Missing and Murdered Aboriginal
Women and Girls
Senator Lillian Eva Quan Dyck, PhD, Dlitt
CASHRA Conference, June 22-2015
Original Groundbreaking
Reports
Amnesty International, 2004, 2009
Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response
to Discrimination and Violence Against
Indigenous Women in Canada.
No More Stolen Sisters
NWAC, 2005-2010
What their Stories Told Us, Sisters in Spirit
Initiative
2
Calls for a National Inquiry into
MMAWG
NWAC, 2010
Federal Liberal & NDP 2010, 2013
(UN)CEDAW 2011
AFN 2012
Provincial, Territorial leaders 2013
UN special rappateur Anaya 2013
AI, CHRC, CASW, CPHA, CFUW 2014
Many other orgs. & prominent individuals
Harper Government Responses
Speech from the Throne, Oct 2013:
“Aboriginal women are disproportionately the victims of
violent crime. Our Government will renew its efforts to
address the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal
women.
Canadians also know that prostitution victimizes women
and threatens the safety of our communities. Our
Government will vigorously defend the constitutionality of
Canada's prostitution laws.
Finally, our Government recognizes the daily risks taken
by police officers and their service animals. It will bring
forward Quanto's law in honour of them.”
4
Missing, Murdered & nearly
Murdered
Loretta Saunders
Feb. 2014
Marlene Bird
June 2014
Tina Fontaine
August 2014
Rinelle Harper
November 2014
Not much national media attention until
the murder of Loretta Saunders and Tina
Fontaine
And the RCMP report in 2014
RCMP Report:
“Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: A
National Operational Overview,” May 2014
RCMP Report
Aboriginal women:
1,017 murdered
164 missing
3x more likely –Missing
4x more likely - Murdered
SK: 55% of murdered women
were Aboriginal.
Nationally: 16% of murdered
women were Aboriginal.
RCMP Report
Aboriginal female homicides as proportion of total female homicides increase
from 19980-2012; Aboriginal homicide rate 4x higher than non-aboriginal
The rate of non-Aboriginal female
homicides has dropped.
Why hasn’t it dropped for Aboriginal
females?
RCMP report focuses on homicides
The missing AW aren’t really discussed
though they are also the focus of
families and communities.
Government Responses to MMAWG
PM Stephen Harper, August 2014:
“I think we should not view this as sociological
phenomenon. We should view it as crime.”
Fed. Government Action
“Sept 2014: Action Plan to Address
Family Violence and Violent Crimes
Against Aboriginal Women and Girls.
Federal Action Plan
$25 million/5 years
●
●
●
●
$8.6 million/ 5 years for community safety
plans
$2.5/5years for projects aimed to breaking
intergenerational violence
$5 million/5 years for anti-violence programs
$7.5 million/5 years for victims services
Flaws in the Federal Action Plan
Assumes that most Aboriginal women and
girls are killed by Aboriginal men.
Assumes that family violence on reserves is
the main problem.
Really nothing new in it – despite 40 reports
that they cite.
It’s a family violence action plan
not a MMAWG action plan
The Cost of a National Inquiry
is no excuse for not initiating it
The fed government was willing to spend $26
million/~2.5 years on the Cohen Commission of
Inquiry on Sockeye Salmon.
The fed government was willing to spend $106
million/yr for 2012-2013 in court challenges against
FNs.
Money is there! $1 billion wasn’t even spent by
AANDC over the last 5 years.
See details in my Senate Inquiry speech, June 16-2015
Website: www.sen.parl.gc.ca/ldyck/
Increasing pressure for a National Inquiry
Angus Reid poll, October 2014:
Three quarters of Canadians are in favor of a
national inquiry!
18
Legal arguments supporting a Charter
Challenge released by Liberal senators
Nov 20-2014
CBC news
Global news
Legal Arguments for a Court Challenge for
MMAWGs, November, 2014
Based on violations of Charter of Rights & Freedoms:
Section 7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty
and security of the person and the right not to
be deprived thereof except in accordance with
the principles of fundamental justice.
Section 15. (1) Every individual is equal before
and under the law and has the right to the equal
protection and equal benefit of the law without
discrimination and, in particular, without
discrimination based on race, national or ethnic
origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or
physical disability.
Legal arguments for a Charter Challenge
posted on the CBC website
Government position still unchanged
PM Stephen Harper, Dec. 2014
“…it isn’t really high on our radar, to be
honest.”
AANDC Minister Valcourt, Dec. 2014:
“Obviously, there’s a lack of respect for
women and girls on reserve. If the guys, grew
up believing that women have no rights, that’s
how they’re treated.”
National Roundtable, Feb 27-2015
Provincial/Territorial and Aboriginal
Leadership held a National Roundtable
AANDC Minister Bernard Valcourt,
Status of Women Minister Kellie Leitch
represented the Fed. Government
National Roundtable:
two outcomes
1. Provincial/Territorial Premiers and
Ministers, Families of victims, Aboriginal
Leadership called for:
●
●
A National Inquiry; an awareness campaign
More roundtables
2. Ministers Leitch and Valcourt in separate
press conference – no change.
●
●
Still refused to call a National Inquiry;
Claimed their Action Plan is sufficient
Questionable Claim by Valcourt
“70% of murdered Aboriginal Women are killed
by Aboriginal men.” Minister Valcourt , March 20,
2015.
1st the RCMP said they don’t collect the data, then they
said they would release them in a new report,
then Commissioner Paulson confirmed the claim, but
wouldn’t release the data.
The data supporting this claim has NOT be
made public by the RCMP and whatever data
they currently have is not reliable.
25
Star Phoenix Front page
with misleading information
What is your reaction to the
news?
Do you believe the claims?
What do they mean?
What conclusions have you come to?
Let’s examine the numbers from which
the news article was derived.
The 2014 RCMP Report
While this number is correct, there are notable differences
in the type of relationship. Eg., spousal, acquaintance
And the racial identity of the offender has not been reported.
These are the actual data from the RCMP report
If you add the 1st four categories,
you get 92% and 93% for A and non-A
If you add the 1st four categories,
you get 92% and 93% for A and non-A
Thus, the claim that 90% knew their assailant is
correct,
But grouping the categories hides important
differences between A and non-A female victims.
Non-A females were most often m
urdered by their spouse .
41% vs 29%
2014 RCMP Report
“Aboriginal female victims were most
often murdered by an acquaintance
(30% compared to 19%).
Breaking this down further, Aboriginal
females were more likely to be
murdered by a casual acquaintance
(17% compared to 9%)
or by someone with whom they had a
criminal relationship (7% compared
to 3%).” – Page 12
Unconscious leaps of logic
When this 90% stat was reported in May
2014, some journalists thought that this
meant that the majority of Aboriginal
women are murdered by Aboriginal men.
And it seems that many others also
believe this.
It should be noted that
The racial identity of the acquaintances,
spouses, etc was not even reported.
We have mixed relationships.
Aboriginal females have family
members, spouses and acquaintances
who are non-Aboriginal.
And vice versa.
It is important to challenge the claim that
family violence is the main factor in the
murders of Aboriginal women, because
● the evidence is questionable
● the claim reinforces negative stereotypes
about Aboriginal people.
●
it minimizes the role of non-Aboriginal
offenders.
There’s been no media attention paid to
the higher level of spousal violence for
non-Aboriginal women.
No headline like “Non-Aboriginal women
murdered more often by spouse than
Aboriginal women!”
Amnesty International, 2014
“At the same time, it’s also clear that
characterizing the threats to Indigenous
women’s lives as exclusively about domestic
violence
- as some government spokespersons and
media commentators have done –
misrepresents the issues and
obscures crucial aspects of these threats.”
2014 RCMP Report
2014 RCMP Report
2014 RCMP Report
2014 RCMP Report
In other words,
The RCMP know that their data on racial
identity is subjective, open to
interpretation, not rigorous and
incomplete.
i.e., at best, their data on race are
indicative but certainly not reliable.
Yet they back Minister’s Valcourt claim
that Abor men are responsible for 70%
of the MMAWGS.
The RCMP Data conflict with the NWAC data
NWAC Report 2010: “What Their Stories Told Us”
● Only 7% of Aboriginal women go missing from a
reserve
● Only 13% are murdered on a reserve.
●
70% of aboriginal women and girls disappeared
from an urban area.
60% were murdered in an urban area.
●
3x more likely to be murdered by a stranger
●
23% of the murderers were non-Aboriginal, 36%
were Aboriginal and 41% were of unknown race.
●
Which report do you think is correct?
Doesn’t the discrepancies between the 2
reports
and
the peculiar interpretation by the RCMP
and low validity of their data call into Q
their conclusions about the race of the
perpetrators?
The conclusions of RCMP report are not
the ‘Gospel truth”.
They are questionable.
The Harper government position is not defensible.
The RCMP report notes clearly that its
data on race is ‘challenging’.
Their current data is unreliable.
They didn’t include on- versus off –
reserve comparisons.
Thus, the Harper government’s intensive
focus on Aboriginal male perpetrators on
reserves is not fair and is highly
questionable.
TRC final event, Ottawa June
12-14, 2015
Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair (Chair), Chief Wilton Littlechild, Dr. Marie Wilson
53
Truth & Reconciliation Commission,
May 31-June 3,2015, Report summary
Legacy of Colonialism and Residential
Schools
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●
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Both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children were
taught Aboriginal identity and culture were inferior
Disempowered Aboriginal women who previously
had significant and powerful roles
Created intergenerational family violence and
abuse
Truth & Reconciliation Commission
Recommendation #41
We call upon the federal government, in consultation with
Aboriginal organizations, to appoint a public inquiry into
the causes of, and remedies for, the disproportionate
victimization of Aboriginal women and girls. The inquiry’s
mandate would include:
• i. Investigation into missing and murdered Aboriginal
women and girls.
• ii. Links to the intergenerational legacy of residential
schools.
An independent commission of inquiry
into MMAWGs:
•
•
•
•
would not be unduly influenced by
preconceived ideas about Aboriginal
women and men
would recognize that the role of nonAboriginal men should also be examined
could get the unreleased RCMP data.
Would get at the root causes and
propose holistic solutions.
“Honourable senators, seven years ago, in June
2008, Prime Minister Harper apologized for the
imposition of the Indian residential schools and the
harms done to generations of people, and yet today
he still refuses to call a commission of inquiry into the
missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
Colleagues, that is just not right. It is just not right.
Something must be done.”
– Senator Lillian Dyck, Inquiry in the Senate into Missing
and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls,
June 16, 2015
Members of Iskwewuk E-wichiwitochik