Missing and Murdered Indigenous women

NewsPolitics

The national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) officially starts today.

Less than two years ago, the killing of hundreds of indigenous women and girls wasn’t “really high on [the] radar” of Canada’s Prime Minister.

Yet here we are, with a new government chanting a very different tune, kicking off a national inquiry with a budget bigger than promised. But the long awaited hearings are not yet about to start, warned the Chairwoman Marion Buller. “I just hope the public expectation is somewhat qualified by the fact that tomorrow we’re starting at square one,” she told the CBC on Wednesday.

Here is a list of the most important things you should know before they actually start:

What exactly is the Inquiry About?

Indigenous women and girls disappear and get murdered at a much greater rate than any other group in Canada. It’s been like this for at least thirty years and it’s been happening across the entire country. Yes, it is a proven fact and no, it can’t be explained away by high criminality and poverty on reserves.

In 2014, a report published by the RCMP brought this alarming fact to the public’s attention. It documented 1017 homicides of indigenous women between 1980 and 2012. This is 4.5 times what has been recorded for the general population.

For the same period, the RCMP’s counted 164 unsolved disappearances of indigenous women. However, even this alarming number is probably a gross underestimation, considering the general distrust between police forces and native communities.

The accounts of police forces failing to follow criminal leads or to investigate suspicious deaths are countless. CBC investigated 34 cases filed as accidents or suicides, despite the families of victims being convinced otherwise. They found signs of foul play for many of them. A Globe & Mail investigation found that indigenous women were seven times more likely to be murdered by a serial killer than non-indigenous women.

The real number of murdered aboriginal women and girls between 1980 and 2012 could reach around 4000, according to the Native Women’s Association of Canada.

What will the Inquiry do?

The Commission’s mission is to investigate the systemic causes of the high rates of violence against indigenous women and girls and to make recommendations about how to remove them. They will look into underlying factors for the greater aggression and vulnerability of aboriginal women, such as economic, historical, institutional, sociological or cultural factors.

In order to do so, the commission will reach out to families, survivors and community members to hear their “experience and views, including recommendations” and require the testimonies of whoever they see fit. It might also set up regional committees formed of loved-ones and survivors to address specific local situations and issues.

It will review existing reports and research about the issue at hands and related matters.

The federal government will allocate two years and $53.86 million to the process. An interim report should be produced in Fall 2017 and a final one by the end of 2018.

What can the commission do?

The commission is supposed to act completely independently of the government. As per the National Inquiry Act, it has subpoena power, meaning it can legally oblige people to testify or hand over documents.

Provinces and territories have also agreed to let the Inquiry address matters that fall outside federal jurisdiction, like child welfare and policing.

However, the Inquiry cannot determine any civil or criminal responsibility nor lead to accusations. Furthermore, it was announced in early August that commissioners can’t force police to reopen cases, to the disappointment of many families who are still waiting for answers.

Who is on the commission?

The government appointed five indigenous commissioners to lead the inquiry. They are from different corners of Canada, but none are from Atlantic Canada. Four have careers in law, one is a key figure of aboriginal activism in Quebec who has also served as deputy minister of Quebec’s status of women.

The chief commissioner, Marion Buller, was the first indigenous female judge of BC’s provincial court. She has advanced law studies and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. She was a pioneer of numerous battles for aboriginal rights, including the formation of the First Nations Court of British Columbia in 2006. Thanks to her, First Nations’ members in BC can now choose to be judged by this court focused on rehabilitation and reconciliation with the community. She lives in Port Coquitlam (BC) but is still member of the Mistawasis band in Saskatchewan.

What to watch out for?

The terms of reference set for the Inquiry make it clear that the focus will be on prevention and solutions. Advocates and families of victims want that, of course. But they also want answers and accountability.

The negligence and mishandling of indigenous cases by the police is a key issue. However, the terms of reference do not make any specific mention of investigating police forces. Instead, they talk about “systemic causes” and “institutional policies and practices”.

Many worry that those broad terms will allow commissioners to stay clear of touchy subjects that might ruffle too many feathers, like direct criticism of police work.

Indeed, there is no shortage of systemic causes and Institutional policies contributing to the vulnerability of indigenous women. The Indian Act, centuries of under-funded health, education and justice services in indigenous communities, residential schools, reserves… pretty much everything that happened since 1492.

We don’t need the national inquiry to tell us that Canada has treated First Nations like shit and is still doing so in many aspects. We might need it to tell us why a certain case was closed or if the disappearance of a native child is treated with the seriousness it deserves.

The Minister of Indigenous affairs, Carolyn Bennett, said that the terms of reference are so broad only to give the maximum latitude and independence to the commissioners. Let’s hope they use this latitude to fully address the faults in the functioning of our courts and police work, and not to skirt over the less comfortable issues.

Another thing we should be looking for is who will really cooperate with the Inquiry. Who will demand to be heard, who will come willingly and above all, who –if anyone- will be subpoenaed into it.

Chief Commissioner Buller has expressed to CBC that she is “cautiously optimistic” about getting full cooperation from the police. Past evidence suggests that police forces are not very receptive to being investigated, but well, there’s a first for everything.

A recent statement by Commissioner Michèle Audette also signaled a possible development for Quebec.

Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, Ghislain Picard wanted Quebec to have its own inquiry on missing and murdered indigenous women. The Minister of Justice had refused, pleading that the emotional cost of testifying twice for families and victims was too high. However, Audette says that a provincial inquiry could coexist with the national one, if it had a clearly different mandate.

She said this to La Presse on August 31st, so we’ll have to see if anyone will push on the door she just opened. Maybe, optimistically, this will lead to a more transparent way of looking into the abuse of indigenous women by police forces in our part of the country. Enquête’s uncovering of the behaviour of SQ agents in Val-d’Or certainly made it clear that the issue needs to be addressed, and the police-investigating-police method we’re currently using is not good enough.

* Featured image via WikiMedia Commons

News

Last Saturday on October 4, over a thousand people gathered under the rain to commemorate the missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada. Gathering at Place Émilie-Gamelin, the demonstrators then marched on Sainte Catherine, and then on Saint Laurent, and then all the way to Parc des Amériques.

On the way, the demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Solidarité avec les femmes autochtones!”, “How many missing, until you start listening?”, “Break the silence, end the violence!”, and “Bring our sisters home!”

In case you really wanted to be there at the march, but weren’t able to make it, or if you are simply curious as to what happened on Saturday, below you will be able to find a gallery of pictures taken there.

Missing and Murdered IndigenouMissing and Murdered Indigenou

Click on the picture above to open the gallery. All photography is by Isabel Lee.

 

 

NewsPolitics

The annual March and Vigil for Missing and Murdered Native Women will take place at Place Émilie Gamelin, this Saturday, on October 4, between 6PM and 9PM.

Saturday’s event will be the ninth in a series of vigils, the first of which was organized by Bridget Tolley, an Indigenous woman whose mother was killed by Quebec police in 2001. Initially, the vigils were held in collaboration with Sisters in Spirit, an Indigenous research and policy initiative of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC). However, the initiative lost its federal funding in 2010, yet the vigils go on.

This year’s vigil is held by Missing Justice, Quebec Native Women and the Centre for Gender Advocacy; and will include speeches given by activists such as Bridget Tolley, Ellen Gabriel, Melissa Mollen Dupuis and more.

As to why this event is extremely important, here is what the organizers have to say about it on the event’s Facebook page:

MissingMurderedNativeWOmen“The purpose of this event is to honour the memories of missing and murdered women and girls, raise awareness about the systemic nature of the violence and the ways in which media, governments, the legal system, police forces, and the education system all facilitate this violence. We demand that the government support the actions of affected families and communities by fulfilling resounding demands for a public inquiry into these unchecked levels of violence. The RCMP reported earlier this year that more than 1000 aboriginal women were homicide victims between 1980 and 2012, and a further 164 were missing. Meanwhile, indigenous activists put the number of cases closer to 3000.”

The Conservative government has been turning a blind eye to all requests for holding an inquiry regarding the missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada. As of February of this year, NWAC has garnered more than 20 000 signatures, yet still Canada remains passive. If even having a simple inquiry is taking this long, just imagine how long would it take for the government to take any solid action to prevent more Indigenous women from becoming missing or murdered.

The least you can do is stand in solidarity with the friends and families of those whom we are remembering. Let them know that they do not have to stand alone.

 

NewsPolitics

This past week sounded the end of the political summer recess, but this week was not only the end of the summer vacations and the start of yet another parliamentary cycle, in fact this past week hasn’t been the start of a new parliamentary cycle, it’s the dawn of what might be one of the longest electoral hauls in recent history.

You know an electoral cycle has started when the Liberals hold their convention in deep blue Edmonton and that the Conservatives start rattling the cage of their social conservative base. This past week both the Conservatives and the NDP tried to define themselves as ideological alternatives to the big tent, supposedly pragmatic, centrist Liberal Party.

Normally when trying to mark a stark difference between themselves and the rest of the political spectrum, Conservatives use the holy scripture of economics. But in the past week the Conservatives have made less reference to their economical record, than to their socially conservative principals and values.

The Conservative government knows that in many ways their base—which is mainly made up of anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-everything that might differ from the 1950s model of society—is angry that they haven’t seen their champions stand up in the house and push forward their reactionary agenda.

But all hope is not lost for them. If this past week was an indication of anything it’s that the Conservative elites want to use the mantra of social conservatism to gain leverage over their rivals in the upcoming electoral cycle.

But die-hard social conservatives who want to see abortion and gay marriage “regulated”—aka gradually banned—here’s a news flash: the Conservatives aren’t the sole defenders of law and order, aren’t the champions of “traditional family values” and aren’t socially conservative anymore.

This week at the same time that Harper and his inner cycle were boasting about their ardent defense of traditional values, yet another aboriginal youth was violently murdered. Families and an entire community were ripped apart.

justice_for_families sisters in spirit Ottawa
Members of Families of Sisters in Spirit, a non-profit made up of family members of missing and murdered Aboriginal women (photo: ipsmo.wordpress.com)

It’s always a very tricky thing to try to retake a moral high ground when you have no footing on those grounds anymore. These Conservatives have, in many ways, actively assaulted “traditional family values” in economic terms, but also indirectly through their silence.

For Stephen Harper, the epidemic of violence targeting native women throughout Canada, which has claimed the lives of over 1200 women, isn’t something to be worried about, maybe because it touches a nerve. The Conservative inaction when it comes to this national tragedy is hideous because it sends the message that violence against native women and women in general is defacto decriminalized.

The cases of Hernandez and Sedinger-Ayala and many more further underline this frightful development. Because of an aberration of Canadian immigration law, mothers that are sponsored by their parent who have legal status in Canada are completely at their mercy; here too violence against women is defacto decriminalized. And the Conservatives who have intensified within the past few years their crackdown on “bogus refugees” use this loophole as a means towards an end on a regular basis thus breaking-up families and tearing communities apart.

So it seems that the Conservative crusade of “traditional families values” got stuck in a moment and can’t get out of it, that moment being the 1920s. Single-mother families are completely omitted by this current Conservative government and yet single mothers are the backbone of many Canadian families in this day and age. The Conservatives have put forward tax reforms: “income splitting” that favors their ideal of “family”—stay home mothers are okay, but single mothers that struggle most of the time with several jobs to get by are not.

The Conservatives seem to apply their social conservatism and their law and order agenda when it suits them. “You’re either with the pedophiles or you’re with us!” shouted our beloved Vic Toews from across the aisle… well either you defend all children, all families, all Canadians from discrimination and abuse or you don’t!

You can’t fly the flag of “family values” and yet in economic and social terms pursue policies that are the most detrimental to families of all walks of life. Maybe it’s because the Conservative definition of family is different from mine. Maybe their families live in Bedrock. One thing is certain: this Conservative government’s outlook on life is stuck in the Stone Age.

Sheila Sedinger Ayala
Sheila Sedinger Ayala facing deportation (image: Radio-Canada)

We need to break this silence; the greatest threat to our families and to our communities in this day and age is the violence that we perpetrate against our mothers and sisters, girlfriends, our partners, our native sisters, our transsexual, transgender sisters, our homosexual and queer sisters, all of our sisters.

No women, no one should have to endure violence silently.

We are all family.

A luta continua.

NewsPolitics

After years of demands for a national inquiry into the status of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has finally released the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.

The number – 1,186 women missing or murdered over the past thirty years – was made public last week by RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson. The reported cases of missing Indigenous women date back from 1952 onward, however a majority of the cases reported occurred from the1980s onward. The RCMP report found 1,017 Indigenous women were murdered from 1980 to 2012. 186 of the cases were of missing women.

These numbers are staggeringly higher than what was previously thought. The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) estimated in 2010 that there were over 500 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women across Canada, though also pointed to the fact that the number could be substantially higher.

NWAC was also behind the Sisters in Spirit (SIS) project that aimed to track the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women. However SIS lost federal funding in 2010, causing the research to end. Despite this, initiatives to investigate the number continued independently.

The numbers first came to light last week when Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network (APTN) released the tip, forcing the RCMP to announce that the numbers were in fact correct.

According to the RCMP report, Indigenous women only make up 4 per cent of the population in Canada, however they make up 16 per cent of murdered women, and 12 per cent of missing women.

Despite these numbers, the Conservative government is still opposing calls for a federal inquiry. The New Democratic Party (NDP) however have spoken out since the report has been released on the need for an inquiry, with leader Thomas Mulcair calling on Monday for the federal government to take action.

The current Conservative government has previously ignored all calls for a federal inquiry. Despite the fact that they ended funding for SIS with claims that it was time for “concrete steps,” none have appeared to actually have been taken. The numbers being released only shows how much a federal inquiry is needed to properly shed light on the issue – however it seems highly unlikely one will occur under this government.

James Anaya, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the welfare of Indigenous peoples, also called on May 12 for Canada to launch a ‘comprehensive national inquiry’ into the status of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

These numbers, while higher than previously thought, only reinforce how much of a culture of violence is tolerated against Indigenous women in Canada. While the RCMP are releasing these numbers, they should also be looking internally into how they themselves address cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, as so far they have proven to be just as complacent – at best – in properly addressing cases.

The numbers are part, according to the RCMP, of a larger National Operational Overview on Missing and Murdered Women to be released in the coming weeks.