This is not an in depth review, which I don’t have time for at the moment; but some basic facts. Based on the small number of known documented cases, quotes from fact sheet below:
“NWAC has gathered information about 582 cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. Of these:
67% are murder cases (death as the result of homicide or negligence);
20% are cases of missing women or girls;
4% are cases of suspicious death—deaths regarded as natural or accidental by police, but considered suspicious by family or community members; and
9% are cases where the nature of the case is unknown—it is unclear whether the woman was murdered, is missing or died in suspicious circumstances.
NWAC’s research indicates that, between 2000 and 2008, Aboriginal women and girls represented approximately 10% of all female homicides in Canada. However, Aboriginal women make up only 3% of the female population.
There are no national data sources regarding missing persons in Canada. This makes it difficult to look at the issue of missing Aboriginal women and girls in comparison to other missing women. The Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police (SACP) is perhaps the only policing body to publish statistics on missing persons. It reports that almost 59% of missing women and girls in Saskatchewan are of Aboriginal ancestry.”
(Update: cakers started a database in 2014, only because of the missing Aboriginal women’s situation – can’t even give them credit for starting it themselves.)
Cases are recent
The oldest case in NWAC’s database occurred in 1944, but most are much more recent; 39% of the cases in NWAC’s database occurred between 2000 and 2010, and 17% occurred in the 1990s. In contrast, only 2% of the cases in the database occurred before 1970. This gap strongly suggests that there are still many older cases to document.
Most of the cases involve young women and girls. Just over half of the cases (55%) involve women and girls under the age of 31, with 17% of women and girls 18 years of age or younger. Only 8% of cases involve women over 45.
Of the cases where this information is known, the vast majority of women in NWAC’s database (88%) were mothers. NWAC estimates that more than 440 children have been impacted by the disappearance or murder of their mother. Very little is known about what happens to these children following the loss of their mother.
What is going on in BC?
More than a quarter (28%) of all cases occurred in British Columbia, followed by Alberta with 16% of cases. Overall, more than half (54%) of cases occurred in the West: 29% of cases occurred in the south (Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec), 6% took place in the North; and 2% took place in the Atlantic provinces. NWAC is still working to confirm where the violence occurred in 8% of cases
NWAC has found that only 53% of murder cases involving Aboriginal women and girls have led to charges of homicide. This is dramatically different from the national clearance rate for homicides in Canada, which was last reported as 84% (Statistics Canada 2005, p.10). While a small number of cases in NWAC’s database have been “cleared” by the suicide of the offender or charges other than homicide, 40% of murder cases remain unsolved.
Aboriginal women are almost three times more likely to be killed by a stranger than non-Aboriginal women are.
Women involved in prostitution are extremely vulnerable and experience high levels of violence. NWAC has gathered information about prostitution in only a small number of cases. Of these cases, about half involve women who were not involved in prostitution, and about half involve women who were or were suspected to be involved in this area. This finding may change as we collect more data.”
The caker government is only now beginning to “structure an inquiry” into the matter. Most cakers have dismissed these women as ‘mere prostitutes’ and huffed that while working in such a dangerous “occupation” it’s natural they would come to harm. So far the NWAC’s research shows a significant portion were in fact not prostitutes.
Regardless of whether or not these women are prostitutes, what needs accounting for is the discrepancy. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women working in prostitution should face roughly the same percentage of murder and missing cases. Some take for granted that Aboriginal women will be over-represented in prostitution, but being such a minority in the country I can’t see them outweighing their “white” non-indigenous counterparts outright. Even if that were the case, murder cases should even out on a percentage-wise basis.
But herein lies the problem, the cakers will say “well we don’t have the data!” (Repeat after me: we don’t have the data!) And without that, comparing indigenous high-risk population murders to others will be difficult.
(*Note: NWAC’s data was compiled in 2010, Stats Can data from 2014.)
The next defensive argument cakers make is that these women were mostly killed by “people they knew”. Which really is no surprise because most people are killed by those they know – especially women. The blame shifted to Aboriginal men, but Statistics Canada says:
Non-Aboriginal women are more likely to be killed by family members than Aboriginal women (by 7%)
Aboriginal women are more likely to be killed by an acquaintance (5%); differences of homicide by stranger were only 2%.
It would be interesting to note the race of the ‘acquaintances’ but that isn’t mentioned here. If they’re Aboriginal, it evens out. If they’re white or non-indigenous then there’s a difference.
The homicide by stranger is also interesting, because if all these Aboriginal women are ‘prostitutes’ doing high-risk activities, shouldn’t the murder-by-stranger ratio be much higher than negligible? If you want to argue Johns as ‘acquaintances’ then you would need to figure out the number of murder-by-Johns for non-indigenous prostitutes.
Aboriginal people are 6 (women) to 7 (men) times more likely to be victims of homicide than non-indigenous persons.
For women they are 12x more likely in the Yukon and 11x more likely in Saskatchewan.
You could make a case for Aboriginal men being killed by fellow Aboriginals (I don’t have stats on this, I’m going by known gangs in Manitoba, etc), but those facts don’t necessarily bear out for the women. Approximately 79% of Aboriginal women are killed by those “they know”; this is roughly the equivalent of non-Aboriginal women – 81%.
Again, it depends on who these ‘acquaintances’ are. Really, the most reasonable answer is likely looking us in the face: the discrepancy is racism. Native women are seen as more ‘disposable’, unworthy, deserving of harm, and it’s likely figured that if they go missing nobody will care and it will attract less attention than a white woman for instance.
Now if solving the problem of missing Indigenous women comes down to solving racism in Canadian society … well, good luck with that! Canada is a typical racist colonial society that is unapologetic about its past, feels that it ‘deserves’ or ‘earned’ the right to conquest and that it’s justified by Providence or superior culture.
As mentioned in the last post, non-indigenous treatment and sexual exploitation of Aboriginal women is a serious problem. But that would mean holding white Canadian men to account – something that simply isn’t going to happen any time soon (as they control most of the society, especially the upper echelons).
Reasonable solutions were made in the report on how to help these objectified, trafficked women – but it’s up to their abusers to help implement the solutions to solving the crisis, a bit ironic and unlikely. A part of any formal “solution” will have to entail stopping the sexual trafficking and abusing of Aboriginal women by the majority non-indigenous Canadians. (Yes, that means actual law enforcement and not slaps on the wrist.)
I will have to look at more reports, but again it all comes down to who you choose to believe. According to a study/analysis done by the Toronto Star, most indigenous women did not know their killers. One might be more inclined to believe the press, rather than an often inept RCMP force that has the political need to cover its ass. Keep in mind the corruption of the Canadian government regarding the residential schools and its attempt to circumvent its crimes – can we expect any less here?
Simply put, Canada is a horrible place for Aboriginal women. To any reading this that are educated and have any options – I suggest you flee to the US as is your right under the Jay Treaty.