Indigenous Women and Online Activism: Facebook and Twitter Uses to Counter Sexual Violence in the Wake of the Val-d'Or Police Scandal

The authors examine how social media contribute to the fight of Quebec's Indigenous women. After the Val-d'Or scandal, which hit officers of the Quebec Police with allegations of sexual assault against women from the Cree and Anichinabe nations, the researchers conducted an ethnographic observation of the Twitter and Facebook accounts of leading activists and associations of Indigenous women who used social media to denounce this police violence. The analysis, together with multiple interviews, shows that the variety of actions taken online provides an unprecedented visibility of their struggles and opportunity to promote their voices. These actions are proving to be effective means of decolonisation of the patriarchal social order and forging a "space for the cause of Indigenous women" online.