Adäka Cultural Festival: ReMatriate campaign resists stereotypes

The Adaka Cultural Festival in Whitehorse wrapped up Thursday and included a panel discussion with founding members of the ReMatriate movement. 

The online collective was formed as a response to incidents of the appropriation of indigenous culture in the fashion industry. Their goal is to combat negative portrayals of aboriginal women in cultural industries and the media.

"By showing these images we're showing positive representations of our women, of ourselves and it's part of that self-determination and also like, I'm sick of seeing the only representation of indigenous women in media being dead, being missing, being beaten and if that's the only representation that you see of yourself in social culture like that, that is hugely damaging," said member Jeneen Frei Njootli.

The group uses social media to curate images of indigenous women from across Canada and the United States from the traditional to the modern. "This is a way for us to reclaim our identity and visual sovereignty," Frei Njootli said. 

Member Kelly Edzerza-Bapty said showing the diversity of indigenous cultures is part of the process of reconciliation. 

"So we are actively trying to grow our photo collection, we would love to do a physical photo exhibition and we're talking about what form that's going to come through over the next coming month," she said. 

The ReMatriate collective is looking for more indigenous women to submitted photos to the campaign using the hashtag #ReMatriate.