'Am I Next?' Campaign Aims To Push Harper On Missing, Murdered Aboriginal Women

Online activists pushing for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women have a simple question for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"Am I next?"

They're spreading their message by posting photos of themselves on social media with signs that ask that very question, according to Press Progress.

In honour of missing and murdered aboriginal women in canada! #AmINext pic.twitter.com/A6AB8zqXKx

— Beatrice Clowe (@MizzBClowe) September 6, 2014

The campaign was launched by Holly Jarrett, an Inuit woman based in Hamilton, Ont.

Jarrett is a cousin of Loretta Saunders, a 26-year-old Inuk woman who went missing on Feb. 13. Her body was found almost two weeks later on a highway median in New Brunswick.

"She had come through a lot of the same kind of struggles that a lot women affected by colonialism and residential school stuff," Jarrett told PressProgress.

"We wanted to move it forward for her. She was really passionate about telling her story, to stand up and tell the brutal truth."

This is a msg spread by Julianna Piwas on fb. The message needs to be known here too. Am I Next? #MMIW #inquiry pic.twitter.com/U60lI7rpQ0

— beezus (@behdahbuhnlogan) September 6, 2014

Saunders' friend Julianna Piwas told CBC News that she is encouraged to see the campaign generating so much attention.

"I just hope every single aboriginal woman does the challenge in honour of Loretta Saunders," she said.

Harper has said that the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women should be tackled through police investigations, not a public inquiry.

"We should not view this as sociological phenomenon. We should view it as crime. It is crime against innocent people, and it needs to be addressed as such," he said.

Check out more photos from the campaign below:

Am I next? Justice for the missing aboriginal women across Canada pic.twitter.com/tGUik3S340

— Francine Piwas (@Xox17F) September 6, 2014

Please help with the cause my people are dying just share http://t.co/qso4Cwx1Ai pic.twitter.com/67D3SFHYNK

— KiingShlong (@Miss_EvaRayne) September 6, 2014

#AmINext #MMIW #MMIG#Inquiry #now pic.twitter.com/n718Q8kKJB

— Dawn Marie (@Cree8Dawn) September 6, 2014

#MMIW #FORLORETTA #AIN #StephenHarper Am I Next? What is it going to take for you to start a royal commission? pic.twitter.com/1QhyZH8oQK

— Femalus Dramaticus (@lab_mommy) September 6, 2014

In Solidarity Indigenous women ask #AmINext? 2 raise awareness about missing & murdered #MMIW http://t.co/8H8pxO4ult pic.twitter.com/6NJSNw6KdP

— Shannon M Houle (@smhoule) September 6, 2014

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