06) IT'S ABOUT RESPECT, NOT DOLLARS

 

People's Voice Editorial

 

            The federal Conservative government faces growing pressure to call a full public inquiry into the huge numbers of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls across Canada. After building for decades, this crisis is highly visible to the international community. UN Special Rapporteur James Anaya has made a wide range of recommendations on the situation faced by indigenous peoples in Canada, including for such an inquiry. This is the position of almost all Aboriginal organizations, the provincial premiers, the Opposition parties in Parliament, the labour movement, and many others.

 

            Yet the Harper Tories, backed by a few corporate columnists and their legion of rabid social media trolls, stubbornly refuse. Over and over, they claim that an inquiry would be a waste of time and resources better spent on improving the lives of Aboriginal women.

 

            But why can't a country as wealthy as Canada afford both? If the federal government can spend tens of billions on new fighter-bombers and a heavily armed fleet of ships, why can't it spare a tiny fraction of that amount on clean drinking water, decent housing, free education, and job creation for the poorest and most heavily oppressed people in Canada? Plus a few million dollars more to find out why Aboriginal women face such shocking risks of violence and murder?

 

            This is not about dollars, it's about respect. The government is obligated to take immediate action on this just demand, because it comes from the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. Just once, Stephen Harper should shut his patronizing, patriarchal, racist mouth, call off his attack hounds, and simply do the right thing.

 

(The above article is from the September 16-30, 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.)