huge chasm of emptiness between the Canadian society in general and the Indigenous experience," she said.
"People need to understand that these are not bad women — they're just encased in a social context that's been created due to the colonial perspectives and placements of Aboriginal people and as a result, it puts them in situations which make them vulnerable."
TCL creates a place for the MMIWG's memories to live, while also giving Indigenous artists a platform to shine since the artwork attracts all kinds of people, manyguns said.
"It's a collective step toward reconciliation because it's an an ethical third space where people can come together to work together and create new frontiers. The only way that we can make change is through knowledge."
She hopes TCL can motivate enough people to come together and create change so more names aren't added to the list of missing Indigenous women and girls.
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