Context of this guide
On February 26, 2014, Loretta Saunders, a 26-year-old criminology student at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was found dead along Route 2 of the Trans-Canadian Highway, west of Salisbury, New Brunswick. Public interest in her disappearance and subsequent murder trial might have tapered off if it was not for two ironic facts. She was Inuit and her thesis dealt with missing and murdered Native Canadian women. Though her murderers (her roommates) were swiftly captured and convicted, the fact that she shared the same fate that a number of the women she studied suffered fed into a heated discussion about the federal Canadian government's apathy toward Native women. In May, 2014 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed over 1000 cases of murdered Native women and girls and going back to the mid-1980s. This added more to criticism that the former Harper government suppressed higher statistics and stripped the report of recommendations. The election of Justin Trudeau as the current Prime Minister of Canada have not dampened opinions or outrage as public consciousness grows. #AmINext, a social media campaign about disappeared and murdered Native women, steadily trends in various Internet analytics that focuses on Canada. Native Canadian groups has made repeated calls for a national inquiry, along with Amnesty International, United Nations Human Rights Committee, and others.
How to use this Libguide
This guide is meant as a compendium on resources and material for students and researchers in understanding the commonalities, events and arguments related to murdered women similar to Loretta Saunders. This Libguide is not meant to be comprehensive. Although an effort has has been placed to access freely available material, some databases will require login information. Keywords have been provided to assist in your searches.
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