Aboriginal women being murdered

[madchives]

are being murdered

4.3 % of the female population and 16% of the women killed
in canada are original

11.3% of the missing women in canada are original.

sounds like something canada should be looking into ---
but as usual pm is looking for money where/when he should
be helping people.

we have all seen a photo of tina fontaine,,,,
sighing, how do we let ourselves get/allow this

[Natalka]

Aboriginal.

I think for the most part the police/legal system needs to deal with it, for investigations, etc.
For example, with Tina, it's a homicide case which will be investigated.

As with many other of the girls and women who have been killed, or are missing, many of them have been involved in risky lifestyles, many of the younger ones are not living at home - not at all that any of this dismisses it - FAR from it, but how about that the responsibility should be with the family, with the reserve, with the aboriginal local community, to care properly for their children.

Government throwing more money at it doesn't solve anything. An inquiry would be so costly - that money could be much better used to continue to help fund aboriginal programs.

[FallenPixels]

I agree that the PM spending millions on an inquiry, look at the one we just had to tell us the gas plant cost more than the government admitted to, something we all knew but the inquiry cost millions

The money could be better spent staying in the police budget where it is needed to deal with cases like this. An inquiry will end up saying one thing - we (police, govt, social programs, bands, councils etc) can all do more to help find these women and protect them.

But, there also needs to be some help from the Aboriginal reserves themselves. My BF does work on one and I have been there when the cops come asking about a missing person (because as a contractor, he stands out and gets questioned) and everyone "don't know nothing bout nothing" - the lack of information leads to delays that cannot be helping the police too.

That being said, the PMs comments over it were stupid

[madchives]

i agree we should fund a lot of aboriginal needs, no water on reserves, no decent housing and so much more.
(not wanting to add how 'we' stole this land)

but the stats did make me wonder - if we don't seem to care, why should they?
and sadly apparently most of these murders were by other aboriginal people

[Lynn49]

are being murdered

4.3 % of the female population and 16% of the women killed
in canada are original

11.3% of the missing women in canada are original.

sounds like something canada should be looking into ---
but as usual pm is looking for money where/when he should
be helping people.

we have all seen a photo of tina fontaine,,,,
sighing, how do we let ourselves get/allow this

ANY woman, child or man who is murdered is a tragedy...but those statistics make me ask...what about the 95.7% of the white female population and the 84% of white women being killed? Where are the 88.7% of the missing white women? ALL murdered and missing women should be priorities in Canada, and to me, race has little to do with it. It seems to me that when an Aboriginal woman is missing, it's national news, and I'm pretty sure if it's a white woman, it's not as heavily covered by the news world. Where are the outcries when any woman is missing or murdered? EVERY woman is important...I really don't understand why this a racial issue.
I also suspect that many of the Aboriginal women are victims of their lifestyles and other Aboriginals, although I don't have the statistics. As far as secrecy goes, a friend, who is a detective, once mentioned how "closed" their communities get when anyone is being investigated...no one saw or knows anything and cooperation with the police is absolutely minimal.

Let's focus on everyone's daughters, mothers, sisters and not separate them based on race.
Just mho.

[Natalka]

Lynn, I agree - all crimes should be investigated equally, regardless of race. I think, for the most part, they are.

However, as FP and Lynn said, there often isn't a lot of co-operation. Just for example, in Regina, a five year old girl named Tamra Keepness 'disappeared' - BUT it was at a big house party at her home, and SOMEONE there knows what happened to her - yet 10 years have passed and nothing...

madchives - I know reserves vary widely in each of the provinces - but there are many reserves where money allocated just gets squandered.
Where I grew up and went to school, the city was surrounded by reserves and later I taught many adolescents and adults from reserves. Many, many times, new houses would be built for families, and within a year that house would have to be razed because it was trashed. Often their houses are sitting on acres and acres of land here on the prairies - none of it used for anything, not even a garden put in.
I worked with many clients from reserves, as well as off-reserve - and regardless of what their trials and tribulations were - honestly I felt they all went back to the root of there not being a solid family and community for support.

- I'll leave the 'stolen land' comment alone, doesn't belong with this topic.

[FallenPixels]

ANY woman, child or man who is murdered is a tragedy...but those statistics make me ask...what about the 95.7% of the white female population and the 84% of white women being killed?
Just mho.

I think that is probably what Harper meant, it just didn't come out of his mouth well

[Patty Smyth]

I highly doubt an inquiry would do any good. RCMP would need full access and they live in closed communities. Not sure about other provinces but here they have their own "police", let them do it.

[Lynn49]

I just get so confused....they don't want politicians and police interfering with their ways of life, they're not above taking handouts, but when their women and children disappear, it's all on the shoulders of those politicians and police.
Seems like picking and choosing whatever suits them....and of course it's never their fault.

Nat, there are a couple of homes near-by where we live and one of them is allocated to only native families. When the last family was kicked out, apparently the entire inside almost had to be gutted, it was uninhabitable in the condition they left it. And who's paying for the few weeks of labour and materials it took to make habitable? Even the back yard had to be repaired because of the two big dogs and the complete lack of care.

[FallenPixels]

I highly doubt an inquiry would do any good. RCMP would need full access and they live in closed communities. Not sure about other provinces but here they have their own "police", let them do it.

It is their police that are complaining to the govt as most go missing when they move off reserve (the problem being that many moved off reserve because of issues at home so the city police do just see them as runaways)

[SharonMe]

Loretta Saunders was doing her uninversity thesis on this subject when she herself went missing.
She was Inuit but was blonde and blue-eyed.
http://www.news.com.au/world/missing...-1226840941577

It's pretty complicated. Apparently many of the cases of missing Aboriginal women occur when they leave their rural communities and go to urban areas and lose their social supports.
I think their stories were silent for a long time and just now coming to light.

[abbasgirl]

^ The accused in her murder were renting her apartment. They were behind on rent and she went to collect and was talking about evicting them. Seems like something that could happen to anyone and not at all related to her race or what she was studying.

[SharonMe]

No, her murder was likely not related to race but perhaps the thesis she was studying brought the plight of Aboriginal women into focus. I don't think there was a lot of coverage about the missing women before. It's sad and ironic that what she was trying to do, bring awareness, happened with her death. Hopefully it won't be in vain.

I also don't think an inquiry is the answer. Each missing woman,man or child case should be investigated with the same intensity.

[Patty Smyth]

No, her murder was likely not related to race but perhaps the thesis she was studying brought the plight of Aboriginal women into focus. I don't think there was a lot of coverage about the missing women before. It's sad and ironic that what she was trying to do, bring awareness, happened with her death. Hopefully it won't be in vain.

I also don't think an inquiry is the answer. Each missing woman,man or child case should be investigated with the same intensity.

I guess it depends where you get your news but I have been hearing for years about the missing aborginal women.

However you don't hear much about all the Quebec women who are killed every year by their P.O.S. spouses or for that matter that most women are murdered by a spouse or relative.

[SharonMe]

However you don't hear much about all the Quebec women who are killed every year by their P.O.S. spouses or for that matter that most women are murdered by a spouse or relative.

Maybe because they are solved cases. Their spouse or relative did the crime.

This below is regarding the Picton murders.
Many of the women were Native.
“Do you recall suggesting to her that her mother’s race, being aboriginal, would affect the VPD’s willingness to look for her?” asked Neil Chantler, a lawyer representing the families of more than two dozen missing and murdered women, including Ms. Sebastian.
“I probably would have said that,” replied Mr. Bates.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle4097796/