Justice for Aboriginal Women

                                                                                                Tina Fontaine

Tomorrow the premiers of the provinces of Canada will begin their summer meeting in Charlottetown, PEI. I have the feeling that there will be a renewed call for a national inquiry on the disappearance and deaths of aboriginal women. The federal government dismissed the last, unanimous request of the premiers but the issue has not gone away. Recently the body of  15-year-old Tina Fontaine was pulled from the Red River and other aboriginal women have been killed as well.

According to the RCMP aboriginals constitute sixteen percent of the women murdered in Canada while only 4.3 % of Canadians are aboriginal and they have identified more than 1,100 missing women. Yet after Fontaine's death Prime Minister Harper responded to questions about an inquiry by saying that this death and others are crimes not a sociological phenomenon. He said this while visiting the North which has a high percentage of aboriginal persons, and without anything to back up this observation. It seemed like such a callous and unsubstantiated claim.

An inquiry would establish whether this is a systemic and sociological problem. But from what I have seen in recent years on several fronts, Mr. Harper feels that if he says something loudly enough and often enough it must be true. He likes the phrase "let me be perfectly clear" which seems to mean, "I have spoken, and that's sufficient." http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/08/24/for_stephen_harper_governing_means_never_asking_why_tim_harper.html

It's not good enough for me Mr. Harper. It's not good enough for a lot of Canadians. It's not good enough for the United Church of Canada. In June of 2013 the Executive Secretary of the United Church wrote the prime minister and here is part of what she said:

Clearly our justice and social systems are not offering adequate protection against violence for Indigenous women in this country. We take very seriously the deadly violence to which these women and girls have been subjected, and believe that Indigenous women and girls deserve to be safe, as do all Canadians. This tragedy must be addressed as a step towards returning to healthy and thriving Aboriginal families, communities and nations in Canada.

Let's hope and pray that the premiers do pressure the federal government to act. It makes so much sense, but I'm not holding my breath.

Thoughts?



                                                                               Loretta Saunders