Sisters in Spirit 2011: Aboriginal Sex Worker Education Outreach Project
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0:05 - 0:11First up, my spirit name is Mnido Giizis Ogichidaa: A Moon Spirit Guardian.
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0:11 - 0:16And one of my fasts, I was given a message
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0:16 - 0:21that there's too many of our women's hearts on the ground.
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0:21 - 0:25and the death of a nation is when our women's hearts are on the ground.
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0:25 - 0:30And that shortly after that fast, I ended up speaking in the parliament of Canada,
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0:30 - 0:33debating the laws on sex work.
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0:33 - 0:38And I was in a room filled with politicians and lawyers
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0:38 - 0:41and everybody with fancy pieces of paper,
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0:41 - 0:43and I was there with my eagle feather.
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0:43 - 0:45And I was talking about
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0:45 - 0:48how 500 women to us,
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0:48 - 0:53is equivalent to 25,000 women in any other community.
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0:53 - 0:57If another community lost 25,000 women,
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0:57 - 1:00I'm sure people would be up in arms.
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1:00 - 1:01They would be organizing.
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1:01 - 1:05They would not sit down and live in silence.
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1:05 - 1:10Um, at Maggie's, our project is the first of its kind in our country.
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1:10 - 1:14And this is years after the Stolen Sisters report.
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1:14 - 1:18I want to acknowledge that 60% of the women found on the pig farm
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1:18 - 1:20were First Nations women.
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1:20 - 1:25That their families had to lobby the police to investigate their crimes.
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1:25 - 1:27Sex workers are mothers,
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1:27 - 1:28they're fathers,
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1:28 - 1:29they're brothers and sisters,
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1:29 - 1:30they're Two Spirit,
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1:31 - 1:33they have other things,
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1:33 - 1:35other than being a sex worker.
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1:35 - 1:38Sex work is their job.
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1:38 - 1:40It's not OK to kill a sex worker.
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1:40 - 1:44It's not OK to kill an Aboriginal woman
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1:44 - 1:46or Two spirited person.
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1:46 - 1:49Um, this is a drum we made at Maggie's,
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1:49 - 1:51it's the first time we did drum-making at Maggie's.
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1:51 - 1:53What we're trying to do with the project
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1:53 - 1:56is we're trying to open the circle
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1:56 - 1:58so that we can include people in our community
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1:58 - 2:01that don't feel part of our community;
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2:01 - 2:05so that we can take them out of isolation and include them in our circle.
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2:05 - 2:08So we're doing that by including them in the sex work community,
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2:08 - 2:11but also reaching out to community organizations
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2:11 - 2:15so that they can participate in community organizing,
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2:15 - 2:21and be OK with saying "Hi, I'm a sex worker".
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2:21 - 2:23Um, shame lives in silence.
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2:23 - 2:25That's been my experience.
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2:25 - 2:27If you wanna get rid of shame,
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2:27 - 2:28we have to start talking.
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2:28 - 2:30You know?
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2:30 - 2:33And it's, this is the remnants possibly of colonialism,
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2:33 - 2:34where we don't talk about sex,
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2:34 - 2:36let alone sex for money.
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2:36 - 2:41So I'm gonna end my speak by acknowledging the spirits that have gone on,
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2:41 - 2:45our mothers, the mothers, the daughters, the aunties.
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2:45 - 2:48That it wasn't because they were a sex worker
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2:48 - 2:50that they deserved to die.
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2:50 - 2:52They did not deserve to die.
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2:52 - 2:54They needed to be honoured,
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2:54 - 2:55they needed to be cherished,
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2:55 - 2:57they needed to be included in the circle.
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2:57 - 3:00So I'm going to sing a song,
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3:00 - 3:02the Seven Grandfather Teaching Song
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3:02 - 3:07on the drum that was made in our sex worker organization,
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3:07 - 3:09for the people who couldn't come here today
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3:09 - 3:13and speak to you about their stories and say "hi, I'm a sex worker".
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3:13 - 3:17And I'm hoping that it can, we can meet people where they are
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3:17 - 3:23instead of waiting til they're healed enough to be in a sweatlodge, or community circles,
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3:23 - 3:27and then maybe we won't have so many vigils.
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3:29 - 3:34[Song begins]
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3:56 - 4:01[others join singing]
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5:22 - 5:25[song ends with cheers]
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5:29 - 5:31Oh, thank you so much for that gift, Maurganne, that was beautiful.
- Title:
- Sisters in Spirit 2011: Aboriginal Sex Worker Education Outreach Project
- Description:
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Maurganne Mooney of the Aboriginal Sex Workers Outreach and Education Project (ASWEOP) of Maggie's: Toronto Sex Workers Action project, speaking at the 2011 Sisters in Spirit Vigil, organized by the Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto.
Standing beside her is Monica Forrester, co-coordinator of ASWEOP.
Thank you the Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto for inviting Maggie's to participate.
Maggie's: The Toronto Sex Workers Action Project is an organization run for and by local sex workers. Our mission is to assist sex workers in our efforts to live and work with safety and dignity. We are founded on the belief that in order to improve our circumstances, sex workers must control our own lives and destinies.
find us at Maggiestoronto.ca and facebook.com/maggiestoronto
- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 05:37
Radical Access Mapping Project edited English subtitles for Sisters in Spirit 2011: Aboriginal Sex Worker Education Outreach Project | ||
Radical Access Mapping Project edited English subtitles for Sisters in Spirit 2011: Aboriginal Sex Worker Education Outreach Project | ||
maggiestoronto added a translation |