#finding dawn

[benjycatsstuff]

I found more i keep finding more i keep seeing people following me after i close at work and i keep blacking out. Am i way in over my head? Maybe, but I can't stop til I'm dead or i find Dawn and her sister

[benjycatsstuff]

I can hear them taunting me

Laughing at me

I'll show them I'll show everyone!

I'm no longer benjy the coward, scaredy cat no more

I'm coming for you dawn

I'm coming for all of you

[benjycatsstuff]

Work is done. Time to go on a midnight escapade. Wish me luck, Dawn, Heather, I'm coming for you

[benjycatsstuff]

Her smile

I remember her smile..

I remember her eyes

Her lips

I can see her face, i remember her face

I will find you

[benjycatsstuff]

I need to find her

I need to

This is all my fault

[tokendyke]

Finding Dawn

Acclaimed Métis filmmaker Christine Welsh presents a compelling documentary that puts a human face on a national tragedy: the murders and disappearances of an estimated 500 Aboriginal women in Canada over the past 30 years.

Directed by Christine Welsh - 2006 | 73 min

[grsj-310-blog]

Popular Culture: Finding Dawn

Finding Dawn was the first prominent example of popular culture providing activism for missing and murdered Aboriginal women. The documentary, released in 2006 was directed and narrated by Christine Welsh, an Aboriginal filmmaker. As Welsh explains, she believed it was time to put a face on the national crisis which for too long received little attention in Canada.

Welsh begins her documentary telling the story of Dawn Crey, an Aboriginal woman who disappeared from the Downtown Eastside (DTES). Provoking emotions of viewers, Welsh speaks to Crey’s family, allowing a first hand insight into the turmoil families left behind must deal with. A background to Crey’s life is provided, explaining, but not going into detail, the troubled childhood she experienced after witnessing the death of her father. We learn this unsettled life continued following her move to the DTES where she became penniless, lonely and reliant on drug use. Sadly, at the time of her disappearance, Crey was on a methadone program, attempting to get back on track. Like many missing and murdered cases, it took years for her family to learn of her death; DNA of Crey was found at the Robert Pickton farm, three years after her disappearance.

In response to his experience, Crey’s brother, Ernie, has become an activist for this tragedy, believing if the violence occurred among White women from wealthy neighbourhoods, investigations would have had more significant funding and efforts made.  

Welsh’s documentary does not end with Dawn’s story. She goes on to bring awareness to the disappearance and murders of women across Canada, learning of the activism taking place. For example, on Valentines Day every year, there is an Annual Women Memorial March in DTES. On June 11th every year, there is a march in honour of Ramona Wilson (and other missing and murdered Aboriginal women) from the place she was last to seen the place her body was discovered.

For more information, this documentary is highly recommended. To a great extent, Finding Dawn was successful; it illustrated the “deep historical, social and economic factors that contribute to the epidemic of violence against Native women” (National Film Board, no date). In this respect, it was only a positive move forward for missing and murdered Aboriginal activism. However, nationwide the issue continues to receive little attention. This needs to change.

It is important to note further forms of popular culture exist. Since Finding Dawn, popular cultures as a form of activism for the missing and murdered aboriginal women scandal have been released, the most recent in 2015. For information on, or to watch other films and documentary’s, visit the links below:

48 Hours: The Highway of Tears – (2012)

Dark Minds: The Highway of Tears – (2013)

The Highway of Tears Documentary – (2015)

HT

[awretchedgirl]

Kirsten: Oh, is this about missing women?

Paige: Better, missing Indigenous women.

Kirsten: Well of course!