Project description: There is a controversy surrounding the number of Indigenous women who have gone missing or been murderd since 1980, and we need research done to bring light to which figure is closest to the correct one.  The Native Women´s Association of Canada and the police use the number 521, whereas Walk4Justice organizers and others use a number anywhere between 1,500 to 3,000.   Missing Justice does not feel comfortable using either figure until more in-depth research is done into the numbers being used. It would also be important to gather whatever information there is about before 1980, as there is a great lack of data previous to that date.  This would not inform the numbers question so much as provide a background to the current situation.   The issue of non-status Native women, metis women and other unofficially Indigenous women is also of concern: are they counted and if so, how, and is the methodology used in counting them consistent?  If they are not consistent, can you explain in detail the inconsistencies?

Project description: This request comes out of an understanding that human trafficking is a troubling contemporary reality, and that a disturbing number of indigenous women living within Canada have disappeared in the past decades.  Is there is a tangible link between the disappearances of these beautiful young girls and the epidemic known as human trafficking?  What kind of research has been done  about human trafficking in Canada, and what are its links to the global sex trade?  If indigenous women are indeed being trafficked, do they stay within Canada?  Who benefits from this type of trade in humans, and why do the police refrain from doing their detective work around these disappearances?

Some of the questions which should be addressed in this research are:

Project Description: The student will perform First Nation placename mapping across Quebec in various regions on a Geographic Information System (GIS) software platform. This research will contribute to a mapping project flowing since 1994 from Eco-Montreal Tiohtiake Green Mapping and Tsi Tetsionitiotiakon Sustainability Rooted in Heritage. Placename mapping has been in process since 1999, with hundreds of students and Kanien'keh citizens. Placenames hold a key to understanding sustainable economy and ecology, the tens of thousands of years of heritage of each place in our region, and bring us understanding of the nature of this place and people.

Description of final product: Students will be working on teams under the direction of First Nations & organizing committees in regional networks across Quebec to research, compile & express heritage data given the local and national objectives of First Nation organizers. First Nations will determine the final use of the data collected. Ethical permissions must be achieved with local First Nation organizing committees. Kahnawake (across the Mercier bridge) has GIS to connect the Band Council with other community organizations having access.