Publié par la sénatrice Lillian Eva Dyck le 30 avril 2009
Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women
Cet blogue est disponible dans la langue officielle dans laquelle il a été redigé.
This blog is available in the language in which it was written.
From colonial times and into the 21st century, widespread occurrences of violent and murderous acts directed against Aboriginal women have persisted and resulted in a Canadian society where systemic sexualized and racialized violence has become accepted as the norm.
As a result, I would like to take this opportunity to raise public awareness and call attention to the struggles of First Nation, Inuit and Métis women. Sadly, many aboriginal women live in a world of despair manifested by poverty, discrimination, ill-health, involvement in the sex trade, etc.
It is a sad reality that racist attitudes towards First Nation, Inuit and Métis women devalues and dehumanizes them to the extent that they become targets of sexualized violent acts. More than 500 aboriginal women and girls have gone missing or have been murdered across Canada in the last 30 years. About half of these aboriginal women were under the age of 25 years old. Through research work, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, confirmed that 1/3 of these women are still listed as missing, and 2/3 of these women have been murdered. In other words, 170 Aboriginal women are missing and about 340 have been murdered. The provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia have the highest numbers of missing or murdered Aboriginal women. This begs the question: What is being done to protect Aboriginal women and girls who are 5 times more likely than non-aboriginal women to die of violence though no fault of their own?
In March 2009, the province of Saskatchewan reported there were 29 files of missing women and 17, or nearly 60 percent of these are Aboriginal women. Yet only 15 percent of the provincial population currently is Aboriginal. These numbers clearly demonstrate that being Aboriginal puts a woman at 4 times the greater risk of being abducted and maliciously murdered.
How can we open the eyes, ears and hearts of all levels of governments and authorities to our pleas for action to prevent violence against women? When the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women is talked about, people don’t want to hear about it or many don’t even want to think about it, let alone confront it. It is too heartbreaking to hear.
It seems appropriate to end this with a quotation by Ms. Gwenda Yuzicappi, whose precious daughter Amber Redman went missing in 2005 and her remains found in 2008.
“There is a general agreement that governments don’t care. There is no one government that addresses this matter as a priority. There are individuals who have worked tirelessly on bringing this matter to the attention of governments and the public. There is expertise within our families and communities. At the Walk4Justice rally on Parliament Hill, on September 15, 2008, a petition was left with a representative from the Government of Canada. He promised that there would be follow-up on this petition however, this has not yet been done to date. As the First Nation Families, we trust that the Government of Canada will listen to our voices, as family members who have experienced the loss of a loved one which resulted in murder. One missing sister is too many. We need our leadership to stand strong and support the families who experienced this trauma.”
Amber Redman