violenceaganistindigenouswo-blog

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"16 Things Canada Can Do NOW To End Violence Against Indigenous Women And Girls". Amnesty International Canada. N.p., 2017. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

"Aboriginal Demographics From The 2011 National Household Survey". Government of Canada. N.p., 2017. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.

Joseph, Bob. "Indian Act And Women's Status Discrimination Via Bill C31 And Bill C3". Ictinc.ca. N.p., 2017. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

"Missing And Murdered Aboriginal Women". Cbc.ca. N.p., 2017. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

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Most of us have no or little knowledge towards aboriginal issues. Usually when we heard the word “aboriginal community”, the first word we think of is Poverty. But what lies behind means enormous issues: low education levels, disease due to the limited health care, discrimination against women.

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Status Indians and Military Service in the World Wars 

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Canada is always described as cultural mosaic, encouraging its multicultural background.  While Canadian government values the importance of different cultural aspect brought by immigrants, adopting multiculturalism as an official policy in the 1970s and 1980s, aboriginal community also represents its own uniqueness within this country. Every progress comes with struggle. If no one is taking actions to protect the rights of aboriginal community, letting its cultural aspects fading out, as a whole, the cultural diversity will diminish. 

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Figure 1:

Regional Aboriginal Identity Population Proportions

Figure 2

Regional Aboriginal Population Proportions by Aboriginal Identity

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National Action

Government should adopt a more comprehensive on violence against aboriginal women. The police force should take aboriginal issues  more seriously.

Close the Gap

The main reason for the violence against aboriginal women and girls, even communities is the difference communities. If there is a clear distinction between two communities, there is still gap in between. The aboriginal community, especially women and girls are treated poorly is due to the fact that they are minorities. Back to the previous point, national action, if there are more legislation on their fundamental rights, the number of violence against this community will decrease. 

Resource Improvement 

Food shortage, water pollution, low education rate, limited access towards health care etc.These issues had raised enough concern towards aboriginal issues for decades. If they had limited access to basic needs which non-aboriginal people has no problem with, how can we expect they can keep the same crime rate as the rest of the population does. Poverty is one of the main causes for those crimes. 

Initiative & awareness

As high-school students, the topic of aboriginal people seems far away from our lives. Prejudice comes from the lack of understanding.  Only we go deep into this issue, we can then express our own opinion and offer support them the greatest assistance in the future. The whole population percentage of aboriginal community is relatively small compared to the rest, but they still need to be respected.

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Under the Indian Act, aboriginals can only vote if they are registered Indian status which violates section III of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the democratic rights of citizens. In section III, every Canadian citizens have rights to vote in elections of members of the House of Commons.

Indigenous children had to go to the residential school where they were educated to integrate into Canadian society. However, they were not allowed to speak their own language (Indian) and the religious practices are forbidden. Many of them were taken away from their parents, otherwise, they would be put into jails as punishment. This violates the section II of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which indicates that everyone has freedom of conscience and religion. 

There are several ongoing cases which involve the death or disappearance of indigenous women. Despite several suspicious findings, authorities said that were to due to foul play.  These cases violate the section XV of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that every Canadian is equal under the law including the equal protection.

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Indian Act:

Discrimination was directed towards their culture, tradition, and beliefs

With that being said, the Potlatch (a ritual dance and ceremony) was banned from taking effect.

Many First Nation children were separated from their families and were placed in residential schools.

Aboriginals were not granted the right to vote unless they were registered as a Status Indian.

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The central provinces of Ontario and Quebec had the lowest rates of police-reported violence against women.

Provincial rates of police-reported violence against women highest in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The rate of police-reported violence against women was 5% lower than the rate for men in Nova Scotia and 8% lower in British Columbia.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba have recorded the highest provincial rates of police reported violent crime.

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Based on Statistics Canada’s 2004 General Social Survey (GSS),

54% of Aboriginal women reported severe forms of family violence, such as being beaten, being choked, having had a gun or knife used against them, or being sexually assaulted, versus 37% of non-Aboriginal women.

44% of Aboriginal women reported “fearing for their lives” when faced with severe forms of family violence, compared with 33% of non-Aboriginal women. 

27% of Aboriginal women reported experiencing 10 or more assaults by the same offender, as opposed to 18% of non-Aboriginal women.

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A priority for our Government is to create a pathway for substantive and true reconciliation and a renewed relationship with Indigenous Peoples in this country - how we address Indigenous issues in this country will be the lasting legacy of our government. Many of the women and girls who are missing or murdered are certainly victims of crime, but the issues extend well beyond our criminal-justice system, and we must look at the root causes of this tragedy. Our commitments to assess our progress in reducing the social and economic inequalities in Indigenous communities, and to improve communication between Indigenous communities, victim services, policing and prosecutions, will represent important first steps in healing that relationship."

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada The Hon. Jody Wilson-Raybould

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Some research indicates that for decades, the indigenous women have experienced high numbers of missing and murdered incidents than those who are non-indigenous.  They are discriminated not only based on their race but also their gender. Aboriginal women face life-threatening, gender-based violence, and disproportionately experience violent crimes because of hatred and racism.