Dozens of people march for Sisters in Spirit, a walk to honour Canada's missing and murdered indigenous women in Yellowknife last November. Advocates for indigenous women in the NWT are speaking out against a new RCMP report, released June 19, which concludes most indigenous women who are victims of violence are known to their attackers. - NNSL file photo |
New report on missing and murdered
indigenous women sparks new debate
Native Women's Association leaders say statistics don't get to root of problem and express need for government to combat social inequality
Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Monday, July 6, 2015
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The majority of female homicide victims in Canada meet their death at the hands of men known to them and this reality extends to the indigenous community, concludes an updated RCMP report on missing and murdered indigenous women.
The report, released June 19, recommends prevention efforts focus on curbing family violence in response to these statistics.
The document is intended to supplement the organization's missing and murdered indigenous women national operational overview, which RCMP released last spring.
Gail Cyr, executive director of the Native Women's Association of the NWT, said she takes issue with the RCMP's concluding statements for two main reasons.
Firstly, the term "known to them" is far too broad and all encompassing, said Cyr.
"It includes everybody ... It could be your physician, it could be your dentist, it could be the garbage guy, it could be the person who delivers mail."
Secondly, the RCMP is basing these assertions off incomplete data, added Cyr.
In the case of indigenous women, there are 106 unsolved homicide cases across police jurisdictions in Canada and 174 outstanding missing persons cases, the report reads.
The solve rate for 2013/2014 homicides involving indigenous women was 81 per cent.
"I can see this report saying that a lot of this violence against aboriginal women is family violence but they don't know, they don't have all of the statistics. There's a whole bunch of people who have never been found," said Cyr.
"They cannot say conclusively that a majority of these cases are family violence and it basically takes away any kind of attitudes that aboriginal women have had to deal with and put up with all their lives."
Indigenous women continue to be over-represented among cases of missing and murdered women in Canada. Of 1,750 missing females, 10 per cent are indigenous.
According to the report, in 2013/2014 32 aboriginal females were murdered and every single one of them knew their attacker.
The offender was a former spouse or family member in 73 per cent of those cases.
In homicides involving non-indigenous women, the victim knew her attacker in 93 per cent of cases and 77 per cent of the time the offender was a former spouse or a family member.
"The update revealed the unmistakable connection homicides have to family violence," the RCMP report reads.
"Prevention efforts must focus on stopping violence in family relationships to reduce homicides of women, and we are moving forward with many initiatives on this front."
Gerri Sharpe, who's been involved with Walking with our Sisters and the NWT Status of Women Council, said she believes the RCMP "whitewashed" its report.
"You can interpret statistics anyway you want," said Sharpe.
"They're trying to interpret it so they can focus where they want to put their energies."
Cyr agrees. The problem, she says, is that the government and other organizations set up systems, such as residential schools, that encourage Canadians to view indigenous people as lesser and that those attitudes have led to injury and damage.
"One of the things Canada has to face is yes, there is a racial issue in Canada," she said.
"They have a problem and it has to be dealt with and it doesn't get dealt with by blaming all aboriginal men for the violence that goes on against aboriginal women."
More work needs to be done to solve cases, families of missing persons need to be kept in the loop, and the Canadian database for missing persons needs to be updated in a timely matter and maintained, she said.
Also, she believes the RCMP needs to go further with its report on missing and murdered indigenous women because currently the data on homicides only goes back to 1980.
"To me that misses out on some very important schedules of time, the 1960s and 70s particularly where it was beginning to be noted that aboriginal women would go missing and later be found to have been murdered."
Since releasing the report, the RCMP, National Women's Association of Canada, and the Assembly of First Nations have partnered together to roll out a poster campaign focused on reducing family violence and encouraging timely and comprehensive reporting of missing persons.
In the fall, the RCMP also plans to release a public service announcement featuring NHL player Jordin Tootoo, who grew up in Nunavut.
"The video message is designed to raise awareness, particularly among aboriginal men and boys, about the issue of violence against women. Ultimately, efforts like these aim to stop the generational cycle of violence," reads the report.
