In Between the Missing and Murdered: The Need for Indigenous-Led Responses to Trafficking

Author: Olson-Pitawanakwat, Brianna & Baskin, Cyndy

Abstract: This article, written by two Indigenous female identifying social work practitioners, academics, and researchers with lived experience of violence, is based on a preliminary research project with survivors of trafficking and those who offer them support services. It includes the voices of women, two-spirit, and trans women who have been trafficked, tackle the issues of the current impacts of colonization and structural racism as the root of gender-based violence, and offer pathways forward at the grassroots and systemic levels. The authors also argue that research into gender-based violence toward Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit, and trans women be controlled and owned by Indigenous peoples and communities.

Keywords: genocide, gender-based violence, race and ethnicity, research categories, sexual trafficking, social work practice