This acclaimed concert series raises awareness for the missing. Bands choose to announce during part or parts of their concerts a person or people who have gone missing in the areas where they are performing or raise awareness of the large numbers of missing people, particularly women in Canada.
This event will draw attention to several hundred missing people, many of whom will be profiled by artists participating in concerts throughout the United States and other countries. This global community effort is supported by the families of the missing and non profits, including The Elizabeth Smart Foundation, The Surviving Parents Coalition, M.A.T.H. – Mothers Against Human Trafficking, Tommy Foundation, In Hope, Project Jason, Team Hope, The Nevada Child Seekers, the Morgan Nick Foundation, Missing Charls Kj Jorvath-Allan, and member of Canadian parliament Joy Smith.
In Canada, the band Conscience has led the way by signing on to be a Squeaky Wheel Tour member and dedicating their video, Under Promise, Over Deliver, to the cause of missing people. Canadian icons Mae Moore and Bif Naked, celebrated Cellist Kiki Mizumi and Vice Girls and Ben Sures quickly followed in Conscience’ footsteps. Member of Parliament Joy Smith, an outspoken advocate for addressing Canada’s role in the trafficking of humans is a tour spokesperson along with actresses Leah Pinsent and Tantoo Cardinal, who speak about Canada’s deplorable record in investigating and curbing the high numbers of missing aboriginal women.
Jannel Rap (Singer/songwriter and founder of Squeaky Wheel Tour®) has intimate knowledge of the missing. Her sister, musician Gina Bos, disappeared on October 17, 2000. Jannel's heartache over the unknown status of her sister became a fight to gain attention for all missing and an avenue to bring hope to their families. 800,000 missing person's reports are made every year in the United States and tens of thousands in Canada. More than a hundred thousand of these cases go unsolved. The majority of families face the same dilemma that Jannel encountered when Gina went missing: when their loved ones simply vanish with no lurid or dramatic story, they garner no media attention. Rap felt that she had to do something to change this and she brought the concept of the Squeaky Wheel Tour® to life and started GINA, a non profit group that collects the names of missing individuals in the United States and worldwide and offers support to family and loved ones of the missing.
Currently, a team of Canadians working alongside Rap aim to bring Squeaky Wheel® to Canada. The lead member of that team is Glendene Grant, whose daughter Jessie went missing five years ago at the hands of human traffickers.
To date, over 1,000 missing people profiled collectively through GINA have been FOUND. Canada, in particular, has a large number of missing aboriginal women. Many of these women's cases go largely uninvestigated. These women, sadly, are presumed dead, abducted off of highways, on their way from school and off their reserves. Canada is also a transit and source destination for women, girls and boys kidnapped or lured into sex and human trafficking rings. They are hidden away in apartments and basements, abused, tortured and then smuggled into the United States or other parts of the world.
Canada's most vulnerable citizens due to poverty, race, religion or sexual preference are at the greatest risk of exploitation and becoming a sad statistic that most of mainstream society…let alone the media… refuses to acknowledge. But they are not alone. Anyone could fall prey and just disappear. It is time Canadian musicians and artists of all sorts unite to bring awareness of Canada's underground of missing people and the estimated 300 million women and girls who have disappeared worldwide, according to the United Nations.
Please do your part. If you are a musician, pick a person to profile, or pick an issue like human trafficking, Canada's missing aboriginal women to raise awareness of … or do both. Then ask the audience to care by getting involved in the search for a missing person, lobbying MPs and provincial politicians to better protect the most vulnerable by establishing a national registry on missing people or simply just looking out for their neighbour.
On October 7, 2011, three women won the Nobel Peace Prize for taking a nonviolent stance. Do the same. Demand a better world where our most vulnerable have a voice, are cared for and are safe.
Please contact Glendene Grant: glendene@shaw.ca
Georgelaine Milot: georgelaine@gmail.com
Jannel Rap: JannelRap@gmail.com
or Susan McClelland: susanmcclelland@bell.net
If you want to get involved in any way!
And please, encourage all your friends to join us on facebook!
