Rinelle Harper

Last updated

Rinelle Harper
Born1998 (age 25–26)
NationalityCanadian
Known forAdvocating for national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women

Rinelle Harper (born 1998) is a Canadian woman from the Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba. In November 2014, after narrowly surviving a violent assault at the age of 16, Harper rose to prominence in national media as an advocate for victims of violence. She publicly called for a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, addressing the Assembly of First Nations and speaking at the first Canadian conference on missing and murdered indigenous women.

Contents

Early life

Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba Garden Hill First Nations.JPG
Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba

Rinelle Harper is a member of the Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba. [1] She has two siblings. [2] Harper's parents are Julie and Caesar Harper, [3] and her uncle was Elijah Harper, a provincial politician who became noted for his refusal to accept the constitutional changes of the 1990 Meech Lake Accord. [4]

As a teenager, Harper attended Southeast Collegiate, an indigenous Winnipeg high school owned and maintained by several First Nations communities. [1] She is fluent in both English and Oji-Cree. [3]

Assault in 2014

The Assiniboine River in Winnipeg, Manitoba Assiniboine River in Winnipeg.jpg
The Assiniboine River in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Assault

In 2014, on the night of Friday, November 7, 16-year-old Harper was in the South Broadway area of Winnipeg with friends. They were celebrating the completion of mid-term exams. [5] [6] Around midnight, Harper became separated from her friends and was approached by two young men. The men beat and sexually assaulted Harper underneath a bridge before leaving her submerged in the near-freezing Assiniboine River. [6] After Harper pulled herself out of the river further upstream, she was attacked for a second time by the same two men, who struck her repeatedly with a weapon and left her for dead. [1]

The following morning at 7:00am, [1] Harper was discovered by two local construction workers, who called an ambulance and used their coats to keep her warm. [7] Harper initially had no pulse upon reaching the hospital [3] and was listed as being in critical condition, but survived and gradually recovered. [1] [8]

Investigation and charges

Although it is common for sexual assault victims to remain unidentified by Canadian police and media, Harper's parents and the investigating authorities made the unusual decision to release Rinelle Harper's name to the public, with the objective of helping find new leads in the case quickly. [3] [9] A subsequent police press conference stated that public response to the release of Harper's name had been "tremendous". [10]

Investigators examined the possibility that Harper's assault was related to the disappearance and murder of First Nations teenager Tina Fontaine, whose body had been discovered in a river only weeks before, but found no information suggesting the two crimes were linked. [10]

In mid-November 2014, [1] police announced that 20-year-old Justin Hudson of the Poplar River band [3] and a 17-year-old boy – unnamed in media reports, due to his status as a minor – had been identified as suspects in Harper's case, and were charged with attempted murder and aggravated sexual assault. [1] They were also charged with the assault of another woman in the community, which took place on the same night as the attack on Harper. [4] Both Hudson and the 17-year-old later pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated sexual assault. [11]

Aftermath

On November 20, 2014, Harper and her family met with Sean Vincent, one of the construction workers who had found Harper and helped get her to the hospital. The family expressed their thanks by giving Vincent a soapstone bear sculpture and a painting from the Garden Hill First Nation. [7] [12]

Calls for national inquiry

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have reported that indigenous women are disproportionately represented in cases of missing and murdered women in Canada. [8] Harper's near-death experience – which happened not long after the murder of Tina Fontaine – spurred new national discussions around violence against Canadian indigenous women and strengthened calls for the federal government to launch an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women. [9] In December 2014, Harper addressed more than 3000 audience members at the Assembly of First Nations and spoke on the subject of ending violence against young women. She urged assembly members to demand a national inquiry. [13]

Over subsequent months, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper responded to calls for an inquiry by dismissing concerns, stating that cases of missing and murdered indigenous women, while tragic, "need not be further studied". [3] The Conservative government stated that assaults on indigenous women were often initiated by indigenous men, and could be dealt with adequately by local police forces. [9] The national Liberal Party and New Democratic Party both made commitments to launch a public inquiry if elected in the approaching federal election of October 2015. [14]

In November 2015, Rinelle Harper spoke at the Spirit of Our Sisters gala in Alberta. The gala was part of the first national Canadian conference on missing and murdered indigenous women. [14]

Recovery, advocacy, and education

In the months after the attack, Harper met and became friends with Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian journalist and philanthropist. Lindhout had been abducted and held hostage in Somalia in 2009, and was able to share her experiences dealing with the aftermath of violence. [6]

On July 17, 2015, the Harper family home in the Garden Hill First Nation reserve burned to the ground. Since the family was in Winnipeg at the time – where Harper was undergoing surgery for lingering injuries from her assault – nobody was injured in the fire, but the family lost most of their personal possessions. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, and media reported that the incident was under investigation by police. After news spread about the family's difficulties, several online fundraising campaigns were launched in support of the Harpers, including one campaign by Amanda Lindhout. [2]

Following the fire, Harper and her family moved to Winnipeg permanently. Despite her desire to return to Southeast Collegiate for her final year of high school, Harper was informed by the school that she no longer qualified to attend classes there: Southeast Collegiate only accepts indigenous students from remote communities, and since the Harpers no longer had a home in the Garden Hill First Nation reserve, they did not meet the criteria. Harper was waitlisted for another school instead. [15]

In spite of shyness, Harper has stated that she wants to be "a voice for the voiceless". [6] In November 2015, she was a speaker at a We Day event in Winnipeg, addressing thousands of youth on the empowering possibilities of education and her own experience recovering from an act of violence. [16] That same year, she began collaboration on a book with Canadian author Maggie de Vries [6] entitled A Voice for Change. [17]

Harper has expressed a desire to become a phys-ed teacher [15] or a doctor. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winnipeg Police Service</span> Canadian police force

The Winnipeg Police Service is the police force of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highway of Tears</span> Stretch of Highway 16 corridor, infamous for disappearances and murders of Indigenous women

The Highway of Tears is a 719-kilometre (447 mi) corridor of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, Canada, which has been the location of crimes against many Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) beginning in 1970. The phrase was coined during a vigil held in Terrace, British Columbia in 1998, by Florence Naziel, who was thinking of the victims' families crying over their loved ones. There are a disproportionately high number of Indigenous women on the list of victims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native Women's Association of Canada</span> Canadian indigenous organization

The Native Women's Association of Canada is a national Indigenous organization representing the political voice of Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people in Canada, inclusive of First Nations on and off reserve, status and non-status, disenfranchised, Métis, and Inuit. An aggregate of Indigenous women's organizations from across the country, NWAC was founded on the collective goal to enhance, promote, and foster the social, economic, cultural and political well-being of Indigenous women within their respective communities and Canadian societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missing Women Commission of Inquiry</span>

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry was a commission in British Columbia ordered by the Lieutenant Governor in Council on September 27, 2010, to evaluate the response of law enforcement to reports of missing and murdered women. The commission concluded its Inquiry in December 2012, and outlined 63 recommendations to the Provincial government and relevant law enforcement. The Inquiry itself received criticism from various civil society group and Indigenous communities, regarding its investigative structure, as well as, the lack of government action after the Inquiry to fulfill its recommendations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Joseph Harper</span>

John Joseph "J.J." Harper was a Canadian aboriginal leader from Wasagamack, Manitoba, who was shot and killed by Winnipeg police constable Constable Robert Cross on March 9, 1988. That event, along with the murder of Helen Betty Osborne, sparked the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry.

Beverley K. Jacobs CM is a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) community representative from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Bear Clan. An attorney, she became president of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), serving 2004-2009, and is best known for her work in advocating for the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and seeking changes to policing and the justice system to better serve Indigenous peoples. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor.

The Women's Memorial March is an annual event which occurs on February 14 in honour of the lives of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) across Canada and the United States. This event is also a protest against class disparity, racism, inequality and violence.

#AmINext is a social media campaign launched on September 5, 2014, by Inuit Canadian Holly Jarrett, to call attention to the high rate of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. It was one of many awareness campaigns initiated by activists since 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women</span> Indigenous movement and human rights crisis

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) also known as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and more broadly as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) or Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) is a human rights crisis of violence against Indigenous women in Canada and the United States,notably those in the FNIM and Native American communities, but also amongst other Indigenous peoples such as in Australia and New Zealand, and the grassroots movement to raise awareness of MMIW through organizing marches; building databases of the missing; holding local community, city council, and tribal council meetings; and conducting domestic violence trainings and other informational sessions for police.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Tina Fontaine</span> Death of a First Nations girl in Manitoba

Tina Michelle Fontaine was a First Nations teenage girl who was reported missing and died in August 2014. Her case is considered among the high number of missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada, and her death renewed calls by activists for the government to conduct a national inquiry into the issue.

Nahanni Fontaine is a Canadian provincial politician, who was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for the riding of St. Johns in the 2016 and 2019 elections. She held the seat for the NDP after incumbent MLA Gord Mackintosh did not seek re-election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michèle Audette</span> Canadian politician and activist

Michèle Taïna Audette is a Canadian politician and activist. She served as president of Femmes autochtones du Québec from 1998 to 2004 and again from 2010 to 2012. She was also the president of Native Women's Association of Canada from 2012 to 2014. From 2004 through 2008, she served as Associate Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Relations with Citizens and Immigration of the Quebec government, where she was in charge of the Secretariat for Women.

Marion R. Buller, is a First Nations jurist in British Columbia and current chancellor of the University of Victoria. Buller served as the Chief Commissioner for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls from 2016 to 2019.

Bernadette Smith is a Canadian First Nations politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in a by-election on June 13, 2017. She represents the electoral district of Point Douglas as a member of the Manitoba New Democratic Party. In November 2023, Smith was named to the BBC's 100 Women list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women</span> Public Inquiry in Canada 2016-2019

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was a Canadian public inquiry from 2016 to 2019 that studied the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis.

Serena Chelsea "Serenity" McKay was an Indigenous woman from Manitoba, Canada, whose murder was video recorded and posted on social media—being streamed on Facebook Live, in particular. McKay preferred to go by the name "Serenity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Loretta Saunders</span> Murder case that spanned the Canadian Maritimes.

Loretta Saunders was an Inuk woman who lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was a St. Mary's University criminology student writing an honors thesis on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada. Saunders was last seen on February 13, 2014. She was reported missing on February 17, and her body was found on February 26 near Salisbury, New Brunswick.

Jaime Black is of Anishinaabe and Finnish descent. This Canadian multidisciplinary artist-activist is focused on First Nations and Indigenous representation and identity. She identifies as Métis, an ethnic group native to the three Prairie Provinces as well as parts of Ontario, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories of Canada and the Northern United States, which traces descent to both Indigenous North Americans and Western European settlers. Black is best known for her art installation The REDress Project that she created as a response to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) crisis in Canada as well as the United States. A 2014 report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found that more than 1,000 Indigenous women were murdered over the span of 30 years from 1980 to 2012. However, some Indigenous advocacy groups dispute these reports arguing that the number is much greater than the government has acknowledged.

Police brutality is an instance or pattern of excessive and unwarranted force used against an individual or group of people. The Indigenous peoples of Canada include, as designated by the Canadian government, Inuit, Metis, and First Nations individuals and are officially considered Aboriginal peoples. Indigenous Canadians have experienced strenuous relationships with police as a result of colonization and lasting tensions. Since the early 2000s, several instances of police brutality against Indigenous Canadians have prompted media attention.

On December 1, 2022, Jeremy Skibicki was charged for the murders of four Indigenous-Canadian women: Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and an unidentified woman referred to as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe. The murders are believed to have been committed between the months of March and May 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "2 Winnipeg females attacked by same suspects, police believe | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Sex assault survivor Rinelle Harper 'resilient' as tragedy strikes again". National Post. July 30, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Five months later, Rinelle Harper gives a voice to the missing and murdered". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Assault survivor Rinelle Harper: 'I was speaking for the missing and murdered'". CTVNews. September 17, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Garden Hill home of attacked teen Rinelle Harper burns down | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Rare bond: Amanda Lindhout, Omar Khadr and Rinelle Harper". Macleans.ca. November 5, 2015. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Rinelle Harper meets good Samaritan who helped her | The Star". thestar.com. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  8. 1 2 "Winnipeg police look for possible link between sex assault on Rinelle Harper and killing of Tina Fontaine". National Post. November 12, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 "Family of one of the accused in Rinelle Harper attack describe the day it happened". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  10. 1 2 "Winnipeg police arrest 2 men for attack on 16-year-old Rinelle Harper". Global News. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Winnipeg man apologizes for violent sex attacks as Crown seeks 20 years". Global News. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  12. ↑ Shulman, Michael (November 20, 2014). "Rinelle Harper reaches out to rescuer, thanks him for saving her life". CTVNews. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Winnipeg teen who survived brutal assault greeted with standing ovation | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  14. 1 2 "'Every day is a gift,' Rinelle Harper says in speech one year after brutal attack" . Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  15. 1 2 "After her home burnt down, school bans Rinelle Harper because she no longer lives on reserve". National Post. September 18, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  16. ↑ "We Day takes over Winnipeg's MTS Centre | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Review + Interview: Rabbit Ears by Maggie de Vries". Life Writings of a Reader. May 19, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.