A Missing Indigenous Woman Was Mistaken as a White Woman
Loretta’s story: Exploring the impact of racial profiling on missing person cases
I have been researching missing and murdered indigenous women cases for several years. Currently, there is evidence of over one thousand cases of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada. Also, the rate of homicide for Aboriginal women is seven times higher than that of other women¹. I have noticed that caucasian women who go missing are featured more on the news. Their stories go viral on social media. However, what happens when an indigenous woman with blonde hair and light skin goes missing? Today, I am exploring the effect that this had on her case and subsequent media coverage after her ethnicity was publicly shared.
Loretta Saunders was from GooseBay, Newfoundland. She was a 26-year-old Aboriginal-Inuk woman and university student living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Loretta had great pride in her ancestry and indigenous culture. Loretta lived a quiet life and had a steady boyfriend. By all accounts, she excelled in school and had a strong voice for her people. She was actually writing her university honors thesis on the missing and murdered native women when one day, she mysteriously disappeared.
It was not like Loretta to go missing without any communication with her family. Especially her sister Delilah…
