05) DEMAND FULL INQUIRY INTO MURDERED AND MISSING WOMEN

 

Statement by the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada

 

            The anti‑human agenda of the Harper Tories has been exposed yet again by their latest refusals to call a full public inquiry into the cases of murdered and missing women across Canada. In the wake of the more extensive revelations about this shocking reality, the Communist Party of Canada renews our demand for such an inquiry as a matter of extreme urgency.

 

             A new report issued by the RCMP lists 1,026 deaths and 160 missing‑persons cases involving Aboriginal women since 1980, hundreds more than some previous estimates. The report confirms that Aboriginal women are disproportionately likely to be the subject of violent attacks. While Aboriginal women make up 4.3% of all women in Canada, they account for 16% of female homicides and 11.3% of missing women. Poverty, unemployment and other forms of racist inequality are major factors in this ongoing tragedy. Murdered Aboriginal women are more likely than average to be unemployed and to have consumed intoxicants just before their deaths. But contrary to racist stereotypes, only 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. While the RCMP report calls for action on the social factors at play in this ongoing tragedy, the force also tries to cover its own responsibility, claiming that the "solve" rates are 88% for aboriginal women and 89% for others.

 

The callous response of the federal Conservative government is deeply shocking. We join with many others in pointing to the obvious conclusion: if 25,000 non‑Aboriginal women had been murdered or gone missing across Canada over the past thirty years, of course there would be swift action, including public inquiries and immediate steps to end such a wave of criminal terror. Instead, the Harper Tories continue to duck the rising tide of public pressure, shuffling responsibility onto other levels of government and police forces. At lower levels, other governments are also evading their responsibilities; in British Columbia, for example, where the largest numbers of deaths have taken place, the province still refuses even to begin a shuttle bus service along the infamous "highway of tears" from Prince George to Prince Rupert, where many Aboriginal women have gone missing and are presumed killed.

 

We must point out that this issue is deeply are rooted in the historic legacy of colonialism and racism in Canada. The conquest of North America by European powers beginning 500 years ago was accompanied by ruthless genocidal policies and actions, leading to the deaths of tens of millions. The genocide against indigenous peoples in the western hemisphere, and the trans‑Atlantic slave trade, were justified by horrendous racist doctrines declaring the lesser status of non‑Europeans. These white supremacist doctrines were used to justify the theft of indigenous territories, to ban the languages and cultural practices of Aboriginal peoples, to impose shocking low wages and abysmal living standards. Together with the ideology of male supremacy, these were the conditions which led to the centuries‑old racist treatment of Aboriginal women, right up to the present day, when police forces and the Canadian state dismissed the disappearances of these woman as not worthy of serious attention. By rejecting the growing demands for a full public inquiry, the Harper government is continuing the legacy of this racist policy, at a time when more deaths and disappearances are being reported.

 

More and more movements and organizations, and even the opposition parties in Parliament, are now raising the demand for such an inquiry. This demand must continue to be front and centre in the struggle to overcome the historic oppression of Aboriginal peoples within the Canadian state, along with other crucial issues raised in the recent report by UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights, James Anaya: genuine and meaningful consultations over resource and economic projects which affect First Nations tradtional territories; control over the educational system for Aboriginal children; an end to the abysmally‑low standards of health, housing, social development, and housing for Aboriginal peoples.

 

These struggles are integral to the overall struggle by the working people of Canada for our future, since they are crucial to the fight to end the domination of our economic and political life by the big transnational corporations. Unity in the fight for a genuine People's Alternative to the neoliberal agenda must begin with full support for the equality of Aboriginal peoples and Quebec, including a unifying fightback strategy by the new leadership of the Canadian Labour Congress. Our Party pledges to do everything in our power to help achieve such unity.

(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.)