Missing Aboriginal Women Enquiry?

[Michael Hardner]

Not as serious as it appears? The disproportionality here is appalling. That there is no plans to address rightfully upsets a great many people.

I didn't say it, so argue with the poster who did.

[Smallc]

Not as serious as it appears? The disproportionality here is appalling. That there is no plans to address rightfully upsets a great many people.

How do you address these issues? Aboriginal leadership has no interest in a solution (witness the scene in Ottawa this week), and many of these disappearances have to do with serious personal issues that are are quite impossible for government to solve within the current framework. The system governing aboriginal people is the real problem, but no leader making huge money off of the current system has any interest in changing that.

[cybercoma]

How do you address these issues? Aboriginal leadership has no interest in a solution (witness the scene in Ottawa this week), and many of these disappearances have to do with serious personal issues that are are quite impossible for government to solve within the current framework. The system governing aboriginal people is the real problem, but no leader making huge money off of the current system has any interest in changing that.

We call a national inquiry and get input from all of these parties, define the scope of the problem, and come up with recommendations for addressing it. I'm not able to make recommendations because I haven't studied the situation thoroughly. I haven't heard expert testimony. I haven't heard from all of the stakeholders. That's why the UN and people here are calling for a national inquiry into the problem. But like everything else, the Conservatives are not interested in informed decision making. They will continue to govern by ideology.

[Smallc]

As has been pointed out, we already know the problems. Money should be spent on real solutions, not inquiry.

[TimG]

We call a national inquiry and get input from all of these parties, define the scope of the problem, and come up with recommendations for addressing it.

What is required is a change of culture in native communities and since suggesting such changes is not politically correct there is no way a public inquiry would recommend them.

IOW - the idea that a public inquiry would lead to an honest examination of the evidence is a delusion. The only purpose it serves is to facilitate political grandstanding and provide an additional revenue source for people working in the native grievance industry.

[segnosaur]

So, you're saying we have a group that is concerned with a problem that may not be as serious as it appears

Not as serious as it appears? The disproportionality here is appalling. That there is no plans to address rightfully upsets a great many people.

There are 2 issues here...

First of all, part of the claim seems to be "aboriginal women are going missing/dead and the police aren't doing anything". But, as one of the other posters pointed out, that probably isn't the case... police seem to be solving the cases at roughly the same rate as non-aboriginals. So any investigation into that aspect would be investigating nothing. (i.e. it appears to be a non-issue.)

The other issue is that aboriginal women are victims of abuse more often than non-aboriginals. Now, admittedly this is a problem.... however, as I stated before, we pretty much know the problems (poverty, lack of opportunities, etc.) and the solutions (more women's shelters, better education for aboriginal communities to give women more opportunity, etc.) Any inquiry into those problems will just result in certain parties saying "Give us more cash!", not very useful in the grand scheme of things.

[Melanie_]

It's one thing to suggest a change in culture in Aboriginal communities, but we have to recognize the limitations the government of Canada imposes on making those changes. We have a system that created and continues to necessitate dependency, and a mainstream population that scorns Aboriginals for living in that system. Then, when Aboriginal women go missing or are murdered, the government and the mainstream population avoid taking responsibility for the social conditions that cause so much dysfunction in the first place.

[Smallc]

The only people standing in the way of that system's change is aboriginals themselves. They want to be separate because they love in a rose coloured history on one side, and a substance fuelled hell on the other.

[cybercoma]

IF they would have just abandoned their cultures in the residential schools like they were supposed to, none of this would be happening. That's sarcasm for those keeping count. The sad thing is that there's actually people who think that way.

[Smallc]

No one thinks they should abandon their culture. They should abandon their separate existence, as it's the number one thing holding them back now. It's a sort of self imposed racism.

[cybercoma]

No one thinks they should abandon their culture. They should abandon their separate existence, as it's the number one thing holding them back now. It's a sort of self imposed racism.

Self-imposed racism. Very nice. Let's just ignore their history, the treaties, and the fact that it was the federal government that pushed them out onto the reserve and defined their "status" through racist legislation.

It's the First Nations and aboriginal peoples' faults.

[TimG]

It's one thing to suggest a change in culture in Aboriginal communities, but we have to recognize the limitations the government of Canada imposes on making those changes.

Nope. The Canadian government has been more than willing to reform the system for over 40 years (Chretien first proposed getting rid of the Indian Act in the 70s). The trouble is the native leaders prefer the paternalistic Indian Act over nothing. This means the blame for the continued federal interference in native life rests almost entirely with native leadership.

Then, when Aboriginal women go missing or are murdered, the government and the mainstream population avoid taking responsibility for the social conditions that cause so much dysfunction in the first place.

The only people responsible for those social conditions are the people living in the community. Edited May 15, 2014 by TimG

[Smallc]

Self-imposed racism. Very nice. Let's just ignore their history, the treaties, and the fact that it was the federal government that pushed them out onto the reserve and defined their "status" through racist legislation.

It's the First Nations and aboriginal peoples' faults.

The situation as it stands was not created by aboriginal people. The situation, as it stands, is perpetuated by aboriginal people, and especially they grossly overpaid leadership.

[Melanie_]

Tim and smallc, those are simple responses to complex issues. You can't dismiss hundreds of years of colonization and say, "well, we don't do that anymore so they should have recovered already". We (as in the government of Canada) dismantled their culture, their families, their communities, their languages... we can't put them there and then judge them for the resulting dysfunction.

[Smallc]

We still do the same things as we did...that's the problem. The solution isn't all that complex really, even if the details would be.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Smallc

[TimG]

We (as in the government of Canada) dismantled their culture, their families, their communities, their languages... we can't put them there and then judge them for the resulting dysfunction.

Anyone who finds themselves in a cycle of self destruction has to make a decision to break the cycle. It really makes no difference who contributed to the cycle of self destruction in the first place because the responsibility for the breaking the cycle still rests entirely with the person involved.

Now this does not mean the person does not deserve sympathy and support. It just points out that no one other than the person involved can do anything to fix the problem. The same is true for communities.

Edited May 15, 2014 by TimG

[Argus]

Tim and smallc, those are simple responses to complex issues. You can't dismiss hundreds of years of colonization and say, "well, we don't do that anymore so they should have recovered already". We (as in the government of Canada) dismantled their culture, their families, their communities, their languages... we can't put them there and then judge them for the resulting dysfunction.

No, you're correct. But as I posted earlier, they are never going to improve things while remaining on isolated reserves which have no ecnoomic purpose for existing. Natives, like everyone else, want jobs and a chance to improve their lives. They aren't going to find that on isolated reserves.

[Big Guy]

The RCMP report has been released. It can be found at;

http://www.scribd.com/doc/224561817/Missing-and-Murdered-Aboriginal-Women-A-National-Operational-Overview

I am not sure what a public enquiry would add to the information found here.

[Keepitsimple]

The RCMP report has been released. It can be found at;

http://www.scribd.com/doc/224561817/Missing-and-Murdered-Aboriginal-Women-A-National-Operational-Overview

I am not sure what a public enquiry would add to the information found here.

Neither am I - it's comprehensive and easy to read.....I just read it front to back and would highly recommend it to those who care about this issue.

[Smallc]

So the solve rate is the same....so this is a about personal situations

[cybercoma]

Yes. I misspoke earlier. This isn't a policing issue, but a social issue about the disproportionate amount of violence faced by aboriginal and first nations women.

[Smallc]

Many aboriginal leaders have called it a policing issue and used that as justification for the inquiry. I would hope that goes away now.

[WestCoastRunner]

If we break it down by province, B.C. had 36 unsolved aboriginal female homicides and 40 missing aboriginal women — more than any province in either category — followed by Alberta with 28 unsolved homicides and 19 missing women, and Manitoba with 20 unsolved homicides and 12 missing women.

I would dare say that in BC, it was a policing issue, especially when it came to investigating Robert PIcton's victims, who for the most part, were aboriginal and who the police tended to ignore. One, because they were prostitutes and two, because they were aboriginal.

[Smallc]

That's only an opinion though. The report has actual investigative evidence.

[jbg]

I would be in favour if a) it was extended to all women, and b ) it would actually accomplish something.

Is Teresa Spence one of them? Or did she go for a swim in Hudson Bay off the Attawapiskat reserve's beaches. Edited May 21, 2014 by jbg