United Nations finds Canada to be failing in its response to Aboriginal women

The growing cases of missing Aboriginal women across the nation has come to the attention of the United Nations, the International body in a wide ranging document, has issued a call for the federal government to set up an inquiry that will look into reasons why law enforcement agencies did not properly investigate the many cases that have produced concern at the UN.

One of the highest in profiles of these cases is the Northern Highway of Tears that spans from Prince Rupert through Prince George, which has been the conduit of many disappearances and murders over the years.

So concerned is the UN about the case files that they have issued an ultimatum of sorts to the Federal Government, the UN committee wants the Canadian government "to provide, within one year, written information on the steps undertaken to implement the recommendation."

A motion that will perhaps shame the Federal government to a form of action, or at least provide updates as to the progress on the issue and a sense of closure for the many families still waiting for word on their loved ones that have long disappeared.

The Daily News featured the UN recommendation as the front page story in Wednesday's paper.

UN ATTACKS CANADA FOR FAILING ABORIGINAL WOMEN

Disappearances and murders are not being treated with urgency claims UN committee
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Pages one and three

Within their recent report on the treatment of women in Canada, a United Nations committee calls for an investigation into the government's "failure" to investigate the hundreds of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across the country.

On the heels of the International Day for Eliminating Violence Against Women and Canada's coinciding White Ribbon Campaign, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women effectively shamed Canada for allowing hundreds of Aboriginal girls and women to disappear from communities across Canada without proper investigations.
The UN CEDAW's concluding observations filed on Nov. 7 call for the federal government to set up an inquiry that will look into reasons why law enforcement agencies did not properly investigate cases, but also "to take the necessary steps to remedy the deficiencies in the system."

"Although the committee notes that a working group has been established to review the situation relating to missing and murdered women ... it remains concerned that hundreds of cases involving Aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered in the past two decades have neither been fully investigated nor attracted priority attention, with the perpetrators remaining unpunished," reads the UN CEDAW observations.

Although the recommendation was only one of more than 25 made by the UN committee, which also included addressing the disproportionate number of incarcerated Aboriginal women and the equality of women in the Canadian workforce, it was one of only two recommendations that the committee wants the Canadian government "to provide, within one year, written information on the steps undertaken to implement the recommendation."

The recommendation has not gone unnoticed by Canadian organizations including Vancouver-based Aboriginal Women's Action Committee, which commended the UN body for highlighting injustices that had gone on for more than two decades.

"The CEDAW committee has clearly recognized the gravity of the documented disappearances and murders of 511 Aboriginal women and girls from communities across Canada, and wants to understand how a lack of adequate response occurred," said Carrie Humchitt, president of the Aboriginal Women's Action Network. "Aboriginal women and girls have been treated by violent men, and by authorities, as though their safety and lives do not matter. Bringing the facts into the light is essential if Canada is to fulfill its commitment to treating Aboriginal women and girls as human beings of equal dignity and worth."

The Native Women's Association of Canada and Amnesty International welcomed the committee's efforts to draw "long overdue" attention to the human rights issue, about which the organizations have been lobbying.

"The high levels of racialized, sexualized violence directed against Aboriginal women in Canada is a national and international shame," said Beverly Jacobs, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada.

"We urge governments in Canada to recognize these threats and take concrete action now."

The report can be seen at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/co/CEDAW-C-CAN-CO-7.pdf