Rinelle Harper
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Rinelle Harper | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1998 (age 27–28) |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Known for | Advocating for national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women |
Rinelle Harper (born 1998) is a Canadian woman from the Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba. In November 2014, after narrowly surviving a violent assault at the age of 16, Harper rose to prominence in national media as an advocate for victims of violence. She publicly called for a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, addressing the Assembly of First Nations and speaking at the first Canadian conference on missing and murdered indigenous women.
Rinelle Harper is a member of the Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba.[1] She has two siblings.[2] Harper's parents are Julie and Caesar Harper,[3] and her uncle was Elijah Harper, a provincial politician who became noted for his refusal to accept the constitutional changes of the 1990 Meech Lake Accord.[4]
As a teenager, Harper attended Southeast Collegiate, an indigenous Winnipeg high school owned and maintained by several First Nations communities.[1] She is fluent in both English and Oji-Cree.[3]
Assault in 2014
Assault
In 2014, on the night of Friday, November 7, 16-year-old Harper was in the South Broadway area of Winnipeg with friends. They were celebrating the completion of mid-term exams.[5][6] Around midnight, Harper became separated from her friends and was approached by two young men. The men beat and sexually assaulted Harper underneath a bridge before leaving her submerged in the near-freezing Assiniboine River.[6] After Harper pulled herself out of the river further upstream, she was attacked for a second time by the same two men, who struck her repeatedly with a weapon and left her for dead.[1]
The following morning at 7:00am,[1] Harper was discovered by two local construction workers, who called an ambulance and used their coats to keep her warm.[7] Harper initially had no pulse upon reaching the hospital[3] and was listed as being in critical condition, but survived and gradually recovered.[1][8]
Investigation and charges
Although it is common for sexual assault victims to remain unidentified by Canadian police and media, Harper's parents and the investigating authorities made the unusual decision to release Rinelle Harper's name to the public, with the objective of helping find new leads in the case quickly.[3][9] A subsequent police press conference stated that public response to the release of Harper's name had been "tremendous".[10]
Investigators examined the possibility that Harper's assault was related to the disappearance and murder of First Nations teenager Tina Fontaine, whose body had been discovered in a river only weeks before, but found no information suggesting the two crimes were linked.[10]
In mid-November 2014,[1] police announced that 20-year-old Justin Hudson of the Poplar River band[3] and a 17-year-old boy – unnamed in media reports, due to his status as a minor – had been identified as suspects in Harper's case, and were charged with attempted murder and aggravated sexual assault.[1] They were also charged with the assault of another woman in the community, which took place on the same night as the attack on Harper.[4] Both Hudson and the 17-year-old later pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated sexual assault.[11]
Aftermath
On November 20, 2014, Harper and her family met with Sean Vincent, one of the construction workers who had found Harper and helped get her to the hospital. The family expressed their thanks by giving Vincent a soapstone bear sculpture and a painting from the Garden Hill First Nation.[7][12]