Political Science Discussions

http://www.mediaindigena.com/martha-troian/issues-and-politics/missingmurdered-aboriginal-women-is-it-up-to-the-public-to-call-an-inquiry

As per the stance of the New Democrat Party (NDP) and its leader, Thomas Mulcair, there should in fact be a national inquiry looking into the cases of murdered and missing aboriginal women. Aboriginal women being a minority have been marginalized by various stereotypes and by the various governments/politicians at large. Now this is a big claim to make, however, records show that 1,200 aboriginal women have either been murdered or have gone missing in the last thirty years. Yet there has been no specific national inquiry issued by the government to expose the culprits.

The world has already heard of serial killer Robert Pickton, who is currently facing first and second degree charges in the cases of murdering women on his pig farm. Out of the 22 bodies found on Pickton’s pig farm, half of these are thought to be aboriginal women. Despite this fact, there has been no research done as to why it is aboriginal women who largely end up being such targets.

In response to the issue of murdered and missing aboriginal women, the NDP took initiative and “forced” debate on this topic in the Parliament on September 19, 2014. The NDP being official opposition, “took advantage of the typically sparse end-of-week turnout in the house to seize control of parliamentary agenda” as stated in many articles. A full discussion/debate took place in the Parliament with NDP MP Romeo Saganash’s emotional and personal plea for federal investigation. This plea, I felt, was also in response to what Mr. Harper had to say on September 3, 2014, in relation to the topic of murdered and missing aboriginal women.

Mr. Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, stated that the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women is not “a sociological phenomenon”. However as stated by Mr. Mulclair, this comment undermines the brutally high levels of violence aboriginal women face. Mr. Harper’s statement ignores the fact that all of this violence against specifically aboriginal women is indefinably systematic. There is a specific reason as to why it is largely aboriginal women who are targeted and victimized compared to non-aboriginal women. This reason can be searched and found through a full commission of inquiry. Through this inquiry the reasons need to be exposed and addressed in order to prevent future cases of aboriginal women becoming a target.

Aboriginal people themselves have been marginalized over the time after colonialization and they still continue to fight for treaty and land rights etc. Women on the other hand, generally speaking, have and still continue to also be marginalized as a lot of feminist scholars argue. Both of these groups can be classified as victims in certain ways. Sadly aboriginal women are a part of both marginalized groups so the brutality they face is unimaginable. Though aboriginal women make up more than 4.3% of the Canadian population, they yet account for 16% of the total murders. These statistics defiantly speak for themselves alluding to how the cases of murdered and missing women are indeed systematic.

Taking a look at the cases of 1,200 murdered and missing women, I feel the least that we as Canadians can do is serve these women justice by enforcing a national inquiry. Not only will this initiative provide justice to these women and their families, it will also bring into light the reasons and the culprits responsible for this horrendous tragedy leading to future prevention.

http://genderadvocacy.org/campaigns-and-projects/missing-justice/