Too many deaths, not enough answers

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Most people know that Aboriginal people are over-represented in the Canadian criminal justice system. The fact of the matter is that this is soft talk. The truth is that Aboriginal people are dying and the Canadian criminal justice system bears a special responsibility for these deaths, despite the fact that at the time of writing this column, the RCMP investigating recent deaths in Saskatoon of Aboriginal men have yet to lay any charges, I believe that the police had something to do with these deaths.

This, however, is merely the tip of the iceberg. How many Aboriginal people have died violent deaths and no charges were ever laid? My aunt died on the streets of Edmonton in the 1970s. My family has never had any answers about what happened to her. I know we are not alone in this.

We can add to the list of deaths, the suicides of how many Aboriginal persons in federal prisons, provincial jails and police lock ups. I have never heard of anyone talking about this statistic. In 1989 and 1990, seven Aboriginal women committed suicide at the federal prison for women in Kingston, Ont. They were women from the prairies. Again last month, another Aboriginal woman died at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary.

I have not heard anyone recently making the connection between the sexual violence resulting in the death of Pamela George in Regina. She died at the hands of two white men. These men received short sentences and will soon be out of jail. It is essential that we do not lose sight of the fact that the police who investigated this violence had a hand in shaping the information on which the charging and prosecution took place. All of the things are connected to policing.

Yes, Aboriginal over-representation exists. Yes, it is a problem. There is also a significant issue of lost trust between justice officials, the police and Aboriginal people. Frankly, I do not see the province doing much of anything to fix this. Equally, our own silence is part of the problem. We must stop refusing to see the problem for what it is. Aboriginal people are dying and it should not be this way.