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By GUNCE AKPINAR
Staff Writer

Faceless Dolls workshops on Nov. 6 at Niagara-on-the-Lake campus and Nov. 13 at Welland campus of Niagara College aimed to create awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous girls and women across Canada.

Students create their own faceless dolls to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Alkiie-Babe Froman, a Mohawk woman from Six Nations Reserve, has been organizing the Faceless Dolls workshops for three years.

According to Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP) report, between 1980 and 2012, 1,017 Indigenous women were murdered, and 164 women are still considered missing. Two hundred and twenty five of those cases remain unsolved.

“Indigenous peoples are a little part of society,” Froman says.

To make a realistic comparison if you reverse the percentages with non-Indigenous women it would be 24,000 murdered.

There is not enough awareness and action for Indigenous peoples in Canada, she says.

International students are  especially concerned talking about the privilege that exists in Canada.

Most of the time they only know, “Canada is a great country” and “everyone is polite here.” But they are not aware of its dark history when it comes to the Indigenous population, says Froman.

“We do try to educate students and tell them (students) like please don’t put faces on the dolls,” says Froman about the workshops.

“The biggest reason we have not put a face on a doll is a cultural reason. In my tradition you don’t put a face to something unless you’re willing to take care of it,” Froman says. “The moment you put a face on any object you’re bringing it to life and then you’re responsible for that life.”

The second reason why dolls are faceless for this particular campaign is each doll represents a girl or woman who was taken away from her family, explains Froman.

Many students showed an interest in the Faceless Dolls workshops at both campuses.

Faceless Dolls workshops give “representation of them (missing and murdered Indigenous women).

“We don’t usually think about them,” says Christine Turiano, a first-year Palliative Care student from the Philippines, adding it’s important because it creates an awareness about them.

The College’s Indigenous Education Office tries to create a representation of Indigenous students and their culture, and Indigenous Awareness Month is a good chance for that.

For most of the students, learning about Indigenous peoples and their issues is unusual, says Ashley Buck, Indigenous student success leader at Niagara College.

“It’s the first time they’re (non-Indigenous students) learning about Indigenous issues, some systematic issues.”