The Conservative government opposes the use of the name Sisters in Spirit and any work on a groundbreaking database on murdered and missing Aboriginal women cases, and this is impacting any future funding the Native Women's Association of Canada expects to receive for new projects on the issue.
And the government has been slowly "smothering" the Sisters in Spirit project which is responsible for bringing to national attention the hundreds of "shocking" cases of murdered and missing Aboriginal women, say sources familiar with the file.
During discussions around a new Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) project on murdered and missing women, Status of Women Canada officials said the rules for the funding's source program prevented the use of government money for research and policy work. They have asked that funding proposals not include the name Sisters in Spirit or any plans to use the money for the database.
Nanci-Jean Waugh, spokeswoman for Status of Women, said they were still awaiting the proposal. She said she could not immediately answer questions on whether the department had imposed conditions on new funding.
Politically, it appears the Conservatives have now turned the page on Sisters in Spirit.
"That project was finished. Don't mix apples and oranges," said Conservative MP Shelly Glover, parliamentary secretary for Indian Affairs. "That project was finished, now we're working with them to pursue other projects."
Only last Friday, Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose singled out Sisters in Spirit during the government's long-awaited $10-million announcement on a national strategy to deal with murdered and missing women cases.
"The journey truly began with an initiative called Sisters in Spirit that was led by the Native Women's Association of Canada," said Ambrose, during the announcement in Vancouver. "The association has undertaken an incredible amount of research... and they have brought to light the shocking extent of these horrendous acts of violence."
The Oct. 29 announcement highlighted the creation of a new police support centre for missing persons, along with promised amendments to the Criminal Code to allow police to wiretap without warrants in emergencies and obtain multiple warrants on a single application. It also promised funding for community-based projects on violence against Aboriginal women and enhancing the cultural sensitivity of victim's services.
It was criticized by some front-line workers, victims' families, academics and opposition politicians over its lack of focus on Aboriginal women and its emphasis on giving more money and power to police.
The NWAC, however, publicly endorsed the strategy and the Conservatives have since invoked the 35-year-old organization's name as a shield against criticism of the announcement.
Yet, over several months, the government had been quietly squeezing Sisters in Spirit, which was created under NWAC's umbrella by the Liberal government in 2005. The Liberals committed $5 million over five years to the project.
The project was the catalyst that thrust the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women into the public consciousness. Its meticulous research into now nearly 600 cases broke new ground in a realm that had been previously ignored. Its national database became the first of its kind in Canada in its scope and detail.
Sisters in Spirit has received recognition from human rights organizations like Amnesty International. Police agencies and provincial governments have approached the project's staff to share information.
Sisters in Spirit was also approached by police in British Colombia and government officials to become involved in the recently announced inquiry into police work around serial killer Robert Pickton's case and a parallel process to culminate in a summit focusing on violence faced by Aboriginal women.
The "slow smothering" of Sisters in Spirit began last December, when former status of women minister Helena Guergis, after "fighting tooth and nail," failed to convince the rest of the Stephen Harper cabinet to renew funding for the project, putting the future of Sisters in Spirit in limbo.
The government committed $10 million over two years in its 2010 federal budget "to address the disturbingly high number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women."
The money, however, would not go to Sisters in Spirit. With its funding running out at the end of March, the Status of Women department stepped in to provide $500,000 to keep the project's work going.
Sisters in Spirit then released a report that confirmed 582 cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women up to March 31 and a second project was put into the works called "Sisters in Spirit, evidence to action."
Department officials eventually said new money had been found but it would come from an existing program that restricted funds from being used for research and policy work, sources say.
New money would be contingent on taking the name Sisters in Spirit out of the proposal. They also said that none of the money could be spent on the database.
Losing the name would be a serious blow to NWAC. Sisters in Spirit, intertwined with its Grandmother Moon logo, has grown to represent the memories and stories of the missing and the dead women.
Sisters in Spirit vigils are held every year to commemorate murdered and missing Aboriginal women and the Grandmother Moon logo is often prominently displayed at these national events.
If the database of the hundreds of murdered and missing women cases turns stagnant, it remains unclear what could take its place. Before the database came into being, it was up to individuals posting on scattered websites to keep the search for missing Aboriginal women going.
The recently announced national police support centre for missing persons and unidentified remains won't be up and running until at least 2013, according to the RCMP. The centre received $4 million of the $10 million set aside in the budget to deal with murdered and missing Aboriginal women.
The centre has also received an additional $6 million for a total of $10 million over five years, the RCMP said.
The centre will become the third branch of the Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, but it will not have a separate section dedicated for Aboriginal women.
The new centre will rely on missing persons reports filed with local police forces. It will provide linkages to other cases if they exist.
The Sisters in Spirit database includes some historical cases that were not accepted by police. It also includes cases where police have closed the book on a woman's death, despite lingering questions from family members.
After the release of its spring report, Sisters in Spirit has been in the process of analysing 20 new cases.
Jorge Barrera is a reporter with the APTN National News Ottawa bureau. The story was originally published on APTN's website.
WOMAN POWER
A life free from violence is a basic human right and yet, statistics prove that at least one out of every three women has been beaten, forced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime.
If I appear to be all over the map with this blog, it’s because this subject is ALL OVER THE MAP!
Violence against women and girls is a global, universal problem of pandemic proportions and according to the World Health Organization, up to 70% of female murder victims are killed by their male partners.
Even more staggering is the Canadian government statistic: young Indigenous women are five times more likely than other women of the same age to die as the result of violence.
In British Columbia, Highway 16 has been dubbed “The Highway of Tears” since the mid nineties, when a number of First Nation women disappeared from that area or were found murdered there- at least five of these women were under the age of 18. In 2002, Terri Brown of NWAC (Native Women’s Association of Canada) condution interviews and ascertained that some 31 missing women had fallen victim to The Highway. A film released in July 2009, a film entitled “Finding Dawn” counts the number as more than 60.
Inspired by the Stolen Sisters report (Amnesty International) in 2004 Canada’s Fahrenheit Films produced a one-hour television documentary entitled “Stolen Sisters” that followed one family’s search for a missing loved one and documented other stories of the missing. It first aired in October of 2007.
Five years ago, the Native Women's Association of Canada formed “Sisters In Spirit” a campaign to raise awareness about violence against aboriginal women- many who have suffered domestic abuse, homelessness and such poverty that they have turned to prostitution.
The list of missing and murdered women covers the country.
Laura Madison a criminologist researcher with Dark Horse Consulting in Kenora conducted extensive research into missing people across the country and uncovered discrepancies with how police deal with missing First Nations women. She has provided the Ontario Provincial Police North West Region with training sessions and provided them with handouts about policy, communication, legislative and social issues that require changes to better protect Aboriginal women.
“The fact that you can actually see a missing First Nation woman’s face in the newspapers just started about two years ago,” Madison was quoted as saying in January of 2009.
In February 2009, the UN Human Rights Council issued a report that specifically highlighted the treatment of aboriginal women in Canada as a human rights concern. Apparently, Saskatchewan is the only province to have developed a missing persons committee. Amnesty International, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and the Liberal Party of Canada have all called on the federal government to take more action on the alarming number of Aboriginal women and girls that have been murdered or gone missing in the past three decades.
As of March 2009-
There were 520 known cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada; a group that makes up less than 2% of the Canadian population.
347 of the 520, or 67 percent, were murdered. 126 (24 percent) are women and girls who remain missing;
150 of the 347 murder cases remain unsolved
The majority of cases occurred in Western provinces, with 137 incidents in B.C. alone.
Of the known cases that have been documented:
26% of the incidents occurred in British Columbia, 17% occurred in Alberta, 14% in Manitoba, and 12% in Saskatchewan. (Twenty-six of the B.C. cases are women whose remains were found at the notorious Picton pig farm.)
52% of the cases involve women and girls under the age of 30 years. Fourteen percent of the missing girls and young women were under 18 years of age at the time of their disappearance.
43% of the cases of missing women and girls have occurred during or since 2000.
55% of the cases of murder and 43% of disappearances occurred during or since 2000.
Some native leaders estimate the true number of missing to be closer to 3000.
It's hard to put this in perspective but if you compared the “500” death and disappearance rate to the corresponding number of citizens in this country- it would be equivalent to over 18,000 Canadian women and girls missing or murdered in the past thirty years.
& another horrible statistic: 86% of perpetrators of sexually violent crimes against Native people are non-Native.
On November 12, 1971, four white men abducted Helen Betty Osborne (aged 19) from the streets of The Pas. She was sexually assaulted and brutally murdered. A judge said later:
HELEN BETTY OSBORNE
... the men who abducted Osborne believed that young Aboriginal women were objects with no human value beyond sexual gratification ... Betty Osborne would be alive today had she not been an Aboriginal woman.
A 1991 Manitoba Justice Inquiry into the murder of Helen Betty Osborne concluded that racism and sexism intersect in dangerous stereotypes of Indigenous women as sexually “available” to men. The Inquiry said “Her attackers seemed to be operating on the assumption that Aboriginal women were promiscuous and open to enticement through alcohol or violence. It is evident that the men who abducted Osborne believed that young Aboriginal women were objects with no human value beyond sexual gratification.”
http://www.nwac.ca/2010-sisters-spirit-vigils****
Two of our girls are still missing for 2 yrs.now -info and pics at : http://www.findmaisyandshannon.com*****
What Their Stories Tell Us: Research Findings from the Sisters in Spirit initiative " Our report brings together five years of research related to missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. This report presents demographic and statistical evidence from NWAC’s Sisters In Spirit database, while situating the issue within the larger context of root causes and ways forward. It also draws on information gathered through the existing literature and highlights some of the stories and experiences shared by families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. NWAC reminds readers that each number presented here represents a woman or girl who is loved and missed by her family.
http://www.nwac.ca/sites/default/files/imce/2010_NWAC_SIS_Report_EN_Lite... ****
http://wiinimkiikaa.wordpress.com/police-murders-inquiries/
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/petition-sign.cgi?tsalagi1
We endorse the PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA ON THE INVESTIGATION OF UNSOLVED CASES OF MISSING/MURDERED FIRST NATIONS WOMEN Petition to CANADIAN GOVERNMENT (FEDERAL).
Read the PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA ON THE INVESTIGATION OF UNSOLVED CASES OF MISSING/MURDERED FIRST NATIONS WOMEN Petition
http://globalization.mcmaster.ca/6%20nations%20women%20UN.htm
North America Indigenous Women’s Caucus Intervention
Fifth Session of the Permanent Forum
May 16, 2006
The Native Women's Association of Canada took part in the Indigenous Women’s Caucus in New York. President Beverley Jacobs as well as Celeste McKay, and youth participant Carmella Alexis took part in the caucus representing the Native Women’s Association of Canada. The Caucus began deliberations May 11th, 2006. The final document was presented to the Indigenous Caucus May 14, 2006 by Linda Kayseas and the resolution was passed in support of the document by the Indigenous Caucus.
The following is a statement that was presented at the Permanent Forum May 17, 2006.
Thank you, Madame Chair and all members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, for providing the North America Regional Indigenous Women’s Caucus the opportunity to make this intervention to you today. We, the Indigenous Women of North America, who represent Indigenous Nations and organizations from throughout the region, acknowledge the First Peoples of this land and thank them for welcoming us onto their territories. And, we join all of our Indigenous sisters and brothers of the world in solidarity for our common struggles for peace, justice and sovereignty for our respective peoples. We thank our ancestors for the prayers and offerings they have given, of their blood, of their lives, which have assured our survival to share our words with you today, and we ask that these recommendations be accepted and put into immediate action as their impacts will echo forward to assure that our future generations not only survive, but that they flourish.
We know that we are all related and that what impacts one Indigenous person impacts all Indigenous peoples. We currently live in a world that has been drastically impacted by decisions made centuries ago such as the papal bulls issued by Vatican and the doctrine of discovery. We are continuing to reel from the theft of our lands, resources, identities, bodies and spirits. Despite the pain and suffering we also continue to express our prayers to live with one another in peace and in a good way, with respect for all life, especially for the life givers, the Indigenous women.
Recommendations:
1. We urge the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues advocate all UN Agencies and States to acknowledge and recognize the historical co-existence of Indigenous peoples on all social, political and economic levels throughout the Americas and the sovereignty of our distinct Nations.
2. We recommend that the Permanent Forum advocate to the Holy See to immediately rescind the Inter Caetera Papal bull of May 4, 1493 and the 1455 bull of Romanus pontifex and March 1493 royal charters of England, which have formed the basis of the rape of our Earth Mother and the continuing destruction of our cultures and traditional lifeways.
3. We ask that the Permanent Forum assess the human rights situation of all Indigenous Peoples, including those considered to be living in “developed countries” from all regions in its report, on the re-defining of the Millennium Development Goals, and provide a report to the 6th Session of the Forum.
4. We request that the Permanent Forum recommend to all relevant United Nations Agencies that provisions be made to ensure the inclusion of all voices of Indigenous women throughout the Americas in international forums relevant to our human rights, particularly in light of the traditional role of Indigenous women as leaders, decision makers, care takers and life givers. In this regard, we strongly request that a travel fund for the participation of Indigenous women from North America needs to be created for this purpose and Nation States and the United Nations agencies must be encouraged to meaningfully contribute to this Fund to make it a viable and continuing resource, to assure the full and effective participation of Indigenous women of North America.
5. We request the Permanent Forum to encourage States to establish multinational standards that respect, protect and fulfill Indigenous Peoples’ collective human rights in light of the impact of Canadian and United States based corporations in Central, South and North America and in the Caribbean that negatively impact, displace and usurp Indigenous Peoples, our Nations and lifeways.
6. We urge that the Permanent Forum call upon States to ensure the full and effective integration of Indigenous Peoples perspectives, including those of Indigenous women, in all international trade policies and development, such as NAFTA. Any development must be based on full consultation and free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples.
7. We recommend that the Permanent Forum review, monitor and report back on the violations of the right to health of Indigenous women and girls, particularly regarding the continued sterilization of Indigenous women without their full, free, prior and informed consent including those who are being used as medical test cases for contraceptive studies. In this regard, we urgently ask that the Forum assert and support Indigenous women’s right to self-determination over our own reproductive rights, including to advocate for full access to all sexual health education and health care services.
8. We strongly recommend that the Permanent Forum support the creation of a Commission of Indigenous leaders to serve as observers to situations of human rights violations, particularly regarding human rights abuses of Indigenous women and girls by Canada and the United States.
9. We firmly request that the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ---- Rudolfo Stavenhagen --- visit the Six Nations of the Grand River, under his authority as Special Rapporteur, and report his findings to the 6th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. We urgently recommend that the Permanent Forum assure that Indigenous Peoples must be at the table and fully recognized as sovereign Nations. In this regard, we ask that the Permanent Forum member whose portfolio contains human rights join in this effort.
10. We request that the Permanent Forum advocate to the appropriate UN agencies, including UNIFEM and UNICEF, and States to apply the CEDAW principles and take immediate action to review, monitor and provide a comprehensive report on violence against all Indigenous women and girls in North America, particularly sexual violence, and violence in the context of armed conflict. Indigenous women must be full participants in this process.
11. We recommend that the Permanent Forum advocate that the Convention Against All Forms of Genocide be applied to ensure that its principles are applied throughout North America as well as throughout the world.
12. We recommend that the Permanent Forum advocate for the full recognition and enforcement of all treaties entered into between States and Indigenous peoples.
We must be mindful of our thoughts and prayers. We must be mindful of our actions and behaviors to be aware that we live with what we create. We ask the members of the Permanent Forum to join us in creating a world where we can live together in peace, harmony and balance; a world where Indigenous women are respected and honored, a world where our human rights are not violated, a world where we are no longer being violated.
Thank you.
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3223#comment-21756
The report noted accounts from several experts about poverty, abuse and poor living conditions driving Aboriginal women into trafficking.
“Basically their handlers start them in Vancouver,” Chantal Tie, a lawyer with the National Association of Women and The Law, told the committee.
“They work for them there for awhile, then they’re sold to someone in Winnipeg and then to someone in Toronto, and so on down the line as they get moved around the country.”
The RCMP’s National Aboriginal Policing Service wanted to examine the issue further, the report noted, but lacked the funding and human resources to do so.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2008/09/29/6916776-sun.html
But those in the know suggest few are listening and little or nothing is being done to deal with the indiscriminate exploitation of this population.
Members of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women (IAAW) in Edmonton began to hear stories from Aboriginal women about how they got involved in sex work after publishing their 2006 Crime Against Aboriginal Women report, says Daniels, a former policy analyst for IAAW.
“There was so few of them who had consented. There were so few of them who got any support to even recognize that they had been domestically trafficked,” Daniels recalls.
Given the total lack of statistics gathered on domestic trafficking in this country, it is no wonder there is nothing to accurately illustrate exactly how many Aboriginal people are being trafficked. But this is what is known:
- More than 500 Aboriginal women have gone missing or been murdered in Canada over the last few decades.
- According to research conducted by gang expert Michael Chettleburgh, 90% of the teenaged, urban prostitutes in Canada are Aboriginal.
- About 75% of Aboriginal girls under 18 have been sexually abused, says Anupriya Sethi, who has researched the issue. Of those, half are under 14 and nearly a quarter are younger than seven.
“According to the Department of Justice and other witnesses, Aboriginal girls and women are at greater risk of becoming victims of trafficking within and outside Canada,” notes the February 2007 report on human trafficking from the Standing Committee on Status of Women.
The report noted accounts from several experts about poverty, abuse and poor living conditions driving Aboriginal women into trafficking.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2008/09/29/6916776-sun.html
National Clearinghouse on Family Violence
Emma D. LaRocque *
Permission is granted for noncommercial reproduction related to educational or clinical purposes.Please acknowledge the source.
ISBN 0-662-21483-8
Racism, Sexism,
Colonization and racism go hand in hand. Racism has provided justification for the subjugation of Aboriginal peoples. While all Aboriginal people are subjected to racism, women further suffer from sexism. Racism breeds hatred of Aboriginal peoples; sexism breeds hatred of women. For Aboriginal women, racism and sexism constitute a package experience. We cannot speak of sexual violence without at once addressing the effects of racism/sexism.
List of missing, murdered aboriginal women in Canada grows
http://www.missingjustice.ca/2010/04/list-of-missing-murdered-aboriginal...
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FULL REPORT AVAILABLE AT NWAC SITE, listed below
What Their Stories Tell Us: Research Findings from the Sisters in Spirit initiative
Our report brings together five years of research related to missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. This report presents demographic and statistical evidence from NWAC’s Sisters In Spirit database, while situating the issue within the larger context of root causes and ways forward. It also draws on information gathered through the existing literature and highlights some of the stories and experiences shared by families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. NWAC reminds readers that each number presented here represents a woman or girl who is loved and missed by her family.
http://www.nwac.ca/sites/default/files/imce/2010_NWAC_SIS_Report_EN_Lite.pdf
www.findmaisyandshannon.com ( two of our girls missing 26 months now)
The sorrow & quiet horror of each day for their parents..& the courage to face each minute upholding their responsibilites ...the bravery whilst twisting in pain..
I know both parents & remember each daughter..
I pray daily..so sorry -so so sorry.
http://www.amnesty.ca/wakeupcanada/