If I Go Missing

Brianna Jonnie, a 14-year-old Indigenous girl, ponders the question—why, when someone who looks like her goes missing, is the police and media response significantly slower and less comprehensive than if the missing person were white? Jonnie addresses this inequity through a letter to the Chief of the Winnipeg Police Service regarding recent missing persons cases. That letter, written in 2016, forms the basis of this poignant and stunningly illustrated graphic novel.

If I Go Missing consists of selected, impactful excerpts from the original letter that Jonnie wrote, paired with eye-catching illustrations by Neal Shannacappo. The text begins with a statement from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“Governments will ensure that Indigenous women and children are free from all forms of violence and discrimination”) which sets the tone for Jonnie’s letter that follows. At just 50 pages in length with a line or two of text on each page, this short graphic novel drives home a powerful message with its poetic prose. Jonnie begins her letter by introducing herself, her hobbies and interests, as well as the societal stereotypes of which she is not. She discusses some statistics that she is more likely to be part of because of her ethnicity and gender. She praises the police and media for their response to reports of a missing white teen boy, then questions why the response time and coverage is not the same for Indigenous girls, and she breaks down some of the messaging and negative stereotypes that are often spread in society about missing Indigenous girls. She closes with a powerful, moving message, telling the police what to do if she goes missing, driving the point home with the excerpt above.

If I Go Missing is Brianna Jonnie’s first book, written with her auntie Nahanni Shingoose, both members of Roseau River First Nation in Manitoba. As a young girl, Jonnie visited the REDress art installation in Winnipeg, representing the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in Canada, a visit which inspired her to get involved with the cause. She has since had the opportunity to question Prime Minister Trudeau at a town hall at the University of Winnipeg about the MMIWG Inquiry, meet the artist who created the REDress Project, and has had a documentary film made about her. She has been awarded the City of Winnipeg’s Youth Role Model Award for advocacy. Shingoose is an award-winning educator, author, and artist. She works for the National Film Board of Canada as a writer and filmmaker and is a published author of the young adult novel, Powwow Summer.

Artist Neal Shannacappo perfectly captures the tone and message of Jonnie’s letter. The artwork consists of single page illustrations as well as double-page spreads used to complement particularly impactful phrases. Shannacappo uses solely black, white, and shades of grey, matching the somber and serious tone of the text, with flashes of red to emphasize key ideas on each page, a nod to the REDress movement for MMIWG. Some of the fundamental words and phrases are also printed in red. The grayscale colour palette of the illustrations pairs well with the spare text so as to not overshadow or compete with the letter’s meaning. Shannacappo is a graphic novelist from Rolling River First Nation in Manitoba. He has published several graphic novels and anthologies of Indigenous stories.

Following the text, the book contains some additional information to enhance the reader’s understanding of the broader context of Jonnie’s letter as well as some website links for further research. This section includes information and statistics from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls website, some additional website links regarding the MMIWG inquiry, as well as the full text of Brianna Jonnie’s letter to the Chief of the Winnipeg Police Service.

If I Go Missing is a short, yet powerful text that brings light to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and breaks down stereotypes that affect their treatment in society. This book would be a great addition to a literature circle or introduction to a unit on Indigenous perspectives for any high school classroom or library.