Indigenous women in Canada experience rates of violence more than three times that of non-Indigenous women and young Indigenous women are five times more likely to die of violence. Moreover, recent research shows that more than 800 Indigenous women and girls have disappeared or been murdered in Canada over the past several decades. When Parliament debated my motion on February 14, 2013 to create a special Parliamentary committee to propose solutions for this urgent crisis, we all hoped that the scope and horror of the situation would allow its work to transcend partisan politics. While I knew the work of such a committee would in no way replace the need for a national public inquiry, I was confident the hearings would provide an opportunity for victims, their families and experts to educate Parliamentarians about the complexities of the issue. I hoped this one ‘special’ committee would be able to break through the partisanship of this Parliament and honourably report back to the House the testimony of the witnesses and their recommendations to put to an end this national tragedy. Although the unanimous vote in the House of Commons to create the Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women (the “Committee”) was an excellent beginning, the report it tabled last Friday was a complete betrayal of the memory of those we have lost, the grieving family and friends left behind and those Indigenous women and girls who continue to be victimized by violence.Get the Story:
Carolyn Bennett: Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women: Harper on Wrong Side of History (Indian Country Today 3/26)
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