OP-Ed Piece on the Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women in
Canada
By: Christine Smith (McFarlane)
As a First Nations woman, it incenses me to hear of the
ever-increasing number of so many Missing and Murdered Women. It also tears at
my heart when I wonder how many more Aboriginal/First Nations women are going
to go missing or be murdered before the Canadian government stands up, takes
notice and takes action.
The issue of the Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women in
Canada impacts all Aboriginal women and girls. It’s not something that you can
read about and forget. It stays in your mind, and infuriates you when you see
the government ignore the pleas from the public for help.
It is beyond sad that the number of missing and murdered
Aboriginal/First Nations women in Canada is disproportionately high. The Native
Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) research indicates that, “between 2000 and
2008, Aboriginal women and girls represented approximately 10% of all female
homicides in Canada. However, Aboriginal women make up only 3% of the female
population.”
NWAC also states “Most of the cases involve young women and
girls. Just over half of the cases (55%) involve women and girls under the age
of 31, with 17% of women and girls 18 years of age or younger. Only 8% of cases
involve women over 45.
In late 2013, the Commissioner of the RCMP initiated an RCMP
led study of reported incidents of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across
all police jurisdictions in Canada. The report is damning, in the sense that it
states there are
·
Police recorded incidents of Aboriginal
female homicides and unresolved missing Aboriginal females in this review total
1,181- 164 missing and 1,017 homicide victims and
·
There are 225 unsolved cases of either
missing or murdered Aboriginal females: 105 missing for more than 30 days as of
November 4, 2013, whose cause of disappearance was categorized at the time as
“unknown” or “foul play suspected” and 120 unsolved homicides between 1980 and
2012.”
Despite all this, the Conservative government has rejected
all calls for a national inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women,
with Prime Minister Stephen Harper saying “We should not view this as
sociological phenomenon. It is crime against innocent people and it needs to be
addressed as such.”
Well, I’m sorry to say this Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but
what is happening to my fellow Aboriginal/First Nations sisters are not just
crimes; but if you took your head out of the sand, you would see that it is a
sociological phenomenon also.
It’s a sociological phenomenon because it is ongoing and
happening too often. It is also an important reminder of Harper’s rightwing
ideology and what it’s all about. Harper's
recent claim that the disappearance and murder of hundreds of Aboriginal women
should not be viewed as a "sociological phenomenon" is an important
reminder of how he sees Aboriginal people (in this case women) as not that
important.
It is infuriating
that we have a Prime Minister who doesn't seem to care about finding a solution
to the issue of our missing and murdered sisters, and ignores the pleas of the
public to do something to stop this.
ENOUGH
IS ENOUGH!!!
Works Cited:
