[LINK] "Trying to make sense of Loretta Saunders' death"

[rfmcdonald]

As I noted last week, the murder of Inuk student Loretta Saunders in Nova Scotia has become something of a national event. The face of Saunders has been used to give reality to the faces of the hundreds of First Nations women who have been murdered or disappeared in past decades in Canada. Saunders' thesis advisor at St. Mary's University, Darryl Leroux, contributed a powerful essay (originally published at the Halifax Media Coop), talking about his reaction and what Saunders' death means.

Even as I write this, as the tears wrack my body and the letters on my keyboard blur, none of this seems real. I was always so worried about Loretta. She presented all of the vulnerabilities to which indigenous women are prone, through no fault of her own.

I reread her thesis proposal last night and was reminded of how deeply she was aware of being a product of a Canadian society intent on destroying and eliminating indigenous peoples. That last word, “eliminating,” may seem extreme to some, but it is now so charged, so raw, so very real. Elimination. [Deep breath] [Deep breath] [Deep breath] Elimination.

Lying in a ditch along the Trans-Canada Highway. I simply cannot get this image out of my mind.

So many friends want to discuss the details of the case with me, they want to dissect it like they were the lead characters in a crime drama, the same ones that actually promote the incarceration and elimination of indigenous peoples and peoples of colour from society. What in the world makes somebody think that I want to listen to them piece together Loretta’s murder.

This is not a crime drama, she is dead. Murdered. What is wrong with those people? What were they thinking? If it’s not friends acting like sleuths, it’s the media acting like buzzards, circling and waiting for somebody to surrender like fallen prey. No more than 5 minutes goes by between the police announcement of Loretta’s murder and my inbox and voicemail being filled with requests.

If you’re reading this, take it as my statement. I refuse to speculate about Loretta’s death. What I do know is that our society has discarded indigenous women and girls in much the same manner for generations. These people were playing out a script that we all know intimately, but never acknowledge.

It's our doing, which Loretta articulated so clearly in her writing -- theft of land base, legalized segregation and racism, residential schools for several generations, continued dispossession = social chaos.