Telling Indigenous Women’s Stories – Why the Coverage Needs to Go Further
"This isn’t another poor Indian story, is it?”
It’s been over 10 years, but I still remember the shock I felt hearing those words from my producer. It was 2005 and I worked at a national current affairs show, and had just pitched my first story on a missing Indigenous woman. A girl I knew from back home in Saskatchewan had disappeared. Her name was Amber Redman and she was 19. Amber was on a volleyball team that I coached when I was in university. I didn’t know her well, but I remember she was a shy, sweet girl.
If we want to reduce sexual assault and dating violence among teens, it’s crucial to discuss why most victims are women and girls without creating gender divisions. Teen healthy relationship programs offer young people of all genders a safe space to discuss stereotypes, gender inequality, and the roots of violence.
Enter 30. Newly separated from my common law boyfriend. Quit my job managing a yoga studio run by highly nurturing, supportive women. Joined a fitness company run by three men with athletic backgrounds. Relationship gone, steady paycheque disappeared, denested from my daily support system that I had called my family. Instability at its finest. As I entered this new territory, I was forced to not only find my voice within a new, male-dominated work environment, but also to tear down the old version of who I thought I was and rebuild from scratch. 
I wrote a 
