Stopping family violence begins at home

Eight days after burying Amber Tuccaro in Fort Chipewyan, Vivian and Billy Joe Tuccaro thanked people for their prayers over two years and urged the federal government to allow other families to get closure.

Amber Tuccaro, from the Mikisew Cree First Nation, went missing from Nisku in August 2010. Her body was found Sept. 1, 2012, east of Leduc. The discovery came only days after the RCMP’s KARE Unit released a cell phone conversation that included the driver of the vehicle reassuring Tuccaro that he was heading into Edmonton as she had wanted. RCMP say the release of the recording did not lead to the discovery of Tuccaro’s body.

“Our women are not just vanishing…. This needs serious and immediate action.  This is a national tragedy from coast to coast,” Billy Joe Tuccaro, Amber’s brother, said, speaking at the Sisters in Spirit rally held at City Hall in Edmonton on Oct. 6. Tuccaro said authorities were not giving the cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women priority because authorities viewed the women as leading high risk lifestyles.

“All missing women’s stories need to be told and have to be addressed so the families can get some sense of closure,” Tuccaro said.

Mikisew Cree First Nation Chief Steve Courtoreille said dealing with the recent Tuccaro tragedy was the “toughest thing I had to do as a leader.”

Courtoreille challenged the men in his community to make the changes necessary to run homes that are violence-free. He called on them to return to their traditional role as protectors. He also said that communities had to start taking responsibility for the violence and to stop blaming residential schools, alcohol, and drugs.

“It’s time we take control and start respecting our women. We have to stop this violence. It starts at home, how we teach our children to be respectful to one another, to their mothers, grandmothers,” Courtoreille said. “I had to make changes in my life in order for me to be a better person.”

Courtoreille applauded the Assembly of First Nations for its push for a federal inquiry into the number of unsolved cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.

AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo said the federal government has not yet committed to an inquiry. He also reiterated his call for the establishment of a National Integrated RCMP and Police Task Force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The AFN passed a resolution in July calling for the task force. The resolution also directed the AFN to convene a national forum and Special Chiefs Assembly on Justice and Community Safety no later than spring 2013 and to collaborate with the Native Women’s Association of Canada to include a focus on murdered and missing women and girls. At that time, as well, First Nations leaders, premiers and territorial leaders made the pledge to live violence-free.

The rally unveiled a petition from NWAC, which has been endorsed by Amnesty International, and “support(s) holding a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.” The petition also calls for Aboriginal women to be consulted in the “design, decision-making, process and implementation of this inquiry.”

Latest NWAC figures indicate over 600 murdered or missing Aboriginal women, with Alberta and British Columbia having the highest numbers.

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel was among the politicians – municipal, provincial, and federal - to call for action.

“We need people to stand up, say that’s wrong … but not just criticize, but to change things … that’s what we need to strive for,” he said.

Caption: Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo addressed the issue of murdered and missing Aboriginal women:  “To be violence free in our houses, in our homes, it begins there.”