Monday, May 20, 2024 1:00-2:30PM EDT / 10:00-11:30AM PDT / 11:00AM-12:30PM MDT / 6:00-7:30PM BST & CMT / 7:00-8:30PM CEST / 8:00-9:30PM EET & IDT
Today’s International Center for MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma webinar is held in recognition of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Persons (MMIW/P/2SLGBTQQIA+) Day observed across the United States and Canada on May 5th. Our presenters will discuss their own, their differing tribal communities’ and societies’ efforts to break the silence about this prevalent poignant trauma, raise awareness of it, acknowledge all the missing women, children, people, and their families’ pain and call for preventive action.
Speakers:
Melissa Skeet
Melissa Skeet aka Skeet Fighter is a Diné Ultra Trail Skater, survivor, motivational speaker who brings awareness to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. A domestic violence survivor, Melissa regained her strength through roller derby. In 2021, she skated across the Navajo Nation, completing 192 miles to raise awareness to MMIP. This year, Melissa will roller skate across the nation to bring awareness to MMIP while promoting health, wellness, and healing.
Melanie Morrison
Melanie Morrison is a wife and mother from the Mohawk territory of Kahnawake. Melanie has been an activist for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people since 2006, when her sister Tiffany Morrison went missing and whose remains were found in 2010 — a murder that remains unsolved to this day. Melanie’s years of advocacy work have earned her recognition, including the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award in 2017.
Yolanda Bydonie
Yolanda is from the Hopi Tribe and from the village of Tewa. A Nurse, she currently works with the Indian Health Services on the Hopi Reservation. She is the Vice Chair for the Community Board of Commissions. An advocate for her missing Sister Keisha Kootswatewa, Yolanda has been serving on the Survivors Advisory Board for the Arizona State University School of Criminology & Criminology Justice research for MMIP survivors.
Catherine Vanner
Catherine Vanner is a settler Canadian living with her partner and three children on the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, which includes the Ojibwa, the Odawa, and the Potawotami. She is an Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations at the University of Windsor, where she uses qualitative and participatory research methods to study the relationship between gender, education, and violence.
Moderator:
Dr. Yael Danieli
A Clinical psychologist, traumatologist, victimologist and psychohistorian, Dr. Danieli is Founder and Executive Director of the International Center for the study, prevention and treatment of MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma; Director, Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and their Children and Past-President, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
