Warrior Life Studios

Pam Palmater

Tag: murdered and missing Indigenous women

  • Transitional Justice Plan Urgently Needed to End Genocide in Canada

    Transitional Justice Plan Urgently Needed to End Genocide in Canada

    Pam Palmater, Shelagh Day and Sharon McIvor testifying before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, DC – fall 2019

    For decades, the families of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls and their communities; together with Indigenous women leaders and experts and allied human rights organizations, advocated for government action to end the crisis. Many families had called for a national inquiry, which was supported by various international human rights treaty bodies. After a tumultuous start and numerous set-backs, the National Inquiry concluded its work and released its final report at a ceremony on June 3, 2019, before hundreds of Indigenous family members, leaders and advocates. They found Canada guilty of both historic and ongoing genocide.

    Throughout the National Inquiry’s proceedings, Minister of Indigenous Affairs Carolyn Bennett committed that Canada would not sit idly by while the inquiry proceeded. They committed to take action to end the violence, which was well documented in numerous reports. Yet, they failed to act. Since the release of the final report, very little, if any substantive action has been taken by PM Trudeau’s Liberal government to end genocide against Indigenous women and girls in Canada.

    The abuse, exploitation, violence, disappearances and murders of Indigenous women and girls continues unabated and represents the largest human rights crisis ever facing Canada. The National Inquiry confronted this reality head on when it concluded that Canada is guilty of genocide that is both race-based and one that has specifically targeted Indigenous women. They found that:

    While the Canadian genocide targets all Indigenous peoples, Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people are particularly targeted.

    This finding was based on an independent legal analysis and the extensive evidence
    gathered during the inquiry. They further explained:

    Canada’s colonial history provides ample evidence of the existence of a genocidal policy – a manifest pattern of similar conduct which reflects an intention to destroy Indigenous peoples.

    What resulted from this finding was a media blitz of commentators engaging in debates as to whether the inquiry went too far; whether they were using the word to strategically to get attention; or whether anything other than the Holocaust could ever amount to genocide. Very few of those commentators had specifically worked in, were educated in, or conducted research on genocide; nor were most of them lawyers. Yet, these emotional or political reactions to the finding is what led the discussion versus the very pressing need for governments to take urgent action.

    Even the United Nations High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet expressed great concern and called on Canada to examine this finding. Similarly, Luis Almagro who heads the Organization of American States, expressed his concern that Canada was too slow to act on the national inquiry’s findings. Meanwhile, some commentators reacted by saying that the inquiry’s finding should be investigated. There is no utility in reinvestigating this finding. It is a legal finding based on fact and law. What was needed then and what is needed now is action to end the genocide.

    None of this should come as a shock to government officials, Indigenous leaders, scholars and activists have long been calling Canada’s historic and ongoing treatment of Indigenous peoples genocide. Some have also highlighted the fact that sexualized genocide towards Indigenous women and girls has been an integral part of Canada’s violent colonization of Indigenous lands. While not a specific focus of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) investigation into residential schools, their final report also concluded that Canada’s actions towards Indigenous peoples amounted to cultural, physical and biological genocide: “part of a coherent policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will.”

    The crime of genocide is a crime under international law that developed over time – even before the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted in 1948. A state need only be guilty of one of the five ways to commit genocide against a racial group like Indigenous peoples, which include:

    (1) killing;

    (2) physical/mental harm;

    (3) conditions of life to bring about
    destruction;

    (4) preventing births; and

    (5) the forced transfer of children.

    Canada is guilty of all five.

    The National inquiry, without excluding the possibility that individuals could be held liable for genocide in Canada, and duly noting that acts and omissions of provinces within Canada, draws a conclusion on the responsibility of Canada as a state for genocide under international law.

    The inquiry also found that pre- and post-colonial settler governments have created, maintained and reinforced an infrastructure of violence towards Indigenous women and girls. This infrastructure of violence is a complex set of institutional laws, policies, practices, actions and omissions that treat Indigenous women as lesser human beings, who are sexualized, racialized and treated as disposable because of their sex and their race. This infrastructure remains firmly in place today manifesting in high rates of violence towards Indigenous women and girls.

    This genocide has been empowered by colonial structures, evidenced notably by the Indian Act, the Sixties scoop, residential schools and breaches of human and Indigenous rights, leading directly to the current increased rates of violence death and suicide in Indigenous populations.

    The National Inquiry considered the following as examples of genocide:

    • Deaths of Indigenous women and girls in police custody;
    • Failure to protect them from exploitation and trafficking;
    • Failure to protect them from known killers;
    • Taking their children and placing in foster care at high rates;
    • Physical, mental and sexual abuse in state institutions (residential schools, hospitals, prisons, etc);
    • Denial of Indian status and band membership;
    • Forced and/or coerced sterilizations; and
    • Purposeful chronic underfunding of essential
    • human services like food, water, health, housing.

    These modern day examples discussed in the inquiry’s report would be in addition to
    earlier pre-meditated killings:

    • small pox blankets,
    • scalping bounties,
    • mass murders of some native groups, like the Beothuk; and
    • starvation policies and ethnic cleansing on the prairies.

    When considering the testimonies of thousands of families, Indigenous women leaders, and advocates, as well as subject-matter experts, together with extensive legal, historical and social science research; the inquiry could come to no other conclusion but genocide.

    Canada has displayed a continuous policy with shifting expressed motives but an ultimately steady intention, to destroy Indigenous peoples physically biologically and as social units.

    All governments and state agencies are still active perpetrators and perpetuators of genocidal violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Ending the genocide which is embedded in state institutions and society as a whole, will require immediate and urgent remedies that match the scope and character of these grave human rights violations – i.e. a comprehensive national action plan that is well-resourced and focusing on transitioning Canada out of genocide. That is no small feat. This will require external oversight but international human rights bodies or experts, with Indigenous women as core decision-makers.

    Organizations like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have access to experts in genocide – experts who have worked with other countries to transition out of genocide. It makes no sense to ask the perpetrator of genocide to be the one to design the plan and implement the plan to get out of genocide. Indigenous women and human rights experts must be the ones to lead this process, together with international genocide experts to design this plan. Canadian officials must then work directly with Indigenous women and their Indigenous governments to oversee a fully- resourced transitional justice plan that is national in scope, applies to all levels of government and related agencies, and focuses on:

    1. ending ongoing genocide;
    2. reparations for harms done; and
    3. the prevention of future genocide.

    This will require an Indigenous and human rights framework and gender-based analysis for all stages of the plan. While Canada promised the United Nations that it would come up with a national action plan by June 2020, few expect more than their standard action plan framework that tends to be overly general with no measurable outcomes. This is why several Indigenous women and human rights advocates attended the IACHR in the fall of 2019 to ask for international intervention and oversight. Canada’s response at the time was that they were too busy with the election. Then, they were too busy with holidays. June is several weeks away and in all likelihood, Indigenous women and girls will be left behind again.

    Genocide is the worst crime and human rights violation that can be committed against a people. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at Canada’s lack of action on the crisis. Pipelines get more money and attention than Indigenous women and girls.

    It’s truly time for more international intervention before thousands more lives are lost.

    Video of IACHR session

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkQ4G5iEnAI&list=PLDnK0xT7aXRAGR7DszneZTPkBn0YJHfxB&index=11&t=292s

    Here is my latest Youtube video talking about the need for a gendered covid-19 plan to take into account that Indigenous women and girls face not only the pandemic, but also ongoing genocide:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM6OBq1fo10
  • Justice system still not protecting Indigenous women and girls

    Justice system still not protecting Indigenous women and girls

    (Picture by Pam Palmater, Rally for Justice for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls in Winnipeg)

    This article was originally published in The Lawyer’s Daily on May, 28, 2019.

    “Her life mattered. She was valued. She was important. She was loved.”

     R. v. Barton [2019] S.C.J. No. 33.

    Cindy Gladue was an Indigenous woman originally from Alberta, where she grew up with her four siblings and extended family. She was also the mother to three daughters and her family described her as both a loving mother and caring auntie. She had close friends and always dreamed about being the first in her family to go to university. Cindy Gladue loved and was loved. She did not deserve her violent death in 2011 nor the indignity done to her body after. 

    She is now one of the many thousands of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in Canada — a growing crisis that represents grave human rights violations. The trial of the man who admittedly committed this act of violence against Cindy is an example of how defective Canada’s justice system is when it comes to Indigenous women victims and how negligent Canada has been in ensuring the basic human rights of Indigenous women and girls are met.

    In this column, there will be no details about Cindy’s appearance, what she wore the night she was killed, where she was killed, whether she knew her killer, her level of education, her health status, or what she did for a living — because none of the facts is relevant to her death. Cindy is not to blame for her death. Cindy did not kill herself. Cindy did not engage in a dangerous knife fight or try to kill someone.

    Regardless of which version of the story is accepted by the next trial judge — that she was killed by a male trucker who violently cut an 11-cm gash in her vagina, or that she died from a tear from his violent, but unarmed interaction with her — she still died as a result. According to the SCC quoting from evidence at trial, the trucker then tried to hide evidence, change the crime scene and lie about his involvement. His name doesn’t deserve to be said aloud, nor does he get to hide behind any of the racist or sexist excuses he used at trial to defend himself. None of the evidence referred to at trial or the SCC indicates that he should be believed. Cindy’s life story does not get to be narrated by the man who admits to committing this violence against her.

    Sexualized violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada has been allowed to continue in plain sight by government officials, police officers, lawyers and judges who have treated Indigenous women and girls as though they are less worthy of life. In fact, were it not for the lengthy and persistent advocacy of Indigenous women and their allies, Canadians would still be unaware of the crisis.

    However, awareness of the crisis only gets us so far. The court proceedings which followed Cindy’s death show just how deeply engrained racism and sexism against Indigenous women still is in Canadian society, especially the justice system. In R. v. Barton [2019] S.C.J. No. 33, Justice Michael Moldaver, writing for the majority, allowed the accused’s appeal in part and sent the matter back to trial, but only on the charge of the unlawful act of manslaughter. The dissent would have dismissed the accused’s appeal entirely. Justices Rosalie Silberman Abella and Andromache Karakatsanis writing for the dissent (Chief Justice Richard Wagner concurring) agreed with the Alberta Court of Appeal that the matter be ordered back for retrial on both charges of first-degree murder and manslaughter. 

    The majority made some important points about the extent to which racism is still widespread in the justice system. At para.199, the majority explained: “Furthermore, this Court has acknowledged on several occasions the detrimental effects of widespread racism against Indigenous people within our criminal justice system. For example, in Williams, this Court recognized that Indigenous people are the target of hurtful biases, stereotypes, and assumptions, including stereotypes about credibility, worthiness, and criminal propensity, to name just a few. … In short, when it comes to truth and reconciliation from a criminal justice system perspective, much-needed work remains to be done.”

    They went on to say that the criminal justice system and all of its participants must take reasonable steps to address these biases — especially against Indigenous women. To this end, they directed that, on a go forward basis, trial judges ought to provide express instruction to juries to counter the well-known prejudice against Indigenous women. While there is no set text, trial judges should instruct juries about Indigenous women and girls having been subjected to a long history of colonization and systemic racism and then dispel myths about Indigenous women and those who are exploited for sex. These stereotypes were outlined in para. 202:

              – Are not entitled to legal protections;

              – Not deserving of respect, humanity and dignity;

              – Are sexual objects for male gratification;

              – Are available for the taking and no consent needed;

              – Assume any risks associated with “sex work”;

              – Are less credible than other people.

    The majority further stressed that, as a matter of respect, both the Crown and the defence counsel should have referred to her as Ms. Gladue instead of “Native girl” during the trial. These are important points and the SCC made many important clarifications in the case in relation to the many problems surrounding sexual assault cases.

    However, there is a downside to the majority’s decision. Their logic and reasoning around the impact of racism and bias in this case did not follow through to their ultimate finding. The majority allowed the accused’s appeal in part, by limiting the charge for which the killer could be retried — manslaughter only. The dissent pointed out that racism doesn’t work that way and can’t be so easily compartmentalized. They explained that there was no “filter” on the victim’s prior sexual history and no warning by the judge to the jury to avoid making stereotypical assumptions about Indigenous women.

    They also argued that this created an image of Cindy “that was unfair and would have permeated the whole trial and the jury’s deliberations on both murder and manslaughter” (para. 214). The dissent further emphasized, “He [trial judge] provided no specific instructions crafted to confront the operative social and racial biases potentially at work. This rendered the whole trial unfair” (para. 215).

    While the dissent did go further than the majority, they too missed an important opportunity to speak to the indignity committed against Cindy’s body after her death when segments of her vagina were brought into court as an exhibit. Cindy was a life-giving mother of three girls. Her body and her life-giving parts had already suffered a gross violation which led to her death. There was no necessity — in an effort to prosecute her killer — to remove her life-giving parts and put them on display in a courtroom. They could have used the coroner’s testimony, animated illustrations of the extent of the cut or tear, and worst-case scenario, pictures. Putting her life-giving parts on display served to further dehumanize her before the judge and jury. 

    Even though the SCC made some important findings in this case, their caution that the justice system has a lot more work to do applies equally to them. We need more than the “important step forward” they commended themselves for — we need a wholescale change. That won’t happen if the highest court in the land cannot call out and end the kind of indignity committed against Cindy — which represents the many indignities committed against Indigenous women and girls since contact. 

    This article was originally published in The Lawyer’s Daily on May, 28, 2019 – link below:

    https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/12605/justice-system-still-not-protecting-indigenous-women-and-girls-pamela-palmater-?category=opinion

  • NAFTA 2.0 – Time to Get it Right or Kill It

    *Originally published in Lawyer’s Daily on October 10, 2017

    There is a long list of items that U.S. President Donald Trump has put on his “to kill” list, including Obamacare, Planned Parenthood, the Department of Education, immigration and most recently, NAFTA. Trump called the North American Free Trade Agreement the “worst trade deal ever made” in U.S. history and indicated he may have to kill the deal.

    Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto, on the other hand, are scrambling to renegotiate with Trump in order to save NAFTA. But why the mad rush to feverishly save NAFTA? It’s not like it has widespread support among the people of those three countries and I am sure if the planet had a vote — it would be a resounding no.

    So what’s the big deal about NAFTA? NAFTA is a legal agreement that came into effect on Jan. 1, 1994, to eliminate most of the tariffs on trade between the three signatory countries with the intention of encouraging trade on a massive scale. However, it is important to note that Canada and the U.S. already had massive trading relations prior to NAFTA and would continue to trade on a large scale, even if Trump kills NAFTA.

    Although NAFTA is clearly a trade deal, the promise made to the citizens of all three countries was that it would improve the standard of living for all. While it is hard to analyze NAFTA’s impact on the Canadian economy in isolation from many other factors — by many accounts, NAFTA has not been the economic saviour it was originally touted to be when it was first signed.

    More recent studies have concluded that there have been minimal, if any, positive impact on welfare in the three countries. In fact, Canada’s welfare shows an actual decline of 0.06 per cent. Some experts have argued that NAFTA has created more economic instability than actual benefit as millions have lost their jobs, wages have stagnated generally and decreased in Mexico. Similarly, while Canada’s trade increased by 11 per cent during NAFTA, its terms of trade (relative price of imports to exports) decreased by 0.11 per cent. This doesn’t even take into account the true cost of environmental destruction or the localized impacts on Indigenous peoples in all three countries.

    Some have referred to NAFTA as the end result of negotiations between self-interested transnational corporate elite largely benefitting corporations — not people or the planet. Numerous civil society organizations in all three countries have rallied against NAFTA 2.0 unless there are substantive amendments — including many thousands protesting in the streets in Mexico. First Nations in Canada, tribal governments in the U.S., and Indigenous peoples in Mexico have been left in the dark and have no meaningful say in whether NAFTA goes ahead and if so, on what conditions. Here in Canada, the negotiations themselves are taking place in relative secrecy and there are no widespread consultations with Canadians, civil society organizations, experts and no legal consent by First Nations.

    The important question is whether we want to save NAFTA at all costs and what are those costs?

    We have a great deal to worry about after all. Remember former Canadian Prime Minister Harper’s secret Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations? Just like Trudeau’s process, there were no widespread consultations with First Nations for the TPP either. The draft TPP agreement was eventually leaked and revealed that there were no real protections for human rights, First Nation’s rights, the environment or women. There is a very real concern that Canada’s negotiators are relying on similar TPP wording for NAFTA — so as not to rock the trade negotiations.

    While we are all distracted with NAFTA, the TPP negotiations we thought were dead — continue under the radar. On Sept. 30, Canada announced a 30-day consultation period regarding its ongoing TPP discussions with other nations including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Peru and Singapore and others (minus the U.S.).

    First Nations and Canadians alike have a great deal to worry about. While welfare has decreased for Canadians since NAFTA, socioeconomic conditions have decreased to crisis levels for First Nations. NAFTA has had other devastating impacts. Many Mexicans have lost their farms and were subjected to substandard working conditions. There has been significant environmental destruction in all three countries and current NAFTA rules undermine attempts to address climate change by states. Indigenous women and girls suffered increased violence at the hands of the extractive industry bolstered by NAFTA — think about the thousands of murdered and disappeared in Canada-U.S.-Mexico near mining projects or man-camps. To make matters worse, there are no concrete legal protections, enforcement mechanisms or redress for violations of Indigenous rights, human rights or the environment under NAFTA.

    If that were not bad enough, Investor-State Dispute Settlement — known as ISDS — leaves the decision-making for all disputes in the hands of a couple of trade lawyers. The relevant laws considered in their decision-making are rooted within NAFTA and laws relating to human rights, Indigenous rights and environmental protections are not factored in. Under NAFTA’s controversial ISDS provisions, Canada has earned the “most-sued country” title having paid out hundreds of millions of taxpayer money to large corporate investors who have sued Canada under ISDS. While the U.S. has yet to lose a single case under ISDS, Canada stands to potentially lose billions more — not including the millions in legal fees.

    The perceived benefits of NAFTA are far outweighed by the significant harms to people and the planet. If Trump kills the deal, the world would not end. Trade between the three countries would continue. We must keep in mind that this deal impacts the lands, waters, resources and safety of First Nations in Canada and legally, this deal cannot go ahead without their free, prior and informed consent. That is, assuming Trudeau meant what he said at the United Nations General Assembly last month when he said Canada accepts the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) without qualification. Article 19 is very clear that Canada must obtain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples before adopting any measure that may affect them.

    So, perhaps the solution lies with First Nations? NAFTA is dead without First Nation consent anyway — so, Trudeau ought to start the good faith consultation process before his negotiators make promises they can’t keep.

    Link to the article as originally published in Lawyer’s Daily on Oct.10, 2017:

    https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/4808/nafta-2-0-time-to-get-it-right-or-kill-it-pamela-palmater?category=columnists Please check out a related video on my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIkzNTv6_X0&t=1s

  • United Nations Human Rights Committee Critiques Canada’s Human Rights Violations of Indigenous Peoples

    Today, the United Nations Human Rights Committee released its Concluding Observations on Canada’s sixth report in relation to Canada’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (advanced unedited version). While it commended recent legislation adopted by individual provinces in relation to human rights, there was no overall commendation for Canada. In fact, the majority of the report expressed numerous concerns about Canada’s failures in relation to the basic human rights of Indigenous peoples. The United Nations Human Rights Committee directed Canada to “widely disseminate” this report among judicial, legislative and administrative authorities, civil society, non-governmental organizations and the general public. It is not likely that Canada will do so, therefore, here is a summary of some of their concerns and key recommendations specific to Indigenous peoples: GENDER EQUALITY Concern: “persisting inequalities between women and men” including “high level of the pay gap” which is more pronounced for Indigenous women and the “underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in the public and private sectors”; Recommendations: (a) guarantee equal pay for equal work, with special focus on Indigenous women; (b) promote better representation of women in leadership; VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Concern: “continued high prevalence of domestic violence in the State party, in particular violence against women and girls, that mostly affects indigenous and minority women” as well as insufficiency of shelters and failure of police to investigate and prosecute; Recommendations: (a) make efforts to “firmly combat” domestic violence against women in all forms, especially Indigenous women; (b) investigate all reported cases and follow through with prosecutions; (c) increase shelters and support services; MURDERED AND MISSING INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND GIRLS Concern: “indigenous women and girls are disproportionately affected by life-threatening forms of violence, homicides and disappearances” and Canada’s “failure to provide adequate and effective responses” and failure to provide information about their investigations, prosecutions and punishments of those responsible; Recommendations: (a) conduct a national inquiry on murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in consultation with Indigenous women’s organizations and families; (b) review its legislation to prevent further murders and disappearances; (c) investigate & prosecute offenders & provide reparations to victims; (d) address the root causes of violence against Indigenous women and girls; EXCESSIVE FORCE DURING PROTESTS AND POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY Concern: “excessive use of force by law enforcement officers during mass arrests in the context of protests at federal and provincial levels, with particular reference to indigenous land-related protests” as well as concerns about “complaints not always promptly investigated and the lenient nature of sanctions imposed”; Recommendations: (a) ensure all allegations of ill-treatment and excessive use of force by police investigated; (b) need strong independent oversight bodies with adequate resources; (c) those responsible are prosecuted and punished with appropriate penalties; INDIGENOUS LANDS AND TITLES Concern: “potential extinguishment of indigenous land rights and titles” and the number of years of unresolved land disputes places financial burden on Indigenous peoples and “Indigenous peoples are not always consulted” on legislation that impacts our lands and rights; Recommendations: (a) seek free informed and prior consent for legislation and actions that impacts our lands and rights; (b) resolve land and resource disputes. INDIAN ACT Concern: “slow” pace at which Canada is removing gender discrimination in the Indian Act thereby preventing Indigenous women and their descendants from transmitting Indian status equally with men Recommendation: (a) remove all remaining discriminatory effects of Indian Act for Indigenous women and children so they enjoy rights of Indian status on equal footing with men; OVERREPRESENTATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN JUSTICE SYSTEM Concern: “disproportionately high rate of incarceration of indigenous people, including women, in federal and provincial prisons across Canada” Recommendation: (a) prevent excessive use of incarceration of Indigenous peoples; (b) wherever possible use alternatives to detention (including serving sentences in communities); SITUATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Concern: “risk of disappearances of indigenous languages”, “lack of access to basic needs”, lack of funding for child welfare, and not all students of residential schools have been given redress; Recommendations: (a) implement and reinforce programs to provide basic needs; (b) programs to preserve Indigenous languages; and (c) provide child and family services on reserve with sufficient funding; (d) implement TRC recommendations; Canada should be ashamed that it has such a poor record on protecting the basic human rights of Indigenous peoples – especially in relation to Indigenous women and children. It is a disgrace that Canada sits with other countries, like Mexico, for the continued murders and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls. Even after decades of litigation, Canada has still has not addressed Indian Act gender discrimination which excludes thousands of children of Indigenous women. Canada has no defense for its discriminatory under-funding of First Nations children in care which causes hardship for our most vulnerable. The extreme poverty, over-representation of our people in prison, dying languages, and Canada’s continued failure to respect our Indigenous rights and title have all been noticed by the United Nations as violations of our basic human rights. It is long past the time for Canada to address these long-standing human rights violations of Indigenous peoples – this is not the Canada anyone envisioned – including our mutual ancestors who signed peace and friendship treaties.

  • My Brief for the Human Rights Committee’s Concluding Observations of Canada: Clarifications Related to Canada’s Testimony

    My Brief for the Human Rights Committee’s Concluding Observations of Canada: Clarifications Related to Canada’s Testimony

    Corporate Social Responsibility

    In the review, Canada stated that international treaties ratified by Canada are not binding law in Canada. Canada also stated that Canadian companies doing business abroad are expected to demonstrate Canadian values and follow applicable human rights laws. However, if the State does not consider ICCPR applicable law in Canada, then its corporate entities would have no reason to respect the human rights contained therein.  I would thus recommend that the Committee both clarify the UN’s position in this regard and recommend to Canada to specifically implement the ICCPR into domestic law.

    Gender Equality

    In the review Canada stated that it is committed to gender equality and claimed that women make 91% of what men make. In fact, the national wage gap in Canada is 18%, much higher than other countries. In some provinces like Ontario, that gap can reach 31%. The gap is significantly higher for Indigenous peoples at 30% compared to average Canadian, and in some areas of Canada, the gap is as high as 88%. 

    I would recommend that the Committee recommend that Canada undertake specific measures and develop specific targets and measures to address sex discrimination generally and the wage gap specifically.

    The Federal Court of Appeal in McIvor case confirmed gender discrimination, but Canada enacted Bill C-3 without consulting with First Nations, and which specifically denied any compensation for Indigenous women impacted. Indigenous women and descendants are the only group in Canada that has ever been denied compensation for a Charter right violation. 

    The Committee should also recommend that Canada negotiate a compensation package for all the Indigenous women and their descendants reinstated by Bill C-3 for loss of services (education, housing, health benefits, training). 

    Violence against Indigenous Women

    Canada stated that one measure to combat violence against Indigenous women are the 40 shelters on reserve. It should be noted that there are 633 reserves in Canada, which means there are shelters in less than 6% of on-reserve communities. Canada also portrayed the crisis of murdered and missing Indigenous women as one of crime, when domestic and UN reports have confirmed the root causes are in Canada’s discriminatory laws and policies, the culture of violence against Indigenous women, and the chronic and discriminatory underfunding of essential human services, like food, water, housing, education and health. 

    I would recommend that the Committee support the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, IACHR and CEDAW to develop a national action plan to address the socio-economic conditions which result in the disproportionate vulnerability to violence in partnership with Indigenous communities and Indigenous women’s organizations and commit to a national inquiry.

    Indigenous Children in Care

    Canada submitted that it does not know what factors are at play to explain the gross over-representation of Indigenous children in state care. 50% of all children in care in Canada are Indigenous, despite being only 4% of the population and represent 90% of children in care in provinces like Manitoba. Canada’s own studies have shown that the root causes are poverty, the chronic underfunding of child and family services for First Nations on reserve, inter-generational trauma from residential schools and state discrimination. 

    I would recommend that the Committee recommend that Canada fund Indigenous Child and Family Services at levels no less than provincial levels, with extra funding to address the backlog and volume of cases and for additional Indigenous staff, training, and infrastructure for CFS services on reserve with a focus of keeping children in their families, communities and cultures.

    Indian Act Sex Discrimination

    Canada stated in its response to the List of Issues at para.125 that: “the Indian registration provisions in the current Indian Act do not discriminate against women”. When questioned by Committee about unresolved sex discrimination in the Act, it responded that Bill C-3 was “a step forward” and “no one sees it as anywhere near being concluded”, but that Canada prefers an “incremental approach”. This is not a good faith application of either domestic or international law obligations in relation to gender equality. Practically, this means Canada prefers to defend lengthy and costly law suits which take upwards of 25 years to reach the Supreme Court of Canada. There is no justifiable reason for Indigenous women and their descendants to wait 139 years for the Act to be slowly amended to eliminate gender discrimination. 

    Indigenous women and their descendants are already impoverished and without Indian status, miss out on health benefits, post-secondary education, and other social programs critical to their health, safety, and well-being; which we already know makes them vulnerable to violence. Canada also stated that they have a “Special Rapporteur” that is currently “consulting” with First Nations on how to clean up the Indian Act discrimination. This is simply not true – and if it has done so, they have not informed anyone. 

    I would recommend that the Committee recommend to Canada that it amend the Indian Act to eliminate all sex discrimination in the Indian Act’s registration provisions and it could start by immediately by amending the registration provisions as follows:

    (a)    remove the 1951 cut-off and ensure that all direct descendants on the female Aboriginal line, born prior to April 17, 1985, are accorded the same 6(1) status as the descendants on the male line;

    (b)   ensure that no one born prior to April 17, 1985 who is entitled to status is consigned to s. 6(2) status;

    (c)    ensure that entitlement to 6(1) status is extended to the female child of the status man and non-status woman who were unmarried; and

    (d) all administrative barriers are removed so that unmarried status Indian women are able to transmit their Indian status to their children, even if the father is unstated.

    Police Misconduct

    In responding to various concerns raised in Committee related to sex discrimination, violence against Indigenous women, and police misconduct, Canada failed to mention the major class action suit filed against the RCMP by female staff and officers for sex discrimination. It failed to mention the Human Rights Watch report which documented instances of RCMP sexually and physically assaulted Indigenous girls. It also did not mention the Donald Marshall Inquiry, Manitoba Justice Inquiry or Ipperwash Inquiry which all found that racism against Indigenous peoples in Canada’s police forces is a major problem that has yet to be addressed. 

    I would recommend that the Committee recommend that Canada develop a more robust and transparent oversight mechanism for all police forces that is completely independent from both political and police interference which a specific focus on and Indigenous ombudsperson for Indigenous peoples.

    UNDRIP

    In the review, Canada did not orally respond to the question in committee about whether Canada has changed domestic law and policy to align with its endorsement of UNDRIP. In Canada’s Statement of Support it states: (1) it is an aspirational document (2) it’s not legally binding in Canada (3) it does not reflect customary international law (4) it does not change Canadian law. When former Minister of Indian Affairs John Duncan was questioned on the impact of UNDRIP, he responded that Canada has its “own agenda” and as a result does not “anticipate any significant change”. Canada’s endorsement of UNDRIP is not done in good faith or with intention to have any practical effect. 

    I would thus recommend that the Committee recommend to Canada that Canada implement the UNDRIP in good faith.

    Indigenous Languages

    In the review, Canada stated that the reason for Indigenous language loss included migration and the media. The real cause of language loss stems from Canada’s assimilatory laws and policies, like residential schools, which tortured, abused and shamed children for speaking their languages. Indigenous languages were literally beaten out of many generations of Indigenous children. Canada admitted this in its residential school apology: “The government now recognizes that the consequences of the Indian Residential Schools policy were profoundly negative and that this policy has had a lasting and damaging impact on Aboriginal culture, heritage and language.”

    Immediately after this apology, Canada cut funding to Indigenous languages further exacerbating the problem. Canada’s legal and economic promotion and support of English and French has not been extended to the same degree for Indigenous languages and they have no data to show that their minimal efforts in this regard have increased language use. In fact, Canada’s $5 million/year language budget amounts to less than $5 per Indigenous person in Canada annually. It is simply impossible to save languages at this token level. 

    I would recommend that the Committee supports the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Report and recommend that Canada provide immediate and significant funding to First Nations on par with funding that supports English and French languages, to ensure immersion and adult programs in every First Nation in Canada.

    Submitted by Dr. Pamela D. Palmater, Mi’kmaw Nation, sponsored by Franciscans International, on July 9, 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

     Note:

                                  (Some of the NGOs in Geneva Switzerland)

    After hearing a great deal of misinformation and non-answers from Canada during the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s review of Canada’s obligations under ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights); some of the NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) that attended asked if we could submit clarifications to the committee before they conclude their review. We were given permission to do so, and some of us submitted briefs which were to be no longer than one page. My original submission contains footnotes and links to sources not provided here.

    Some of the other NGO’s (like FAFIA and Amnesty International), made clarifications and recommendations related to various issues, some of which included:

    – addressing homelessness as part of the right to life;

    – insufficient review and oversight of security and law enforcement under Bill C-51; 

    – the need to support unanimous recommendations by all international human rights bodies recommending a national inquiry and action plan on murdered and missing Indigenous women; 

    – need to Canada to respect laws related to free, informed and prior consent of Indigenous peoples for land use, including extractive industries;

    –  removal of sex discrimination from the Indian Act registration provisions; and 

    – clarifications around the skewed RCMP statistics which try to paint a discriminatory picture of Indigenous peoples.

    Canada was given 48 hours to submit written material to supplement their oral testimony. The Committee’s conclusions are due July 23, 2015.

  • Conservative’s Fear Budget 2015: Canada’s Future Not High on Harper’s Radar

    One need only skim through the Conservative government’s budget to see that this massive 528 page propaganda piece is Prime Minister Harper’s last big election pitch – support Harper or the terrorists will get you. The political messaging goes even further and seems to suggest that the safety and security of Canadians in all facets of life are at risk and the only way to save themselves is support to support Harper’s Cons.

    This is a do or die budget – literally, according to Harper. Menacing words like: threat, evil, terror, danger, harm, hurt, pain, suffering, risks/threats to safety appear 231 times in the budget plan. By comparison, the word “peace” only appears 3 times, and words like: Charter rights, constitutional rights, anti-poverty, equality, climate change, women’s rights, Aboriginal rights, treaty rights, Aboriginal title, self-government, or murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls do not appear at all. The word “sovereignty” only appears in a stark military context. There is no value placed in human rights freedoms, civil liberties, equality or Aboriginal rights. The climate does not seem to be on their “radar” any more than the thousands of murdered and missing Indigenous women. This is a true fear monger’s budget.

    I don’t recall even hearing the words “First Nation” or “Aboriginal” in the budget speech – it’s like we don’t exist. Despite there being major multiple, over-lapping crises in many First Nations – like a lack of housing, water and sanitation, education, health care, flooding, children in care, and murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls – this budget completely ignores these life and death realities. Harper has sent another very clear signal that the lives of First Nation men, women and children mean less than various frivolities like Ottawa’s tulips or Canada Day celebrations.

    The majority of the funds promised in the budget are just old announcements and much of the other funding announced is not actually “new” money, but either ongoing funding or re-purposed. Many of the funding amounts are promised “over five years” and therefore only flows if you vote for Harper. Take for example the $33M Harper promised to conduct labour market surveys in First Nations – more than $22M of that money will be re-purposed from already allocated federal funding. In other words, another program will suffer with less money so Harper can survey Indians. Other funding announced will be minuscule in its impact. The $2M a year in mental health services for First Nations equates to a little more than $3k per First Nation or less than $1 per person in many First Nations.

    Most of what appears to be big money will never find its way to actual First Nation communities. The $34M and $80M a year over 5 years for “consultations” will go to the Environmental Assessment Agency and National Energy Board – not First Nations. The federal government and its agencies are already well-funded and well-armed with Justice lawyers, policy analysts, technicians, researchers and administrative support to assist them in consultations – but First Nations have none of that. This budget makes consultations on major projects worse for First Nations.

    The $12M in funds over 3 years to Indspire does not equal new funds, but represents an ongoing prior investment and does not go to First Nations at all. It represents a drop in the bucket of what is needed to provide real support to First Nations in post-secondary institutions. There are approximately 22,000 Aboriginal students in post-secondary institutions and declining every year due to lack of funding. The Auditor General estimated that about 9,500 or more are on waiting lists to be funded for university. This $4M a year for Indspire amounts to $180 per current student, or if it was intended for those on the waiting list – only $420 per student. This minimal investment has no potential to address the current underfunding or the education attainment gap. It wouldn’t even be enough to buy text books.

    Last year, Harper and former National Chief Atleo made a surprise joint announcement that the federal government would increase First Nation education funding by $1.9B – which turns out was not all new funding and most of it was not for First Nations, but for a new, additional bureaucracy to get First Nation schools in line with provincial curriculum. It was also conditional on agreeing to legislation allowing INAC to have greater control over First Nation education. The First Nation reaction was swift and led to Atleo’s resignation and a failure by Harper to provide any of the funding promised. Harper’s budget is a sign that his plan continues to be to starve us into submission.

    The current educational deficit in First Nations is well over $6B and thus a $200M undefined investment does not address that deficit, let alone provide the much needed funding to catch up. $200M over 5 years is only $40M a year or a little more than $63k per First Nation – not even enough to hire one reading resource teacher. Keeping in mind however, that even this funding is conditional on modelling First Nation schools after provincial systems. This minimal investment should be compared to the $200M investment being made in Canada Day celebrations. Just like the budget for tulips in Ottawa instead of protections for murdered and missing Indigenous women – First Nations are clearly Harper’s very last priority.

    It should be no surprise that education was not a major investment by Harper either at the k-12 level or the post-secondary level. His focus is on skilled labour force for his resource projects. Aboriginal Labour Market Programming is set to receive $248.5M over 5 years to increase the skilled labour in Aboriginal communities. Harper has made no secret that he wants to employ as many Aboriginal people as possible in oil, pipelines, Ring of Fire, uranium, and mining industries to justify his aggressive resource and energy development plans (think hydro, nuclear, and tar sands).

    It’s hardly worth even mentioning the $30M over 5 years to permit 25 more First Nations into the First Nation Land Management Act regime as this amounts to $6M a year or $240k for only 25 select First Nations. No funding was allotted to address the billions in outstanding treaty, resource and land claims, or support for self-government agreements (for those who want them). There was nothing to address governance or crisis social issues like murdered and missing women or kids in care – despite major reports from the United Nations finding Canada to have committed “grave violations” of our human rights.

    Parties and parades is Harper’s priority along with pandas and hockey. He has not only cheated First Nations, but has cheated Canadians by selling GM shares and dipping into the reserves – in both senses of the word – to fake a balanced budget. This can’t even be called a status quo budget or play it safe budget. By failing to address significant gaps in socio-economic conditions of First Nations, he and Minister Valcourt set up a budget that violates their own mandate to improve the economic and social well-being of Canadians. By refusing to address any of the crises, the lives of our men, women and children are at risk.

    The real danger doesn’t come from terrorists, but from Harper’s destruction of the environment, his failure to address climate change, his failure to address education and health care, and his wilful neglect of First Nation lives and well-being. Perhaps is he spent less money criminalizing those who are protecting the lands, waters and people in Canada, he would have enough money to invest in our collective futures.

    This Fear Budget 2015 shows that Canadians and First Nations alike have something to fear alright – and it’s Canada’s biggest terrorist: PM Harper. He represents the biggest threat to our collective well-being and future generations that Canada has ever seen.

    If ever there was a time for treaty partners to come together – it is now.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrd4848Q064

  • RCMP Report on Murdered and Missing Aboriginal Women is Statistically Skewed

    In 2014, the RCMP released a report on their “National Operational Review” on the issue of “Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women” which amounted to 1181 women total – 164 missing and 1017 murdered.  The core conclusion of the report was that “Aboriginal women”* were over-represented in the numbers of murdered and missing. They cautioned readers that their report contained a certain amount of “error and imprecision” given the thirty year period of review, the human error of investigators, inconsistency of collection, and definitional issues.

    Let’s look at that caveat a little closer. The RCMP had to “limit” their file review to missing women who had been identified by RCMP on CPIC (Canadian Police Information Centre) as “non-white” female or “blank”. The category of “Aboriginal origin” was only recently added to CPIC and so could not possibly capture all Aboriginal persons. Similarly, the numbers do not include Aboriginal women who were mistakenly recorded as “white” or Aboriginal women who were reported missing but were never recorded. Given the high level of overt and systemic racism in policing as confirmed in the Donald Marshall Jr., Manitoba Justice, Ipperwash, and Pickton inquiries, the numbers of those missing never recorded could be extremely high.

    Now, let’s look at how the RCMP or other jurisdictions determine who is “Aboriginal”. The RCMP report notes that they used “perception-based assessment”. In other words, “how a police officer defines how an individual looks in terms of complexion and/or ancestry”. However, even this determination is not consistent across jurisdictions. Any number of jurisdictions use the following to identify persons:

                (1) official Aboriginal “status”;

                (2) officer discretion; and

                (3) self-identification.

    Based on the above, it would seem logical that the RCMP would miss identifying a large portion or even majority of Aboriginal persons. In the first methodology, I presume they meant to say “Indian status” or “Indian registration” because there is no formal or official “Aboriginal status”. I hope the RCMP know at least this much about the legislated identity of Indigenous peoples in Canada (hint: it’s in the Indian Act). For those that only use “Indian status”, that would exclude all the non-status Indians, Métis, and Inuit individuals in Canada. The most recent National Household Survey indicated that there were 1,400,685 Aboriginal people in Canada and only 637,660 of them were registered Indians. That leaves 763,025 individuals (more than half the Aboriginal population) excluded from possible identification as Aboriginal by RCMP standards.

    Even those who are identified based on their official Indian status, the RCMP fails to take into consideration the fact that there are well over 20,000 people with Indian status who do not descend from nor identify as “Indian” or “Aboriginal”. This is thanks again to the Indian Act which made non-Indian women and their non-Indian male and female children registered as Indians, despite their lack of Aboriginal ancestry or cultural connection. This equates to thousands of men with Indian status that are not in fact Aboriginal.

    With regards to the second methodology, the RCMP are identifying Aboriginal peoples based on a racist set of biological and/or physical characteristics which they unilaterally assign to Aboriginal people. In other words, “Aboriginal people” are treated as one race of people with certain pre-determined physical characteristics – like hair, eye or skin colour. They ignore the fact that Indigeneity is social, cultural, political, legal, territorial, and nation-based – not an identity based on race. This racist methodology would be as useless as trying to identify a Canadian citizen gone missing in the USA based on skin colour. Clearly, the RCMP would miss the vast majority of “Aboriginal people” using this kind of methodology.

    With regard to the third methodology of self-identification, the RCMP failed to indicate what percentage of jurisdictions actually rely on self-identification. This of course would not work in the context of a murdered or missing Aboriginal woman as she cannot self-identify. It might only work in the context of the woman’s family or friends choosing to identify her as Aboriginal. It is impossible to know how many people would voluntarily self-identify given the extent to which every level of the justice system is infected with overt and systemic racism as per the numerous justice inquiries. Many Aboriginal people have a justified fear of the RCMP stemming from residential school days, Starlight tours, and deaths in police custody – as well as provincial police forces for similar reasons.

    So, it is logical to conclude that the RCMP grossly under-counted the actual numbers of murdered and missing Aboriginal women in Canada. This conclusion is confirmed by the RCMP’s own admission that due to these methodological problems “a high number of Homicide survey reports where the identity of the victim (and/or accused) remained unknown“. This admission on their part is extremely important in understanding the racist dialogue which has recently unfolded at the Ministerial level.

    Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt has been very vocal in his refusal to conduct a national inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women and little girls. He has publicly stated that part of the problem is that First Nation men “have a lack of respect for women and girls on reserve”. Aside from the fact that he forgot Métis and Inuit people who don’t live on reserves, Valcourt went on to tell Treaty 6 Chiefs that 70% of the cases, Aboriginal women were killed by Aboriginal men. The RCMP refused to release the statistics on the alleged perpetrators as they claimed a commitment to “bias-free” policing. That commitment did not last long as they issued a letter several days later to Treaty 6 Grand Chief seeming to back up Minister Valcourt.

    The RCMP’s exact words to Treaty 6 Grand Chief Martial were as follows:

    “In considering the offender characteristics, a commonality unrelated to the ethnicity of the victim was the strong nexus to familial and spousal violence. Aboriginal females were killed by a spouse, family member or intimate relation in 62% of the cases; similarly, non-aboriginal females were killed by a spouse, family member or intimate relation in 74% of occurrences.”

    This statistic confirms that Canadian women are more often killed by their spouse or families than Aboriginal women. Yet, in the second paragraph of this letter, the RCMP explain that despite their bias-free policing policy and despite their confidentiality agreement with Statistics Canada, they would release the sensitive information relating to offenders anyway in order to back up Minister Valcourt’s claims that “70% of offenders were of Aboriginal origin”.

    Some commentators rushed to conclude that the RCMP statement does in fact support the Minister’s claims and (a) that this somehow reduces Canada’s culpability for both creating and refusing to deal with this crisis; and (b) that, in fact, 70% of offenders were Aboriginal. Neither of these conclusions are correct. The RCMP’s statistics, as noted above, are extremely skewed and unreliable when it comes to the identification of Aboriginal people – victims or offenders. It bears repeating that the RCMP’s own assessment of problems in its methodology led them to conclude:

    “a high number of Homicide survey reports where the identity of the victim (and/or accused) remained unknown“.

    This means that a high number of the accused in murder cases have an unknown identity. Therefore, the RCMP’s claim that 70% of the accused are Aboriginal is highly suspect at best and completely inaccurate at worst.

    There is also a problem with the assumption that because 64% of Aboriginal women are killed by their spouses or families, that those offenders were in fact “Aboriginal”. Aside from having to make the racist assumption that Aboriginal people only have relationships with other Aboriginal people, the statistics do not bear this out. If you look only at the case of First Nations people, the vast majority of First Nations have out-parenting rates (children with non-Aboriginal people) that are moderate to high. Specifically, 246 First Nations have an out-parenting rate of 40-60%; 162 First Nations have an out-parenting rate of 60-80%; and 49 First Nations have an out-parenting rate of 80-100%. It is safe to say that no less than half of First Nations are in spousal or familial relationships with non-Aboriginal people. So, even if 64% of Aboriginal women are murdered by their spouses, it does not follow that those spouses are “Aboriginal”. Statistically, they are just as likely to be non-Aboriginal.

    One must also keep in mind that the RCMP did not include statistics on the number of RCMP and provincial police officers who have been accused of physically and sexually assaulting, murdering and/or causing to go missing, Aboriginal women in Canada. Despite a Human Rights Watch report which details accounts by young Aboriginal women and girls at the hands of the RCMP – the RCMP has refused to investigate its own members. We know at least one RCMP officer who lost 7 days pay for violating an Aboriginal women and one provincial court judge who plead guilty to physically and sexually assaulted Aboriginal girls as young as 12 years old.

    This shell game of numbers and statistics is meant to blame the victim and deflect attention away from Canada’s continued inaction to address this crisis which the United Nations has called a “grave violation” of our basic human rights. The crisis of murdered and missing Indigenous women and little girls continues while Canada (through Valcourt) blames the victim and the RCMP fail to live up to their duty to serve and protect everyone in Canada.

    Shame on them both. Nothing in the RCMP numbers changes anything. Canada has a crisis of murdered and missing Indigenous women and little girls regardless of who is doing the killing – and we need to address it.

    Don’t be fooled or distracted by Canada’s games. 

    We should all stay focused on pushing for both a national inquiry and for an emergency action plan to protect our women and girls and address the underlying root causes and inequities which make them vulnerable to begin with. * I use the term “Aboriginal” in this blog to reflect the terminology of the RCMP report only.

  • Genocide? Murder? Criminal Negligence? Or Passive Indifference? Canada is Killing Our People

    Racism doesn’t just hurt our feelings – racism kills. The two senseless deaths of First Nations children in a house fire in Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation in Saskatchewan from an unpaid bill of less than $4,000 has sparked outrage across Canada. In no other place in Canada would an ambulance, fire fighter or police officer ask a provincial resident if they had paid their taxes before answering an emergency call for help. Canada has a deep-seated racism problem which is killing our people. But to truly understand Indigenous outrage and sadness, one must understand both the context and true depth of this problem in Canada.

    In the mid-1700’s, colonial governments in what is now Nova Scotia considered the Mi’kmaw Nation to be “rebels” because we refused to give up our land. As a result, Governor Cornwallis issued a scalping proclamation that decimated the Mi’kmaw Nation by as much as 80%. In 1971, Donald Marshall Jr., was sentenced to life in prison for murder and spent 11 years in jail before his wrongful prosecution was exposed. A subsequent Royal Commission found the reason for his imprisonment was racism against Mi’kmaw people by all levels of the justice system.

    In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Mi’kmaw right to fish and trade it commercially was protected in our constitutionally-protected treaties. The result? Canada sent in law enforcement to beat, pepper spray and run over our fishing boats – in addition to legal charges. In 2013, Elsipogtog First Nation and other members of the Mi’kmaw Nation who supported their anti-fracking stance in Mi’kmaw territory were labeled “terrorists”, “militants” and “bad Indians”. The scalping law was not used but our people were beaten and imprisoned.

    From small pox blankets and scalping bounties to imprisonment and neglect – Canada is killing our people and Canadians will be next if nothing is done to change the value (or lack thereof) that we collectively put on human life – all human life. This dictatorial, police state is not what newcomers to Canada had in mind when they came to Canada. A territory shared with Indigenous Nations based on formal agreements (treaties) and information agreement (alliances) were founded on three principles: (1) mutual respect, (2) mutual prosperity and (3) mutual protection. Indigenous peoples, their families, communities and Nations protected and cared for newcomers. Our people fought in Canada’s world wars to protect our shared territory and people. Now it’s time for Canadians to stand up for Indigenous peoples.

    In 1971, Helen Betty Osborne was kidnapped and murdered in The Pas, Manitoba. Her grieving friends and family were treated like criminals while the accused men were given the royal treatment by law enforcement and left to walk free for years. This wasn’t the first time our Indigenous women and little girls have been victims of a racist Canada, but no action was taken. Today, Canadians are well aware of the thousands of Indigenous women and little girls have gone murdered and/or missing in Canada. Yet, there is no sense of alarm in Parliament, nor has the Canadian state taken any steps to work with First Nations to embark on an inquiry or implement an emergency action plan.  

    By 1996, the last residential school had closed which was supposed to mark an end to the theft of Indigenous children from our Indigenous families, communities and Nations. Literally thousands of Indigenous children were victims of murders, rapes, tortures and medical experiments – and upwards of 40% never made it out of some of those schools alive. The legacy of thousands of our children who died as a matter of state law and policy should at least have included a promise to stop stealing our children. Today, we have more than 30,000 Indigenous children in care and growing. The problems have not stopped – they are getting worse.

    The use of small pox blankets on our people to try to kill us off faster has been described by medical doctors as the first example of “biological warfare” during non-war times. Indigenous women and little girls were forcibly sterilized without their knowledge and consent for decades in an effort to stop us from reproducing. The Canadian state does not need to use such blatant policies to reduce our populations anymore – willful neglect has the same lethal effect. Federal, provincial and municipal governments are standing by while our people die. This is not an “Indian problem” – this is a Canadian problem that impacts every single Canadian and our collective future.

    In 2005,  Jordan River Anderson, a little boy from Norway House Cree Nation with many medical issues, died in hospital at 5 years old never having seen his home because the federal and provincial governments couldn’t stop arguing over who would pay. In 2008, Brian Sinclair, a double amputee, whose family had roots in Berens River and Fort Alexander First Nations, died after waiting 34 hours in a hospital waiting room waiting for treatment for a bladder infection – while nearly 200 people passed him by – including staff who wrongly assumed he was “sleeping it off”.

    The former Auditor General for Canada raised the alarms about discriminatory funding and the failure by Indian Affairs to take action on programs that would significantly impact the lives of First Nations. The Office of the Correctional Investigator has called the increasing over-representation of Indigenous peoples a crisis that needs to be addressed. The United Nations Special Rapporteur has made numerous recommendations on how Canada can address this multi-faceted crisis in First Nations. But Canada fails to take action.

    Despite Canada’s failure to act, First Nations continue to try to raise the alarm bells on this lethal situation. A failure to address the chronic underfunding has led to First Nations being 10 times more likely to die in a house fire than Canadians. Indian affairs own report done in 2011 indicated that a minimum of $28 million dollars was needed to prevent deadly fires in Manitoba alone – yet all 633 First Nations in Canada only get $26 million.

    Canada sits back and watches our people die needless deaths while we struggle to heal our families and communities, to rebuild after the theft of our lands and resources and to resist ongoing attempts to assimilate and eliminate us. The herculean effort at the grassroots level to protect our people is made more difficult by state propaganda that would blame us for our own misery, or deflect media attention by vilifying our leaders. Now Bill C-51 will make those of us who speak out against such inhumanity all “terrorists”. Then who will defend this territory?

    The Chief Coroner for Ontario released an especially rare and powerful report in 2011 on the child suicide epidemic in Pikangikum First Nation which had declared a state of emergency – a desperate call for help that went unanswered by Canada. Within a two year period between 2006 and 2008, 16 children between the ages of 10-19 committed suicide. 16 children died – not from accidental car crashes or unpreventable diseases but because the “basic necessities of life are absent” in Pikangikum who struggles to heal and survive amidst the “backdrop of colonialism, racism and social exclusion” and government neglect.

    16 little First Nation children committed suicide because the Canadian state creates and maintains the conditions of life that will either kill them or make them so hopeless they will kill themselves. That’s the UN definition of genocide.

    In the words of the coroner, this “was not a story of capitulation to death, but rather, a story of stamina, endurance, tolerance, and resiliency stretched beyond human limits until finally, they simply could take no more.”

    In what vision of Canada are the ongoing deaths of our people ok? We need Canadians to stand beside First Nations and support us as we defend the health of our lands and waters as well as the rights and freedoms of Canadians. This should not be our burden to bear alone anymore. Help us turn this ship around before we lose any more precious children.

    #StopBillC51 #RacismKills #Genocide #FirstNationsLivesMatter #foodfor7gens #mmiw P. Palmater, Genocide, Indian Policy and legislated Elimination of Indians In Canada (2014) vol.3, no.3, Aboriginal Policy Studies 27-54. http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/aps/article/view/22225/pdf_22 P. Palmater, Stretched Beyond Human Limits: Death by Poverty in First Nations (2011) No.65/66, Can. Rev. of Social Policy 112-127. http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/crsp/article/viewFile/35220/32057

  • Déja Vu: RCMP Report on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women

    After much prodding by the media, and the Harper government’s (Minister of Public Safety) review and approval, the RCMP finally released their report on murdered and missing Indigenous women. Although slated for a March release, in typical Conservative style, the much-delayed report was released on a Friday before the Victoria Day long weekend. The report not only confirmed the over-representation of Indigenous women as murdered and missing in Canada, but the figure of 1181 was nearly double the 600+ figure originally reported by the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC). http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/mmaw-faapd-eng.htm Indigenous women suffer a victimization rate three times higher than the Canadian population and are grossly over-represented in the number of women that go murdered and missing. While homicides have declined for Canadian women, the same cannot be said for Indigenous women. Indigenous women make up 4% of the population in Canada but 11% of the missing women and 16% of the murdered women. While these numbers are high, the levels in the western provinces and northern territories are frightening. The number of murdered Indigenous women in Manitoba is 49% and in Saskatchewan its 55%.

    On the positive side, the RCMP finally turned their investigative minds to this serious issue. Because the reality is, if the RCMP can’t be motivated to look into this crisis, there is little chance in getting their assistance in addressing it. We also now have additional statistics that the show that the problem is worse than originally thought which one would hope would spur the RCMP and others into emergency action. Further, it was important that the RCMP recognized that more than a police response will be needed to address this crisis and that all of the socio-economic issues must also be addressed.

    That’s the extent to which I can be positive about this report. For the most part, this report just recycled information we already knew. We already knew the over-representation of Indigenous women and girls in murdered, missing and victimization rates, as well as the socio-economic conditions which make Indigenous women and girls vulnerable. Secondly, this report suffers from a glaring omission – an analysis of the RCMP’s role in this crisis. While there are many good men and women in the RCMP who believe in justice, those who do not, need to be exposed. Finally, if this report is any indication of an RCMP “action plan” – very little is going to change. If we can’t get real about the root causes of this crisis, we’ll still be talking about this in ten years.

    In 1989, the Report of the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall Jr., Prosecution concluded that Marshall had been wrongfully convicted of murder and spent years in jail simply because he was Mi’kmaw. “The criminal justice system failed Donald Marshall Jr., at virtually every turn from his arrest and wrongful conviction for murder in 1971 up to, and even beyond, his acquittal.” The report went further to investigate how prominent “White” people were treated with Mi’kmaw people when accused of crimes. It concluded that the RCMP would not pursue investigations of prominent “White” people despite the evidence which showed an “undue and improper sensitivity to the status of the person being investigated” and made “the ideal of justice for all meaningless”. http://www.novascotia.ca/just/marshall_inquiry/_docs/Royal%20Commission%20on%20the%20Donald%20Marshall%20Jr%20Prosecution_findings.pdf

    The 1991 Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba looking into the murder of Helen Betty Osborne also concluded that despite the fact that it is well-known that Aboriginal women and girls suffer extreme rates of violence, the Justice system does not protect them. In the case of Osborne, the RCMP treated the Indigenous witnesses brutally in comparison to how they treated the “white” accused.

    http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volume.html

    Just in case the RCMP forgot that there was an issue in need of attention, the United Nations Rapporteur rang the alarm in 2004 when he concluded that the over 500 murdered and missing Indigenous women in Canada had been neglected for far too long by Canada. Again in 2010, NWAC brought the issue to the public eye by releasing their research which showed there were at least 600+ murdered and missing and stated that the numbers of Indigenous women and girls that are murdered while in police custody, prisons or child welfare authorities also needed to be investigated. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G05/100/26/PDF/G0510026.pdf?OpenElement

    Twenty years after Helen Betty Osborne’s death, a serial killer named Robert Pickton was able to kidnap and murder Indigenous and non-Indigenous women with little fear of getting caught. Why? According to Forsaken: The Report of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, Pickton was able to prey at will due to “critical police failures” to take reports of missing women, follow up and investigate thoroughly or in a timely way. Issues of racism, systemic bias and victim-blaming were all noted in the report. http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/public_inquiries/docs/Forsaken-ES.pdf

    The most disturbing of all reports is the 2013 report entitled Those Who Take Us Away: Abusive Policing and Failures in Protection of Indigenous Women and Girls in Northern British Colombia prepared by Human Rights Watch. This report concluded that Indigenous women and girls are not only “under-protected” by the RCMP but are in fact the objects of RCMP abuse. They highlighted the many allegations of RCMP officers sexually exploiting and abusing young Indigenous girls.. There are reports of confinement, rape, and sexual assault on Indigenous girls and some have led to law suits. They also reported on a class action law suit against the RCMP by its own female officers for sexual harassment and gender discrimination. http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/canada0213webwcover.pdf

    While the government and RCMP have, at times, tried to blame the victims for their own circumstances, it seems very clear that a large part of the problem is government and RCMP’s racist and sexist attitudes towards Indigenous women and girls. In addition to Canada’s discriminatory laws and policies against Indigenous peoples generally, and women specifically, the Human Rights Watch group even reports on an example of the judiciary being involved in the abuse against these girls. David Ramsay, a provincial court judge, was accused of sexually assaulting and violently abusing girls between 12 and 17 and eventually plead guilty. How are Indigenous women and girls supposed to get justice if the Justice system participates in the abuse and rape of these women? http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=b8a2e53c-5753-496e-a032-765fef4a0e5d

    One of the biggest impediments to moving forward is the continued failure of the federal government to have the RCMP investigated to determine the full extent to which racism against Indigenous people and sexism against women in general hamper their work. Harper’s own discriminatory attitude towards Indigenous peoples is a significant barrier to moving forward. Even the most recent United Nations report from the Rapporteur commented on how poor the relationship is between Canada and Indigenous peoples and has become worse since the last visit to Canada in 2003. The United Nations is not alone in its observation of deteriorating government relations – the Bertelsmann Foundation is the latest to note that Canada’s record on governance has declined under Harper, especially when it comes to Indigenous peoples. The UN further stated that Canada’s negative public comments about Indigenous peoples risks social peace. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/SR/A.HRC.27.52.Add.2-MissionCanada_AUV.pdf

    We need a comprehensive emergency plan to prevent any more murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls. Multiple groups need to be brought together including (but not limited to) the RCMP, federal and provincial governments and police forces, Indigenous peoples, and experts to develop a plan of action. This plan should include many of the recommendations already noted in the commissions and enquiries outlined above (and won’t be repeated here). Addressing the chronic underfunding of basic human services like housing, water, food, and education is critical to addressing federally-maintained poverty which puts women and girls (and men) in vulnerable positions.

    It is important to ensure that at the same time as the emergency action plan is being carried out, that a proper comprehensive investigation of the RCMP for any role it may have had in physically abusing, confining, raping, sexually assaulting and/or causing Indigenous women or girls to go murdered or missing is critical. This investigation should include an analysis of how many times they failed to file reports, do investigations or follow up as per their standards and procedures. The RCMP and other police forces must be accountable for their actions with a view to ending this crisis. Otherwise, little has changed from the days when the RCMP would drag our children back to residential schools and ignore their complaints of abuse in the schools.

    Instead of letting another 10 years go by talking about murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, Canada needs to take immediate emergency action on this crisis.

     

    Instead of Canada spending so much money surveillance of Indigenous advocates who are trying to protect Indigenous families, it could use that money towards adequate housing, shelters and supports for Indigenous women and girls.

     

    Instead of spending multi-millions to keep Indigenous peoples in prisons, Canada could use that funding to pay for k-12 and post-secondary education.

    Instead of spending millions on litigation to deny treaty rights, land claims and access to natural resources, Canada could spend those funds to support Indigenous peoples access their lands and resources to support self-sufficient Nations.

    Instead of trying to assimilate Indians , Canada needs to accept that we are here to stay and work together for our mutual benefit as envisioned by the treaties.

     

    Instead of allowing those who view Indigenous women and girls as worthless to dictate their fate, we need to recognize these women and girls are the future of our Nations and protect our life-givers.