White Lines and Good Intentions // Sheilah Madonna M. Salvador

From 1978 to 2001, more than 65 women, most of them from Indigenous communities outside of Vancouver, disappeared from its downtown eastside. Their disappearances often went unnoticed and were attributed to their transient lifestyle. In 2002, Robert Pickton confessed to killing 49 of the missing women but could only be convicted of six murders. Nine years later, in 2013, Colleen Murphy’s Pig Girl debuted at Edmonton’s Theatre Network. The play, which originally had a cast of all non-Indigenous performers, was what Murphy called her response to Pickton’s conviction. While she received some criticism for appropriation, the play was mostly well received by critics and audiences, and she was largely praised for bringing attention to the victims, as well as the missing and murdered Indigenous women that the government and RCMP continued to neglect. She claimed that it was a tribute, and that by “witnessing” what she imagined to be the women’s fate in the hands of Pickton in front of an audience, she honours their suffering and courage. 

Despite her good intentions, is there really honour and purpose in profiting from the suffering and trauma of Indigenous peoples? The play was created without consent, without consultation from the victims of the families. The title, according to Cree activist Tanya Kappo, is racist and disrespectful to the victims. The graphic scenes of torture, rape, and murder further victimize the women and focus unnecessary attention on the killer.An already established and renowned artist, Murphy garnered further recognition and publicity for herself years before the RCMP recognized the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) as a case. That didn’t happen until 2014, the same year that Murphy won the Carol Bolt Award for Pig Girl. Two years later, she won her second Governor General’s Award. In an interview with The Edmonton Journal, Murphy expressed how delighted she was, and that the money she received “gives more attention to the play, more possibilities for production, even more controversy.” But what did she offer the families, whose pain and tragedy she profited from, who continue to mourn and fight for justice for their missing and murdered loved ones? Where does the line between good intention cross into appropriation and theft? Where does that white line end for artists and writers like Murphy, who succeed and thrive in this country while Indigenous communities all over Canada continue to grapple with land theft, ancestral hurt, poverty, clean water, youth suicides, and over-policing? Is it fair and ethical for successful, non-Indigenous, white artists and writers like Murphy to continue to embody and represent Indigenous experiences? What is the literary community’s role in reconciliation and adopting the calls to action of the TRC and the MMIWG Report? 

“The truth and how it is told is important,” according to Chief Isadore Day, Wiindawtegowinni. As the former Regional Chief of Ontario, he advocated for better living conditions and quality of life of First Nations peoples all over the province. In 2016, he called a state of emergency due to the increased number of suicides among young children and seniors in his jurisdiction of 177 First Nation communities.Chief Day believes that congruence and integrity in the Indigenous perspective will only come from Indigenous writers, journalists, and reporters with strong knowledge, skills, and a value system that is rooted in culture and human rights. “We need writers who know the truth and who can dispel myths and lies about us, who must always err on the side of moral accounting of facts and foundations as to issues being retold.” He thinks that white supremacy, conservative ignorance, and the wrongful politicizing of Reconciliation must be acknowledged and shifted in order to help eliminate falsehoods and fictitious accounts of who non-Indigenous writers think Indigenous peoples are, their history, and what the future holds. “Fair interpretation of national history has been and always will be the obligation and imperative of journalists in Canada, all in an effort to make certain checks and balances in public policy and the national interest.” 

The renowned traditional storyteller and grassroots activist, Isaac Murdoch, Manzinapkinegego’anaabe / Bombgiizhik (Fish Clan), believes that Reconciliation and the MMIWG is a “Canadian problem” that will require Canadians to write, dance, sing, and provide educational outlets for each other so that they can engage in change. He states how important First Nation media is because of the way much of the mainstream media affects the little voices. “Entire histories are erased and replaced by false literary documentation based on bias and self-fulfilling views.”According to Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith, “When non-Indigenous people write about Indigenous people, they miss the ability to convey a story without being able to explain the lived experience and its complete truth.” Smith is originally from Peguis First Nation and now resides in Toronto. She is a freelance writer for several First Nations media outlets and a contributing editor of Shameless Magazine. She strongly believes that Indigenous peoples should be the ones to tell their stories, for they are the ones with the lived experiences that embody all the parts of these stories. “Without proper consultation from Indigenous people and communities, non-Indigenous writers risk enforcing the stereotypes and myths that are often believed by the mainstream already.” She believes that everyone, whether they are literary or not, has a responsibility to uphold the Calls to Action for Reconciliation. " If we want Reconciliation to happen, we must all try to embrace it and act upon it, and not just give it lip service.”As white settlers continue to dominate the literary and art world all over North America, Indigenous peoples and other people of colour continue to struggle for representation and recognition. Smith, who comes from a trauma-infused background and whose genre is memoir, struggles with finding an audience for the stories that she wants to tell. She was told by one publishing house that her “stories don’t add up.” She thinks that the recent cuts to the Ontario Arts Council will make it even more difficult to give a platform to Indigenous/POC writers. “Often, as marginalized people, it is difficult for us to obtain the funds necessary to be able to work on the projects that we want to. I also find that tokenization still takes place. An Indigenous/POC writer can often be brought on board just so that the organization can look good, and we often work our butts off to gain an audience and/or following.” “It is a very important time for writers,” according to Murdoch. “We must have a literary impression on what really happened, and how it was created.” He advises writers who are Indigenous, people of colour, and otherwise under-represented “to keep writing and sharing the truth.”Smith wants Indigenous and POC writers to stay strong and true, to keep fighting. “We all need to work together and not let colonization divide or conquer us as peoples. We need to applaud each other, and remember that what we give out is what we receive back.” 

Writing and art should be limitless, for it is a world where we can express and explore our imagination. But as uninvited guests and settlers, all Canadians have responsibilities to uphold towards Reconciliation, and—as kind, loving human beings—towards a commitment to fairness and equality. Now, more than ever, is the time for us to be responsible and ethical writers, to share and give platforms to the “invisible” and unheard, instead of co-opting their narratives. Can’t we explore other things to write about with our unlimited and boundless imaginations? Isn’t it time to end the white lines that have corralled and conquered the stories and experiences of Indigenous and other marginalized people of colour so that we can finally start hearing and seeing the truths and stories that we all need and longed to tell and hear?