Miracles for the Asking

"I think what we're saying is that the issue that has been described as missing and murdered indigenous women is a tragedy much greater than that."
"When you hear the kinds of stories that we've been hearing -- someone who died by a shot through the back of her head is called a suicide, somebody whose arms are tied behind their back is called a suicide -- you have to say that this is much greater."
Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett

Candlelight vigil for murdered and missing aboriginal women, Edmonton -- photo Brad Crowfoot

"It has to leave no stone unturned.  We can't have a lopsided inquiry that is only looking at one side or the other in particular circumstances. We can't shy away from any aspect of this if we want really good solutions, if we want to really understand the enormity of the problem."
"[The issue of the federal government building more shelter facilities is critical] That needs to be addressed right away."
Dawn Lavell-Harvard, president, The Native Women's Association of Canada

What is the purpose of the Assembly of First Nations? That association that represents the interests of all aboriginal groups in Canada, comprised of chiefs and elders who elect a president to lead the First Nations communities keep pressing, along with other groups, for a national enquiry into the dreadful incidents of missing and murdered aboriginal women. There have been any number of previous enquiries. What is a new one, launched under the auspices of the new Liberal government about to discover that earlier ones did not?

Obviously, the perspective has been altered somewhat. Walking on delicate tenterhooks not to apportion blame. Because to do so is to point a finger questioning why it is that the First Nations communities are immune from accusations that they have done nothing for themselves in this situation which reflects a dysfunctional cultural attitude that targets women for violence and worse. Most of the abuse directed toward aboriginal women comes directly from familiars; their family members and friends.

The previous Conservative government was frank in its assessment, based on an extensive report released by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police through their criminal investigation into the missing and murdered women. Their investigation revealed that within a 20-year period 1,200 aboriginal women were murdered or are missing. But a committee preliminary to launching the formal investigation, comprised of three Members of Parliament interviewing family members of missing and murdered women, has reached the conclusion that the number should be at least doubled.

Based on the hearsay that they elicited and empathetically attended to. The RCMP investigation based its conclusions on careful study and research of all the individuals' histories that they focused on. The three MPs base their new numbers on the personal stories of tragedies that occurred within the First Nations communities. And the First Nations communities refuse to take responsibility for their dysfunction, preferring instead to blame institutional and societal discrimination, and primarily the residential school system for the fact that First Nations men abuse First Nations women.

They insist on an enquiry with the hope that some magical formula will surface to erase all the problems of the past and provide a shining path to the future where aboriginal men will begin to respect themselves and aboriginal women and set aside violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, and pervasive familial dysfunction and the abuse of children. All it will take is goodwill and an additional infusion of money, lots of it.