{"id":25758,"date":"2014-09-14T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2014-09-14T01:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=25758"},"modified":"2014-09-14T05:48:41","modified_gmt":"2014-09-13T21:48:41","slug":"aminext-campaign-aims-to-raise-awareness-about-murdered-aboriginal-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/09\/14\/aminext-campaign-aims-to-raise-awareness-about-murdered-aboriginal-women\/","title":{"rendered":"#AmINext campaign aims to raise awareness about murdered aboriginal women"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"aminext\"<\/a><\/p>\n

HALIFAX — A woman spearheading a social media campaign about missing and murdered aboriginal women says she isn’t worried about the initiative fading from the public consciousness like other online campaigns have done in the past.<\/p>\n

Holly Jarrett said the campaign, in which people are asked to take a photo of themselves holding a sign that reads, “#AmINext,” seeks to open up a national discussion on the issue of aboriginal women who have disappeared or been murdered.<\/p>\n

Other campaigns have previously gained momentum on social media, such as the recent ice bucket challenge for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable degenerative disease that causes paralysis and death.<\/p>\n

Some have debated the effectiveness of such campaigns, questioning the long-term value of posting a video or photo of yourself online.<\/p>\n

But Jarrett said a major difference between her campaign and others is that she’s not asking for any money — she simply wants to raise awareness of an issue.<\/p>\n

“I really think that if people understand all of these issues and we start talking about them, I really think the general Canadian public is not going to let these issues go,” said Jarrett from Cornwall, Ont.<\/p>\n

There is a personal connection to Jarrett’s campaign. She is the cousin of Loretta Saunders, an Inuit woman from Labrador who was found dead in a wooded area off the Trans-Canada Highway in New Brunswick, two weeks after she was reported missing from her Halifax apartment in February.<\/p>\n

“Since Loretta has been gone, I’ve always thought that if suburban Canadians knew about this, if you made people aware of what the actual issues are, I really don’t think anybody is going to turn a blind eye,” Jarrett said.<\/p>\n

Jarrett said she is urging people to demand a public inquiry from Prime Minister Stephen Harper into the 1,181 cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women nationwide.<\/p>\n

She admits that she doubts the campaign will convince Ottawa to launch such an inquiry, but says what’s more important is making Canadians aware of the issue.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think that this is going to spark an inquiry in itself,” said Jarrett. “I think it’s going to spark change in other people … to want to dive into an issue and say, ‘Hey, let’s Google that.'”<\/p>\n

Harper has repeatedly turned down calls for an inquiry. The federal government has, however, said it is willing to take part in a roundtable discussion about the issue as called for by the premiers.<\/p>\n

The government has also said it has taken action to deal with the problem, including setting up a national DNA missing person’s index and introducing 30 justice and safety initiatives aimed at helping native women.<\/p>\n

One picture posted as part of the campaign depicts several young women standing in front of Parliament Hill holding cardboard signs above their heads bearing the campaign hashtag.<\/p>\n

A Twitter user who identifies herself as Jessica Penney tweeted an #AmINext picture that also said, “Because it IS a sociological phenomenon,” a reference to Harper’s response last month when he was asked about the ongoing calls for a public inquiry.<\/p>\n

Jarrett said some people are critical of the phrase, “Am I Next,” saying it victimizes aboriginal women. But Jarrett said she’s still encouraged by the discussion.<\/p>\n

“As long as we’re talking about it, that’s way further than we were last year.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HALIFAX — A woman spearheading a social media campaign about missing and murdered aboriginal women says she isn’t worried about …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":25796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","mauthors-aly-thomson","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}