Disappeared indigenous women in Canada

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
REDress: Artistic installation, based on Jaime Black, distributed throughout Canada from 2015, here Seaforth Peace Park, Vancouver , on the occasion of the National Day for Vigils for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

There are significant numbers of disappeared or murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada . When the Justin Trudeau government took office in November 2015, the issue of Disappeared Indigenous Women became a priority among the country's domestic political tasks. The previous government had already commissioned an investigation by the national police RCMP , the results of which were published in 2014. According to this, 1,017 autochthonous women were murdered between 1980 and 2012, another 164 disappeared without a trace. The numbers for 2013/2014 only are 32 dead and 11 disappeared. Those skilled in the art refer to these numbers as the tip of an iceberg ; Even today's politicians assume that the numbers are too low.

Government action and response

After taking office, Trudeau initiated hearings, in particular with representatives of the First Nations , victim families and with women's organizations. As a result, a comprehensive investigation into the problem was decided in May 2016. At the beginning of August 2016, a committee of inquiry was set up, its tasks were defined, the five representatives (commissioners) were appointed and funds were made available. Secretary Carolyn Bennett is in charge of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in the Cabinet . The constitution of the committee met with positive media coverage, it seemed as if the country had been waiting urgently for such an impetus. Canada, which is one of the outstanding speakers of global human rights , had therefore ignored for decades for reasons of racism, sexism and a colonialism that continues to this day.

The Representation of Indigenous Women of Canada ( Association des femmes autochtones du Canada, AFAC - Native Women's Association of Canada NWAC ) welcomed the initiative of the Trudeau cabinet and assured their support. The association had campaigned for this cause since 2005. At a press conference on August 3, 2016, accompanied by representatives of other human rights and indigenous organizations, including Amnesty International Canada and Kairos: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, President Dawn Lavell-Harvard identified ten key issues that the commission should investigate. She named four problem areas that have not yet been addressed, including processes that fall under the sovereignty of the provinces, over which the federal government has little influence. In their opinion, the relationship with the judicial bodies that have previously made decisions in such cases also still needs to be defined.

The commission of inquiry

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIW) - Enquête nationale sur les femmes et les filles autochtones disparues et assassinées should work nationwide from September 2016 to the end of 2018. It was independent of the government, not subject to any instructions, was allowed to interrogate witnesses, gather evidence and operate its own public relations work. It expressly has no judicial functions. However, this is controversial, as many victims' families would like previous decisions on disappearances to be revised. They fear that legally questionable behavior by the police and other authorities in certain cases will never be cleared up under the current guidelines.

The Commission carried out its task independently of other authorities; Nevertheless, it was justified in the matter that it was necessary to work with police, social, youth and judicial authorities in particular in order to determine the failures of the past and the reasons for them and to better align their work with the needs of the victims' families. The government of the province of Quebec had already ordered in August 2016 that the provincial authorities were obliged to provide information to the commission; it was expected that other provinces will follow.

It is controversial whether there should also be additional investigations on the provincial level. In the most affected province of Quebec, the government has so far rejected this and has met resistance from indigenous groups.

The Commission expanded its mandate in 2017; In addition to missing women and girls, the fate of disappeared LGBT people is now also being examined.

Problems

One of the main tasks will be to find the surviving dependents of the victims, to hold talks with them and to collect their experiences. The victims 'associations and individual victims' families were therefore fully involved in the preparation of the committee until August 2016. A telephone line that has been constantly switched since then should enable relatives to express their sadness and other intense feelings, e.g. B. to express anger at agencies that have so far been in vain with advertisements. At the same time as the establishment of the committee, the government is expressly warning against the risk of relatives being re-traumatized . The preparatory work of a truth and reconciliation commission on this topic from the first half of 2016 will be included; During this time, there had been 18 meetings nationwide with 2,000 victims' relatives. The mandate also refers to UN resolutions on the situation of women and to corresponding statements by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights .

Equipment and results

Marion Buller, previously a judge at the Provincial Court in British Columbia , from the Mistawasis tribe was in charge of the five-person commission . The final report was published in 2019.

The budget of the investigative commission was endowed with 53.86 million dollars until the end of 2018 . The federal government provided an additional $ 16.17 million for four years for direct mourning and remembrance work with the victims' families, independently of the work of the commission.

Until recently, 2,380 families or survivors, other experts or contemporary witnesses had reported to the commission. There have been 15 public hearings of victims across the country.

The result was presented on June 3, 2019 and presented to Prime Minister Trudeau. It can be read online in both national languages ​​on 1200 pages. The report calls for urgent institutional changes at all levels of government, particularly in the judiciary, to improve the situation. 25% of all murders of women in Canada are committed against indigenous people. There is a separate report for the province of Quebec and others for special issues.

See also

  • Helen Betty Osborne , a typical victim, especially in view of the failure of the police and the judiciary

literature

  • Pamela Palmater : Canada: "As Long as the Grass Grows and Rivers Flow." In A Bold Vision: Women Leaders Imagining Canada's Future. Ed. A Bold Vision Steering Committee. Foreword by Roberta Bondar . Women's Network, Charlottetown 2014
    • Pamela Palmater: Genocide, Indian Policy and the Legislated Elimination of Indians in Canada. Aboriginal Policy Studies 3: 3, 2014, pp. 27–54 (against the indigenous policies of the Harper government). Ed. University of Alberta , Faculty of native studies. on-line
  • Emmanuelle Walter: Stolen Sisters. The Story of Two Missing Girls, Their Families, and How Canada Has Failed Indigenous Women. Translated from the French Susan Ouriou, Christelle Morelli. HarperCollins Canada, Toronto 2015 ( Soeurs volées. Enquête sur un féminicide au Canada. Lux, Montreal 2014)
  • Allison Hargreaves: Violence Against Indigenous Women. Literature, Activism, Resistance. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2017
  • Kerstin Knopf: The "Stolen Sisters", info box, in: Ursula Lehmkuhl Ed .: Country Report Canada . Federal Agency for Civic Education BpB, Bonn 2018, p. 225f. (in German)
  • Kim Anderson, Maria Campbell , Christi Belcourt Eds .: Keetsahnak: Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters. University of Alberta Press, 2018 (27 authors)

Movie

Web links

notes

  1. ↑ For some years now in Canada, especially in French-speaking countries, this has been the correct word for the peoples previously referred to as "indigenous".
  2. ↑ All information according to the website of the Canadian government, see web links.
  3. ^ Marion Buller, BC First Nations judge, to lead MMIW inquiry , August 3, 2016, CBC
  4. ↑ campaign No more stolen sisters with lots of information . Amnesty lists on this site all 20 supporters of the campaign for a commission of inquiry: 18 institutions and 2 scholars, Pamela Palmater, Ryerson University and constitutional lawyer Kent Roach, University of Toronto website
  5. ↑ Le gouvernement du Canada lance officiellement l'enquête nationale sur les femmes et les filles autochtones disparues et assassinées. AFAC press release of August 3, 2016
  6. ↑ The Globe and Mail, updated August 4, 2016: But some of the people who lobbied for a public inquiry are still concerned that the families of the victims are not being shown a direct route to justice, that the roles of police and other agencies will not be investigated adequately and there is not enough support to deal with the trauma that will result.
  7. ↑ Femmes autochtones - pouvoirs chord. Le Devoir , August 18, 2016. The website has a detailed list of links on the subject of "Autochthonous Women of Canada". Right edge, blue box "mots clés": Femmes autochtones
  8. ↑ Le Devoir, August 19, 2016
  9. ↑ Site of the Commission. Optionally also readable in English.
  10. ↑ CBC
  11. ↑ here in English, above right. Language change
  12. ↑ Below: Links to all special reports
  13. ↑ There are several web links on the topic of indigenous women on the Palmater site