If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie

Empty field and clouds above, a red cinch bag lies near flowing water. 

UN declaration of Rights of the Indigenous Peoples states, governments, with proper consultation with indigenous peoples, will ensure Indigenous elders, women, youth, children and persons with disabilities have their rights respected. Governments will ensure Indigenous women and children are free from all forms of violence and discrimination.

A figure half in darkness is writing a letter to the chief of police, in pencil, stating she was an indigenous girl, these are her sisters, and she’s a coach, a dancer, an honor roll student, a volunteer, a friend, and a cousin. She’s a grand-daughter and a daughter to a young single mom who loved her more than humanly possible. Memories showing past moments with events and people. Her father, whom she doesn’t have contact with is an addict and criminal. 

She isn’t involved in drugs, underage drinking, prostitution or any other illegal activity. She isn’t a runaway, or involved with Child and Family Services. Her name is Brianna Jonnie and she’s 14 years old. Music, art, meditation, and smudging helps her connect to her culture. 

She holds a red cinch bag or a bowl with smoke, the letter continues, she is indigenous. She is more likely to go missing than her peers, and more likely than her friends to be murdered by an unknown person to her. She passes a picture of herself with a missing person pasted on a post. She passes a man in a red zip-up and starts following her as her letter continues, she is more likely to be raped, assaulted, or sexually violated, she unable to take public transport or go for a walk without being approached or ogled by men she doesn’t know, even in a safe part of the city during daytime.

A few days ago a local teen boy went missing, she now clutching her red cinch bag. She wants to thank the police for finding him and making a swift arrest. The Deputy Chief conducted himself in a most respectful manner when disclosing the boy was deceased and drugs had been involved. The newspapers and media were instrumental in immediately spreading news of his disappearance. 

She noticed the missing indigenous girls aren’t afforded the same courtesies by the community, the media or the police. Asking for the public’s help days or weeks after an indigenous girl goes missing is the same as announcing publicly her life doesn’t matter, or at least, not as much as others. It teaches boys and men who discard girls in rivers, beach them in back lanes and drug them at parties, indigenous girls’ lives don’t matter. As the writing continues, the man steps up behind her again, and her cell is next on the street sidewalk. 

Her letter continues, they won’t be missed, and no one will look for them. It teaches her teachers, her friends, future employers, and the children she coaches, the boys and men she meets an indigenous girl’s life doesn’t matter. It teacher her of her life not mattering. She’s attached a copy of a photo of herself, and adds, please use this should she ever go missing. 

She won’t be gone by choice, contact the media right away and have them plaster her face across every newspaper, news website and broadcast across the province. Put her name and photo on social media sites. Don’t use words which make her the subject of conversation she hears every time an indigenous girl goes missing, ‘Looks like another one of them ran away.’ Provide details which humanizes her, not just the color of her hair, height and ethnicity. 

Tell them she has goals, dreams and aspirations and a future she wants to be part of. If she goes missing, she begs, don’t treat her as the indigenous person she’s proud to be. If she goes missing and her body is found, please tell her mom you’re sorry. Tell her she asked to be buried in her red dress, for she’ll have become just another native statistic. A red dress hangs from a tree branch blowing in the wind.

Epilogue: MMIW and Girls isn’t an indigenous issue, it’s a human rights issue, and all over the world there are groups of people who are at risk due to their race, background, age or orientation, their lives seen by some as being worth less than those of others. Women make up one of these groups, having been oppressed through history and continue to lack a voice or fair treatment in many cultures. When women go missing, searches for them are often delayed or not as wide. Crimes against them often go unsolved and unpunished, and indigenous people worldwide face assumptions and stereotypes which put their lives at risk. 

Violence against indigenous women gives some of the most shocking facts in developed countries like Australia, indigenous women are victims of homicide 6 times more often than non-indigenous women. They represent 16% of all female murder victims, even though indigenous people make up only 3% of the Australian population. In the U.S., women of color, specifically black women, are 4 times more likely to be murdered than white women. In Canada, there’ve been more than 100 reports and inquiries related to violence against indigenous women and Girls launched in 2016, but no one knows for sure how many indigenous women and girls have been murdered or gone missing. 

Many people have studied the factors which affect MMIWG and results suggest they might include but aren’t limited to, issues of poverty, home violence and abuse, sexual violence and abuse, and addictions. These issues affect more indigenous families than Canadian families as a whole as a direct and indirect result of Residential Schools, the Sixties Scoop and relocation projects. These government-led, racist actions removed children from their homes and placed them in boarding schools, in foster homes or with adoptive parents’ separated families, ruined lives and destroyed indigenous cultures. The result was generations of emotional, spiritual, physical and sexual abuse, fueled by the racist attitudes, practices and laws stemmed from the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, when they took control of the lands and lives of indigenous peoples. 

This racism has been built into systems of government and decision-making, and it continues to affect the lives of indigenous peoples on a daily basis. They still exist, after all. There is hope, and it starts with awareness, today’s inquiries, art installations, films, books and programs help educate the public about the issue and the devastating effect which racism has had on indigenous families and communities.

About this book:

In 2016, Brianna Jonnie, then 14 years old, wrote an open letter to the Winnipeg Police Service, imploring them to do better when investigating cases of missing indigenous peoples. She’d noted when a young person who looked like her went missing, it took far longer for the police service to respond, sometimes up to 16 days. Her letter is included with redacted names. A summary: March 1, 2016 Dear Chief Clunis, Brianna introduces herself, being 14, and in grade 9 and proceeds to thank him and the police for finding a missing boy, she mourning his loss. Most of the letter reflects the story created from it. She then notes how she’s noticed missing indigenous girls aren’t afforded the same courtesies by the community, media or Winnipeg Police. She names a missing girl as comparison and how long it took compared to the missing boy, and while the cases had some differences, they main thing is it’s a missing person and in many cases a child. Most of the letter is the same as the book details, and at the end, she begs don’t treat her as the indigenous person she’s proud to be, her mom needs her, and she wants to have her future. 

Brianna Jonnie, is an Ojibwe, member of Roseau River First Nation.

Worth the read, definitely has more background information on Brianna’s story and where it stemmed from.