Introduction
Although it seems like everybody shares the same rights in Canada, Aboriginal women are the ones who suffer the most from government injustice. They are mistreated physically and mentally across the country. “Aboriginal women are victims of human rights violations” (Harper 33).
Even though Canada was ranked among 175 other countries as the best to live in the world in 2001, it did not fit Aboriginal women. Harper points out that Aboriginal women “suffer from inequality of status compared to both Aboriginal men and, especially, their non-Aboriginal counterparts” (33). The problem of violence against Aboriginal women requires increased attention from society and finding ways to prevent it.
Crimes Against Aboriginal Women in Canada
To understand the present, it is necessary to understand the past. This has been seen throughout the years since the Residential schools were active following the Indian Act of 1870. By 1979, only 15 residential schools were still operating, a substantial difference from the 80 schools in 1931. “The damage done by these schools is still evident today […] the return of self-identity and self-esteem is a slow process” (Sinclair and Hamilton 371).
During the ’90s, different religious groups apologized to all Aboriginal people. In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the Government of Canada, apologized to all former students of Aboriginal residential schools in Canada (Miller). The apology openly recognized that the assimilation policy on which the schools were established caused harm.
Residential schools changed the lives of many Aboriginal women because the luxury of education was exemplary. It is hard to believe, but “Aboriginal women went from being central forces in their communities to having little value” (Mitchell).
A similar thing can be seen in the play by Taylor: Grace admits, “I always knew I was Indian, but it never actually meant anything to me” (58). She has lost part of her identity because the environment around her has inclined her to do so. Amnesty International states that “gang members are mistreating Aboriginal women in every way, leading to their disappearances and even murders. The impunity of such actions is due to how long all the actions of the male population got away with it and had no effect on their careers or roles in society.
Current Problems
In the last 20 years, there have been over 600 cases of missing Aboriginal women in Canada. Moreover, that is just the number from the database of the Sisters in Spirit project (Mitchell). However, this number is shocking to some people but not to others since there are different views on the problem.
From a Canadian point of view, it is a significant number. There is a pattern: “According to Canadian government statistics, Indigenous women are five times to seven times more likely than other women to die as the result of violence” (Amnesty). To grasp the idea that this can happen in Canada is hard. Is Canada not supposed to be peaceful and safe?
Numerous studies have shown how the quality of life differs for women of different origins. In a recent study, a comparison between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women about the contribution of socioeconomic position in explaining the excess of any abuse and intimate partner violence was made (Daoud et al. 278). The findings are shocking: Aboriginal women are almost four times more susceptible to intimate partner violence than non-Aboriginals.
This study concludes that “socioeconomic position is a predominant contributor to the excess of abuse against Aboriginal vs. non-Aboriginal women in Canada” (Daoud et al. 280). Changing Aboriginal women’s socioeconomic status can change the cycle of violence and reduce the severity of adverse conditions. The impact on this population area can be expected to improve their role in society.
Nonetheless, it should be understood that high socioeconomic status is not necessarily a guarantee for avoiding abuse. Furthermore, the idea that a lack of education equals the perpetration of violence is not entirely accurate (Mayer). Violence is solid and varied, so we cannot focus on just one factor.
Uncovering multiple causes and aspects will create a more robust and effective campaign against violence. For example, the violence is not always direct; sometimes, it is the separated children, as in Someday by Drew Hayden Taylor. She writes that the mother of the lost child “never in my entire life did I expect to see a daughter of mine bad mouth her flesh and blood” (17). The anguish of being separated from one’s child is a form of abuse that should not be tolerated.
Darlene Osborne is an Aboriginal woman who lost two family members. Her children, Felicia Solomon and Helen Betty Osborne were murdered (Stolen sisters). In 2004, at the launch of Amnesty International’s report, Osborne explored: “Families like mine all over Canada are wondering how many more sisters and daughters we have to lose before real government action is taken” (Amnesty).
In 1971, nineteen-year-old Helen Betty Osborne from Norway House, Manitoba, was abducted from the streets of The Pas. Her abductees were four white men, and “she was sexually assaulted and brutally murdered” (Stolen sisters). Fifteen years passed before the first charges were laid against any of the perpetrators. It was stated by the Manitoba Justice Inquiry in 1991 that “There is one fundamental fact: her murder was a racist and sexist act. Betty Osborne would be alive today had she not been an aboriginal woman” (Stolen sisters). A murder based on nationality continues, and it is draining the strength of indigenous peoples to fight.
Such is the case of Bishop O’Connor of British Columbia, who raped, impregnated, and humiliated Aboriginal women. He was “offered a sentencing circle as though by raping he had himself become Aboriginal and entitled to alternate Justice programs” (Lakerman). However, he was white and “the highest-ranking Catholic clergy ever charged with sex crimes in Canada” (Lakerman). O’Connor had been the principal of a Residential School, where he held Aboriginal women hostage as students or employees (Lakerman). Such attitudes should be punishable, but for a long time, racism and poverty have fostered such attitudes.
A particularly difficult point in the study of Aboriginal women’s problems is their interaction with society. They are usually accompanied by fear for their lives, as there is a risk of their quality of life being disrupted. In a 2009 study, Brennan (10) found that “Aboriginal women victims of spousal violence were more likely to state that they feared for their lives than non-Aboriginal women.”
Also, non-Aboriginal women are said to feel less stressed than Aboriginal women stated. They shared a similar view on the performance of Canada’s courts. For example, “39% of Aboriginal women and 41% of non-Aboriginal women felt that Canadian courts did a good job of ensuring a fair trial for those accused of a crime” (Brennan 14). Consequently, only, on average, half of women can trust the Canadian judicial system and view it as honest and helpful.
Activities of the Aboriginal community
The Aboriginal community is putting pressure on the government to do something about all those missing and murdered women. Supporters across the country have joined the families of those missing sisters, daughters, mothers, and grandmothers. “The federal government has refused to entertain the idea of an inquiry” (The Canadian Press).
One of the special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples stated that “Canada faces a crisis when it comes to the situation of indigenous peoples of the country” (The Canadian Press). Certainly, Canada needs to work in collaboration with the Aboriginal community to achieve harmony, development, and satisfaction of needs. There has been a national action plan formulated by Amnesty International (Amnesty):
- “Ensure Indigenous women’s access to justice, including effective and unbiased police response to all cases of missing and murdered women and new investigations of cases where police misconduct has occurred;
- Improve public awareness and accountability through the consistent collection and publication of national statistics on rates of violent crime against Indigenous women;
- Provide adequate, stable funding to the frontline organizations that provide culturally-appropriate services such as shelter, support and counseling for Indigenous women and girls and their communities;
- Address the root causes of violence against Indigenous women, including by closing the economic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people;
- Eliminate inequalities in the services available to Aboriginal children, in particular, through the child welfare system.”
It is hoped that this plan will significantly improve the current condition of the indigenous female population.
Conclusion
If the Aboriginal community had more help and support from the police force, the families of all those missing and murdered women would find the peace they need and faith in the Canadian government would be restored. Attention should be paid to police actions that violated women’s rights and intentionally aggravated their situation. In addition, there is no denying that current policies for protecting indigenous people appear weak and underdeveloped.
Using new ways of community development, exchange of experiences, and communication could likely remedy the current situation. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that the level of trust among Aboriginal women in the authorities has dropped considerably. Based on this, all future actions to counter violence must be coordinated with abused women because only their experience determines the effectiveness of the methods to be implemented.
Works Cited
Brennan, Shannon. “Violent victimization of Aboriginal women in the Canadian provinces, 2009.” Statistics Canada, no. 85-002-X. Web.
Daoud, Nihaya, et al. “The Contribution of Socio-Economic Position to the Excesses of Violence and Intimate Partner Violence among Aboriginal versus Non-Aboriginal Women in Canada”. Canadian Journal of Public Health, vol. 104, no. 4, pp. 278-283. Web.
Harper, Anita O. “Canada Peaceful and Safe for Aboriginal Women?” Canadian Woman Studies, vol. 25, no. 1. Web.
Lakeman, Lee. “Why “Law and Order” Cannot End Violence Against Women: And Why the Development of Women’s (Social, Economic and Political and Civil) Rights Might”. Canadian Woman Studies, vol. 20, no. 3, 2000, pp. 24-33. Web.
Mayer, Lorraine F. “Aboriginal Women and Education: Overcoming a Legacy of Abuse.” The Canadian Journal of Native Studies, vol. 27, no. 1, 2007, p. 35-47.
Miller, J. M. Residential schools. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2012. Web.
Mitchell, P. (2011) Sisters In Spirit. Herizons 24.3 5.
“No More Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women”. Amnesty, no date. Web.
Sinclair, Murray, and A. C. Hamilton. “The Residential School System” in Across the Disciplines, edited by Jaqueline McLeod Rogers and Catherine G. Taylor. Toronto: Pearson Canada, 2011, pp. 367-371.
“Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada”. Canadian Woman Studies, vol. 26, no. 3, 2008, pp. 105-121.
Taylor, Drew Hayden. Someday. Fifth House Publishing, 1991.
The Canadian Press. “UN Human Rights Investigator Says Canada Needs Inquiry into Missing Aboriginal Women”. The Globe and Mail. 2013. Web.