04) NEW PRESSURES FOR MURDERED AND MISSING WOMEN INQUIRY
By Kimball Cariou
Two new reports from very different sources have turned up the heat on the federal government, which faces growing demands to call a public inquiry into the cases of murdered and missing Aboriginal women across Canada.
The May 12 report by James Anaya, the United Nations rapporteur on indigenous rights, says that the human rights situation of Aboriginal peoples has reached "crisis proportions."
In a related development, a new RCMP report provides numbers on the total of murdered and missing women, including statistics showing that Aboriginal women are far more likely to become victims of violence.
Anaya's wide‑ranging report raises many issues, from education to energy projects and the missing or murdered women. It comes at a time of rising tensions between Aboriginal peoples and a federal government which is deeply distrusted.
"It is difficult to reconcile Canada's well‑developed legal framework and general prosperity with the human rights problems faced by indigenous peoples in Canada that have reached crisis proportions in many respects," writes Anaya. "The relationship between the federal government and indigenous peoples is strained, perhaps even more so than when the previous special rapporteur visited Canada in 2003."
The government delayed Anaya's recent visit to Canada, which finally took place last year over a nine day period. He travelled to reserves and cities in several provinces, witnessing first‑hand the dire levels of poverty and racism faced by Aboriginal peoples.
After meeting with First Nations representatives and government officials, Anaya identified serious shortfalls in education, housing and health, as well as the need for genuine consultation on major energy projects, such as the Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to the British Columbia coast. He added his support to the call for an inquiry into cases of Aboriginal women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing in the past 30 years.
In response, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt agreed that "more work needs to be done", but claimed the government is taking steps to give indigenous peoples the same access to safe housing, education and matrimonial rights as non‑aboriginals.
One of the most controversial disputes between the Canadian state and First Nations concerns resource projects and economic development. The Supreme Court has upheld the necessity of genuine consultations, but without specifying a full veto power to First Nations communities which oppose such projects on their traditional territory.
The Anaya report urges Canadian governments and industry to win aboriginal consent before proceeding with such developments. The Special Rapporteur stressed that Aboriginal peoples have expressed concerns over resource projects that will pollute their traditional lands, including Enbridge's Northern Gateway, Kinder Morgan's TransMountain expansion, and Line 9 in southern Ontario.
"The way it's supposed to work is that whenever these rights are affected, there needs to be consultation and agreement about any decision that would limit those rights in order to, in the end, protect them," Anaya said in an interview with the Globe and Mail. "Whenever someone goes onto someone's land, there needs to be permissions sought and some kind of agreement."
Art Sterritt, executive director of Coastal First Nations, a coalition of nine British Columbia bands opposed to the Northern Gateway project, agrees with Anaya's interpretation.
"First Nations in British Columbia have many options in front of us and certainly the courts are the preferred option," he told the Globe and Mail. "But if the prime minister approved this, and Enbridge tries to ram it through, there will be people out there to stop this until these questions are answered."
A National Energy Board review panel recommended approval of Northern Gateway last December, with a list of 209 conditions. Harper is widely expected to approve the tar sands pipeline this month, despite massive opposition among communities along its route and on the B.C. coast. His government argues that the resource sector employs 32,000 First Nations people, and that Aboriginal communities benefit economically from resource projects.
The pipeline would deliver 525,000 barrels per day of diluted bitumen to an export terminal in Kitimat, B.C., where it would be loaded onto super‑tankers to be transported through the stormy waters of the narrow Douglas Channel.
Environmentalists warn that any significant pipeline leak or super‑tanker spill would have disastrous consequences for the ecology, and that energy companies are not required to pay for most of the huge costs of any potential clean‑up. Observers expect that the project could be tied up for years by legal challenges and public opposition.
Meanwhile, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has released a report listing 1,026 deaths and 160 missing‑persons cases involving aboriginal women since 1980, hundreds more than some previous estimates.
The report says Aboriginal women have been much more prone to violent death than non‑natives, but also claims that murder cases have been solved for both groups at almost the same rate.
The 22 page report gives an overview of poverty, unemployment and other factors. Speaking at a news conference in Winnipeg, an RCMP spokesperson said there are still many unanswered questions, but that the research project is a first step in that direction.
The report notes that Aboriginal women make up 4.3% of the Canadian population, yet account for 16% of female homicides and 11.3% of missing women. Murdered Aboriginal women are more likely than average to be unemployed and to have consumed intoxicants just before their deaths. A small minority of missing and murdered aboriginal women had been involved in the sex trade, twelve percent versus five percent among non‑native women. The "solve" rates are 88% for aboriginal women and 89% for others.
The Manitoba Metis Federation said the report requires concrete action, including more services for women, in communities across the country.
The Assembly of First Nations said an inquiry would force the government to address the issue by, among other things, boosting women's shelters and other programs.
"While there have been many reports and findings to date, a national public commission of inquiry would demand immediate action, build on existing data and address the reasons why existing recommendations haven't been already implemented," Cameron Alexis, AFN regional chief for Alberta, said in a written statement.
Anaya said even though some steps have been taken, "The Federal government should undertake a comprehensive, nationwide inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal woman and girls, organized in consultation with indigenous peoples."
His report comes as the Assembly of First Nations is in disarray after the resignation of its national chief, Shawn Atleo. The government's proposed changes to First Nation education are in limbo until the assembly clarifies its stance.
The Tories say that Bill C‑33, the "First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act", meets five conditions outlined by the AFN during a secret meeting last December.
Many First Nations groups, and grassroots activists connected with Idle No More, say the legislation would strip away their rights and give the federal government too much control over the education of their children. They also point out that the December agreement was essentially a backroom deal reached without any broad consultation.
(The above article is from the June 1-15, 2014, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)