It might sound harsh, but the call for an inquiry into the murders of aboriginal women is sexist and misleading. Yes, we should be greatly concerned about these women鈥檚 deaths 鈥� it鈥檚 a national disgrace 鈥� but aboriginal men are murdered at more than twice the rate of aboriginal women. Why are they not included in this crucial discussion? Do we care less about them?
According to Statistics sa国际传媒, 2,496 aboriginal people were murdered in sa国际传媒 between 1980 and 2012. Of those, 1,750 were male, 745 were female and one was of unknown sex. (RCMPfigures say 1,107 aboriginal women were murdered in that period.)
To put the focus solely on women is disturbing. Is not one human life as valuable as another?
Michele Audette, president of the Native Women鈥檚 Association of sa国际传媒, agrees. When asked by a reporter why activists haven鈥檛 focused on violence against aboriginal people in general, she said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good question, to be frank with you. For me, if you鈥檙e a woman or a man, you don鈥檛 deserve to be murdered.鈥�
The calls for an inquiry were renewed this week with the funeral of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine. Her body was pulled out of the Red River in Manitoba on Sunday and her death has made national headlines. Yet the killing of her father, Eugene Fontaine, in 2011 was reported only locally.
There鈥檚 a difference, of course. One was the death of a middle-aged man involved in a dispute with two other men, not necessarily the author of his own misfortune, but one who put himself in harm鈥檚 way. The other was an innocent and vulnerable teenager. It鈥檚 natural that her death should tug more at our heartstrings, although the two tragedies are closely related.
But both deaths are part of the larger picture, one in which aboriginals 鈥� men, women and children 鈥� are five times more likely to be murdered than non-aboriginals.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was disappointingly dismissive when he said of Tina Fontaine鈥檚 death: 鈥淲e should not view this as a sociological phenomenon. We should view it as a crime. It is a crime against innocent people, and it needs to be addressed as such.鈥�
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau had a better take on it: 鈥淲e need to understand that this goes beyond a single crime, as horrible as that crime was. This has been a pattern that sa国际传媒 needs to address.鈥�
The pattern is much more than a list of murders. It includes the sad history of colonialism, paternalistic governments and the residential school era. It includes poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, and an aboriginal education rate that is far too low.
Asking for an inquiry into the murders of aboriginal women implies the homicide rate is rising, but RCMP statistics show the rate has been falling for 30 years. It suggests there are mysteries to be cleared up, but there are few mysteries 鈥� the RCMP report a 鈥渟olve rate鈥� of nearly 90 per cent for those deaths. The women are not being preyed upon by shadowy outside forces; as with murders everywhere, most perpetrators and victims know each other.
We should be concerned that women are being killed. We should care equally that men are also victims.
We should care deeply that in this First World country, too many of our citizens are living in Third World conditions.
It should be the aim of governments at all levels 鈥� not the least First Nations governments 鈥� to work together to break down the huge obstacles in the way of a better quality of life for aboriginal people across sa国际传媒.
We don鈥檛 need a cumbersome federal inquiry to do that.
