Part of the ASTU curriculum this semester is a book called Missing Sarah by Maggie De Vries which recounts the events of an adopted girl named Sarah from Vancouver who fell into the trap of drugs and prostitution and was murdered. This book raised many question for me especially because a large portion of this book focused on how Sarah was of a mixed race and didn’t felt like she fit in with her adoptive family. It also mentioned how many of the girls who fell into this trap of working the streets came from an aboriginal background. These girls didn’t fit into traditional community and felt as though this is the only place where they felt welcome.
As part of my research paper I wanted to explore why these girls (mostly of Aboriginal and First Nations descent) end up in the worst place possible in order to feel a sense of community and fitting in.
From this video, a large emphasis on being disconnected is placed as the reasoning for these conditions. A lot of the time, this goes back to Aboriginal children being taken away from their homes and placed into residential schools. Children and families were separated, left living in poverty and feeling disconnected from their roots. This started the cycle of working in the streets to get money, which eventually lead to drug abuse, which leads to a cycle continuing throughout the generations.
There are many support groups out there trying to get involved and reduce the number of Indigenous women that are out on the streets through outreach programs, and by providing them with clothing and food. This issue has gone on for enough time that many people should be aware of it and try to get involved and stop it. The wound runs deep, and although it will take time, I hope that Canada and its citizens are doing what they can to help.
Rawan,
I think you bring into question how race and social class plays a role in how individuals become involved in the the DTES. As we have briefly discussed in both our ASTU and Sociology course, we have learned that the large number of First Nations women are living in the DTES due to troubled childhood (which we noted that the Canadian Residential Schools had a huge impact). Because you are researching into how and why there was a prevalence of First Nations people in the DTES, it would be really interesting to find out why their stories weren’t told like Sarah de Vries… Perhaps it could be because Sarah came from a white middle to upper class family so social class played a role? Or maybe there is a cultural aspect, due to the weakened aboriginal community there was a lack of support to bring their stories into light. I would be very interested to see where your research goes and your thoughts! 🙂