Women continue to fall victim as debate rages on

The cousin of former Alberta Regional Chief Cameron Alexis is one more statistic for 2015. Misty Potts Sanderson of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation was last seen March 14 near the northern Alberta First Nation.

Sanderson, 37, is another in a long string of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. At the same time her family went public with a plea for help, the RCMP were releasing the name of Delores Brower, whose skeletal remains were found April 19 near Rollyview, Alta. She had been reported missing May 2005, last seen in Edmonton in May 2004. Brower was the third Indigenous woman to be located in that area.

Amber Tuccaro went missing in 2010; her remains were found in 2012. Katie Sylvia Ballantyne was reported missing in April 2003; her remains were recovered July 2003. RCMP say the bodies were within an eight-kilometre radius.

The investigations into their deaths remain open.

Figures recently released by the RCMP for 2013 and 2014 show little progress on the national front as the rate of murders and disappearances remains steady. Another 32 Aboriginal women have been murdered and 11 more have disappeared. These numbers are on top of the 1,181 murdered and missing Indigenous women, which the RCMP tallied from 1980 to 2012. These figures reflect cases in RCMP jurisdiction only. Indigenous women account for four per cent of Canada’s population.

“The Assembly of First Nations has been saying this all along, that nothing has changed,” said Alexis, who held the portfolio for justice for the AFN. “The Prime Minister continues to say ‘no’ to a public commission of inquiry and, painfully, our people continue to disappear and die. In the meantime, there’s no action.”

For years Aboriginal leaders and groups have been calling for a national inquiry into the issue. In June, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission included the need for a national inquiry among its 94 recommendations. The announcement was made at the TRC’s wrap-up event in Ottawa and brought a room full of people to their feet – all but federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt.

The provinces are also on side, with the latest call coming from Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.

“What more does the Prime Minister need, really? Here you’ve got the territorial leaders and provincial leaders telling the Prime Minister this is needed. Yet, he doesn’t want to,” said Alexis.

That refusal was underscored in a recent House of Commons vote. On June 18, Carolyn Bennett, the Liberal Party Aboriginal affairs critic, introduced a private member bill calling for a national public inquiry into the “ongoing tragedy” of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The bill was defeated when Conservative MPs unanimously voted against it.

“This epidemic of violence must end and the Conservative government — which claims to be tough on crime and to stand up for victims of crime — cannot continue to ignore this ongoing tragedy,” said Bennett.

This lack of action by the federal government has frustrated outgoing Congress of Aboriginal Peoples National Chief Betty Ann Lavallee.

“Our women continue to be murdered and go missing at a rate that would be unacceptable if it were happening to any other group in the country, and yet the federal government refuses to call an inquiry to determine the best way forward,” said Lavallee.

Proponents for a national inquiry say it’s a necessary step in order to determine the root causes behind violence against Indigenous women and how to address them.

The RCMP stated in its updated report that it “remained committed to ensuring the reduction and prevention of violence against Aboriginal women,” but it also said that the RCMP was just one of numerous organizations that needed to tackle the issue.

Alexis, a retired RCMP officer, agrees. He says all levels of government and their departments, and the community need to get involved.

A sobering statistic offered by the RCMP indicated that the offender was known to the woman in all solved cases of murdered Indigenous women in 2013-2014. That figure drops to 93 per cent with non-Indigenous women. The common factor with both groups is violence within the family relationship.

“We have to approach this from a grassroots position, work from the ground up going forward,” said Alexis. “The community has to rise up.”