Canadian government claims 90% of cases murdered and missing Aboriginal women are solved at UN
International Women's Day: Indigenous women still not equal in Canada
By Pamela Palmater, for CBC News Posted: Mar 07, 2015
Photos of missing and murdered indigenous women at the national round table in Ottawa February 27. (Karina Roman/CBC)
About The Author
Pamela Palmater
Dr. Pamela D. Palmater is a Mi'kmaw lawyer, associate professor and chair in Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University. Her book Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity focuses on the legal, political, and social implications of Indian status.
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CBC News will continue to investigate missing and murdered indigenous women and girls by exploring the stories of these women, their families and their communities.
On Friday another damning report was released that concluded Canada committed "grave violations" of the human rights of indigenous women and girls across the country. The report also recommended a national inquiry.
The CEDAW Inquiry report can be found here:
http://www.fafia-afai.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CEDAW_C_OP-8_CAN_1_7643_E.pdf
"Aboriginal women and girls are more likely to be victims of violence than men or non-aboriginal women, and they are more likely to die as a result," said Niklas Bruun and Barbara Bailey, members of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
"Yet, despite the seriousness of the situation, the Canadian State has not sufficiently implemented measures to ensure that cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women are effectively investigated and prosecuted."
At least 1,200 indigenous women and girls have gone murdered and missing in the past three decades. How did we come to this state of affairs in Canada?
How could the senseless and unfortunate murder of one soldier on Parliament attract Harper's empathy, compassion and conviction to prevent another senseless death, but 1,200 horrific murders and missing indigenous women and little girls do not rank "high on our radar"?
Unequal value ingrained in Canada's history
The unequal value placed on one man's life versus hundreds of indigenous women's lives require a closer examination of our history and how this sort of blatant racism came to be ingrained in every level of our government.
'Under the Indian Act, indigenous women were confined to reserves, stripped of their political and legal powers, and excluded from residing with their communities if they married out.'- Pamela Palmater
The acquisition of the lands and resources in Canada were not all acquired through peace-making in treaties. The dispossession of Indigenous Nations came about, in part, through the violent oppression of indigenous women. In 1749, scalping bounties were placed on the heads of Mi'kmaw men, women and children - and represented the first state-sanctioned cases of murdered and missing indigenous women.
Under the Indian Act, indigenous women were confined to reserves, stripped of their political and legal powers, and excluded from residing with their communities if they married out. Canada's policy to "sever her connection wholly with the reserve" was a way to ensure the "gradual assimilation" of Indians.
However, all of Canada's policies were not so gradual in their effect. During the 1900's, thousands of indigenous women and little girls were forcibly sterilized without their knowledge and consent. Ironically this was thanks in part to Nellie McClung and Emily Murphy of the "Famous Five" - who won their legal challenge in 1928 to have women declared "persons" under the law. McClung and Murphy publicly advocated racist ideologies related to cleansing the human race of "inferior" people - like indigenous peoples.
During the residential school era, thousands of indigenous girls were subjected to rape, torture and physical abuse in residential schools. These were not isolated or anomalous incidents, like in the case of one random serial rapist/killer, but represented the whole scale of violent, sexual and physical oppression of indigenous girls.
These little girls could not call out for help. If they tried to run away or tell the RCMP, the RCMP did not help them, but instead dragged them back to the residential schools.
Little has changed
Today, when Indigenous women and girls call the RCMP for help - the call often goes unanswered or little effort is exerted to search for the missing or investigate the murdered. The Robert Pickton inquiry highlighted these gross failures.
What's worse is that state actors, like judges and law enforcement, have themselves taken part in the violence. Former provincial court judge David Ramsay plead guilty to sexual and physical assault on indigenous girls as young as 12 years old.
RCMP Const. Kevin Theriault only lost seven days pay for arresting an intoxicated indigenous woman and taking her out of jail and back to his house to engage in relations with her all while his colleagues and supervisor goaded him on. The Human Rights Watch report which has documented many accounts of indigenous women who have been beaten and raped by RCMP officers seems to suggest these are not isolated incidents.
The kidnap and murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas and the failure of the RCMP to properly investigate the case, and the wrongful imprisonment of Donald Marshall Junior, led to justice inquiries which revealed the real problem in Canada:
- The long history of discriminatory Canadian laws and policies which disadvantage indigenous women and girls and make them vulnerable
- The overt and systemic racism against indigenous peoples in every level of Canada's justice system.
Canada has ignored more than 50 studies which have made more than 700 recommendations on how to address murdered and missing indigenous women and girls. The majority of Canadians, First Nations, provinces and territories and the United Nations have all called for a national inquiry and an emergency action plan.
This Sunday, March 8 is International Women's Day. The theme this year: "Empowering Women: Empowering Humanity." We collectively have an opportunity to make Canada a better place for all women and girls by letting the families of the murdered and missing have justice.
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Canada Commits 'Grave Violation' Of Rights Of Aboriginal Women And Girls: United Nations Committee On The Elimination Of Discrimination Against Women Releases Report On Inquiry
| Written by Native Women's Association of Canada |
| Saturday, 07 March 2015 15:25 |
|
In a report released March 6th, 2015, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) concludes that Canada's ongoing failure to address the extreme violence against Aboriginal women and girls constitutes a "grave violation" of their human rights. Dawn Harvard, Interim President of the Native Women's Association of Canada, says, "On the eve of International Women's Day, the CEDAW Committee condemns Canada for failing in its human rights commitments to Aboriginal women because it refuses to deal with the violence as 'a serious large?scale problem requiring a comprehensive, coordinated response'." After extensive examination of evidence, the CEDAW Committee concludes that Canada is violating Articles 2, 3, 5 and 14 of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. These articles require States parties to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women, to modify social practices that discriminate against women, and to take into account the special problems encountered by women living in rural and remote areas. The CEDAW Committee finds that there are ongoing police and justice system failures to respond adequately to the violence, dismissive responses to family members, lack of diligence in investigations, and lack of effective mechanisms for oversight of police practices and conduct, including the practices and conduct of the RCMP. The Committee also finds that Canada has failed to properly take into account the root causes of the violence. It states unequivocally that the realization of economic and social rights, including the right to adequate living conditions on and off reserve, is necessary to enable Aboriginal women to escape from violence. The United Nations CEDAW Committee oversees the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women by the 188 countries that have ratified it. Canada ratified in 1981. Residents of states that have ratified both the Convention and its Optional Protocol can make individual complaints when their rights have been infringed or can request an inquiry into systemic violations of human rights by their governments. The Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) and the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) made a request to the CEDAW Committee in 2011to inquire into the crisis of murders and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls. "The UN CEDAW Committee has considered voluminous and detailed evidence from Canada about the steps that it is taking, but it finds them insufficient, inadequate, and uncoordinated" ? says Sharon McIvor of the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action - "so insufficient that the failure amounts to a grave violation of rights." "Canada told the Committee that it is 'strongly opposed' to the development of a national action plan," says Shelagh Day of FAFIA. "But the Committee recommends that Canada establish a national public inquiry in order to develop an integrated national plan of action, and a coordinated mechanism for implementation and monitoring it. This is the step that is so clearly necessary now." "This is an extremely important report for Canada," says Dawn Harvard of NWAC. "Canada has been told, first by the Inter?American Commission on Human Rights, and now by the United Nations CEDAW Committee, that Canada'sfailures to act violate the human rights of Aboriginal women." The CEDAW Committee has issued a comprehensive set of recommendations dealing with policing, victim services, access to justice, stereotyping, prostitution and trafficking, social and economic conditions and the Indian Act. It calls on Canada to implement them as a whole. "What more does Canada need?" says Dawn Harvard of NWAC. "It is time to act now." The CEDAW Inquiry report can be found here: http://www.fafia-afai.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CEDAW_C_OP-8_CAN_1_7643_E.pdf Further information on the CEDAW Inquiry, including submissions to the Committee, can be found at: http://www.fafia-afai.org/en/solidarity-campaign/the-cedaw-inquiry/ ++++++++++++ |
UN committee report says Canada failed to protect aboriginal women
Saturday, 7 March 2015
The report is an embarrassment for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, which is expected to call an election for October. Harper has resisted calls to set up an inquiry, saying the situation should be viewed as crime, not a sociological problem.
Canada has committed a "grave violation" of aboriginal women's rights by failing to adequately investigate their numerous disappearances and murders, a United Nations committee said in a report on Friday. The UN's Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women said the Canadian police and justice system failed to effectively protect Aboriginal women and hold perpetrators to account. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said last year that 1,017 aboriginal women had been murdered between 1980 and 2012.
"Aboriginal women and girls are more likely to be victims of violence than men or non-aboriginal women, and they are more likely to die as a result," committee members Niklas Bruun and Barbara Bailey said in a statement. "Yet, despite the seriousness of the situation, the Canadian state has not sufficiently implemented measures to ensure that cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women are effectively investigated and prosecuted."
The report is an embarrassment for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, which is expected to call an election for October. Harper has resisted calls to set up an inquiry, saying the situation should be viewed as crime, not a sociological problem.
Bruun and Bailey visited Canada in 2013 to research allegations by non-governmental organizations. They concluded that Canada violated articles of the UN's convention for the elimination of discrimination against women, including their rights to equal protection, effective remedy and adequate living conditions. Canada's 1.4 million Aboriginals have higher levels of poverty and a lower life expectancy than other Canadians, and are more often victims of violent crime. The UN committee made 38 non-legally binding recommendations, including that the government call an independent inquiry into the missing and murdered cases.
A spokesman for Kellie Leitch, Canada's minister of status of women, could not be immediately reached. In Canada's official response to the committee, which the UN committee released, the government said it disagreed with the finding of grave violations of rights and the recommendation for an inquiry. Close to 90% of all cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women have been solved and investigations are ongoing, Canada said in its response, in which the government accepted 34 recommendations.