Heather Latter
Charmaine Langlais, community wellness co-ordinator with the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO), first heard about the “Faceless Doll” project at the Annual General Assembly of the MNO in Thunder Bay this past August.
“And I just knew I had to bring this back to share with the schools here,” she explained on Monday after presenting the project to the students at St. Francis School.
The “Faceless Doll” project is a hands-on art project originally developed by the Native Women’s Association of Canada and has been adapted for the MNO to commemorate the lives of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.
Langlais told the Grades 4-8 students that the project reminds people of the beautiful lives that have been lost.
“[It] is a way that we can use our own creativity to remember women and girls who have gone missing or have been badly harmed,” she said.
“Each doll represents the story of a woman or girl who is loved and missed by her family,” added Langlais.
“The act of making the dolls helps us to remember how important every girl and woman is.”
Langlais explained that the Métis are a unique Aboriginal people with a distinct history, culture, language and territory.
“Today, Métis within Ontario are inspired by the values and traditions of their ancestors and a very distinct Métis way of life and culture still exist today,” she said.
Langlais noted the dolls they were going to make have no faces because it means that the doll isn’t one woman or girl, instead it represents every woman and girl who has ever gone missing or been harmed.
“When our women and girls go missing, it is like they suddenly become invisible to the rest of the world,” Langlais voiced, citing it is like they have no voice to be heard.
“We don’t know who all of these women are, but we do know that they are all important,” she added.
“When we put all of our Faceless Dolls together, we are giving back the voices to all of these women and girls so they will never be forgotten.”
Each student had the opportunity to make one doll, selecting the dolls’ clothing, hair, and accessories, and decorating the doll as the chose.
Teachers then assisted with gluing the felt pieces together and then they were each pinned to a large Hudson’s Bay blanket.
The dolls will be on display at the school, and possibly other schools in the area, and also be a part of the Candlelight Vigil on the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women to be held Dec. 6 at Knox United Church.
“The National Day of Remembrance on December 6th helps us remember that many Canadian girls and women are not safe in today’s world,” Langlais said. “Each day they face difficult situations such as violence in their homes, schools or community.
“By raising awareness about this serious problem and standing united, we are working to make things safer for the girls and women where you live,” she added, encouraging the students to remember all of the missing women and girls.
Langlais showed them a video of the life story of Maisy Odjick, who has been missing since September, 2008, from Maniwaki, QC.
“When we remember what has happened we will honour who we have lost and we will protect others who we care about,” she stressed.
“By learning to care about each other, we will start to behave in ways that protect our safety and create empathy in the community,” added Langlais.
Though a darker topic for the students, she hopes that they used their creativity to make a doll that was meaningful to them.
While they were not able to take the dolls home because they are part of the larger display, many decorated a paper doll that they could bring home.
“Every time you see your dolls, you will know that we all have the power to work together to make our world safe,” Langlais said.
