Post by Okwes on Apr 14, 2008 13:43:30 GMT -5
What if a small city disappeared
By David Scott
Friday, April 11, 2008 If 18,000 women in Canada went missing, would people take notice?The equivalent number of women in terms of Canada’s national Aboriginal population has gone missing since 1957. Many were murdered. Few were found alive. A lot are still unaccounted for. And those are just the known cases.
Beverly Jacobs presented some powerful and disturbing facts and numbers as part of her guest lecture on April 2 at Dan and Mary Lou Smoke’s First Nations in the News Media class.
Jacobs, a lawyer by trade who holds a law degree from University of Windsor and a masters of law from University of Saskatchewan, was instrumental as lead researcher and consultant for Amnesty International’s Stolen Sisters Report released in 2004. The groundbreaking document highlighted racial and sexual violence against Aboriginal women in Canada.
Her work with Amnesty International helped lead the member of the Mohawk community to her decision to run for president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) in October 2004 and put her legal practice at Six Nations Grand River Territory on hold. She continues to secure funding for Sisters In Spirit, a research, education and policy initiative aimed at raising public awareness about Canada’s missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
Jacobs held an eagle feather during her presentation given to her by one of the victim’s families to help her when she spoke. “It’s a very emotional and spiritual issue. We’re talking about missing spirits, murdered women. Unresolved murder of Aboriginal women.”
For the past few years she has been hearing more and more stories from families of missing daughters, sisters, aunts and mothers. Jacobs often becomes close with families who are willing to open up and share their stories of loss. And now the research into the tragedy of missing Aboriginal women has hit close to home for the president of NWAC.
“It’s very heartbreaking because now I’m personally affected. My cousin has been missing for two months. We had a press conference just last week. And it’s difficult to concentrate on anything else. On the work I’ve done for five or six years on this issue. It has now hit home, now it’s hit my own family.”
The statistics reinforce the dire reality of native women. Aboriginal women age 25 to 44 are five times more likely to die from acts of violence than non-Aboriginal women in Canada. In 2003, Aboriginal women are three times more likely to be the victims of spousal violence than non-Aboriginal women.
The president of NWAC cites the case of Helen Betty Osborne as illustrative of the indifference of Canadian society to Aboriginal women and the fact they’re targeted just because they’re Aboriginal and women. Four white men in The Pas, Manitoba in 1971 were protected by the community who were aware the men were responsible for the abduction, sexual assault and murder of Osborne. Only one was eventually charged. That sparked the Manitoba Justice Inquiry.
“The racism that occurs in this country is outrageous,” says Jacobs.
In the two-and-a-half years Sisters In Spirit has been researching known cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women, they have accumulated more than 500 names in their database. Those numbers, as a percentage basis of the Aboriginal population, translate into the equivalent of about 18,000 non-native women in Canada’s population.
The earliest case reaches back to 1957. Fifteen percent of the cases are from the 1980s, 34 per cent occurred in the 1990s and 47 per cent in this decade. More than half of the women missing or murdered were under the age of 25. These are the known cases. Jacobs suspects there are more. But some people are afraid to speak out.
“We know there are families who haven’t even come forward yet. The fear of going to police and report someone missing is an issue because of historic mistrust of police.”
What’s frightening is the number of new names of missing Aboriginal women being added to the database – five to 10 new individuals per month, says Jacobs. In June, plans are underway to make public the recent findings of the Sisters In Spirit initiative.
“We do have the attention of the international community,” she says.
This problem is not unique to Canada. “In Guatemala the people who came to speak talked about the risk they took even coming forward. Their leaders are being targeted by the state, by police. This is happening all across the world (indigenous women going missing). It’s a phenomena nobody knows about and nobody is taking the time to learn about.”
Every October 4, Sisters In Spirit vigils are held across Canada to honour missing Aboriginal women and bring attention to the issue. In 2007, 27 communities in Canada held vigils and two were held internationally in Peru and Colombia.
By David Scott
Friday, April 11, 2008 If 18,000 women in Canada went missing, would people take notice?The equivalent number of women in terms of Canada’s national Aboriginal population has gone missing since 1957. Many were murdered. Few were found alive. A lot are still unaccounted for. And those are just the known cases.
Beverly Jacobs presented some powerful and disturbing facts and numbers as part of her guest lecture on April 2 at Dan and Mary Lou Smoke’s First Nations in the News Media class.
Jacobs, a lawyer by trade who holds a law degree from University of Windsor and a masters of law from University of Saskatchewan, was instrumental as lead researcher and consultant for Amnesty International’s Stolen Sisters Report released in 2004. The groundbreaking document highlighted racial and sexual violence against Aboriginal women in Canada.
Her work with Amnesty International helped lead the member of the Mohawk community to her decision to run for president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) in October 2004 and put her legal practice at Six Nations Grand River Territory on hold. She continues to secure funding for Sisters In Spirit, a research, education and policy initiative aimed at raising public awareness about Canada’s missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
Jacobs held an eagle feather during her presentation given to her by one of the victim’s families to help her when she spoke. “It’s a very emotional and spiritual issue. We’re talking about missing spirits, murdered women. Unresolved murder of Aboriginal women.”
For the past few years she has been hearing more and more stories from families of missing daughters, sisters, aunts and mothers. Jacobs often becomes close with families who are willing to open up and share their stories of loss. And now the research into the tragedy of missing Aboriginal women has hit close to home for the president of NWAC.
“It’s very heartbreaking because now I’m personally affected. My cousin has been missing for two months. We had a press conference just last week. And it’s difficult to concentrate on anything else. On the work I’ve done for five or six years on this issue. It has now hit home, now it’s hit my own family.”
The statistics reinforce the dire reality of native women. Aboriginal women age 25 to 44 are five times more likely to die from acts of violence than non-Aboriginal women in Canada. In 2003, Aboriginal women are three times more likely to be the victims of spousal violence than non-Aboriginal women.
The president of NWAC cites the case of Helen Betty Osborne as illustrative of the indifference of Canadian society to Aboriginal women and the fact they’re targeted just because they’re Aboriginal and women. Four white men in The Pas, Manitoba in 1971 were protected by the community who were aware the men were responsible for the abduction, sexual assault and murder of Osborne. Only one was eventually charged. That sparked the Manitoba Justice Inquiry.
“The racism that occurs in this country is outrageous,” says Jacobs.
In the two-and-a-half years Sisters In Spirit has been researching known cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women, they have accumulated more than 500 names in their database. Those numbers, as a percentage basis of the Aboriginal population, translate into the equivalent of about 18,000 non-native women in Canada’s population.
The earliest case reaches back to 1957. Fifteen percent of the cases are from the 1980s, 34 per cent occurred in the 1990s and 47 per cent in this decade. More than half of the women missing or murdered were under the age of 25. These are the known cases. Jacobs suspects there are more. But some people are afraid to speak out.
“We know there are families who haven’t even come forward yet. The fear of going to police and report someone missing is an issue because of historic mistrust of police.”
What’s frightening is the number of new names of missing Aboriginal women being added to the database – five to 10 new individuals per month, says Jacobs. In June, plans are underway to make public the recent findings of the Sisters In Spirit initiative.
“We do have the attention of the international community,” she says.
This problem is not unique to Canada. “In Guatemala the people who came to speak talked about the risk they took even coming forward. Their leaders are being targeted by the state, by police. This is happening all across the world (indigenous women going missing). It’s a phenomena nobody knows about and nobody is taking the time to learn about.”
Every October 4, Sisters In Spirit vigils are held across Canada to honour missing Aboriginal women and bring attention to the issue. In 2007, 27 communities in Canada held vigils and two were held internationally in Peru and Colombia.