For the size of their population, Aboriginal women in Canada account for an incredibly overrepresented percentage of missing persons and murder statistics. Sheena, a lost teenager, is placed in a girl's home. Seemingly forgotten and yearning for a life of freedom, she runs away, only to be picked up by a dangerous stranger. The directorial debut by actor Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs is a sober commentary of missing Indigenous women. The short film debuted at imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival and was inspired in part by the life and tragic death of Tina Fontaine. Not unlike Sheena, Fontaine, 15, was in the care of Manitoba Child and Family Services when she was reported missing to the Winnipeg Police Service. She’d been staying in a downtown hotel, reportedly placed there by social workers before her disappearance. Days later, her body was pulled from the Red River in August of 2014. Fontaine’s death renewed calls to undertake an independent national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women which was officially launched in August by the federal government.
Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs is a film and television actress, born and raised on the Mohawk reservation of Kahnawake, QC.
Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women in Canada
Violence against women is a significant issue in society. According to the World Health Organization, it affects one third of women around the world...View This Title McIntyre Media Inc. MCI090