Mr. Speaker, the government pretends to care about ending the devastatingly high rates of violence that aboriginal face but Conservative actions prove otherwise.
Budget 2010 promised $10 million to address the disturbingly high number of missing and aboriginal women. The government said that concrete actions would be taken so that law enforcement and the justice system meet the needs of aboriginal women and their families, but $4 million of the $10 million is going to help set up an RCMP missing persons database that will not be ready until 2013.
The government does not recognize the urgency. There are more than 600 missing and murdered aboriginal women. Action needs to be taken now. Sisters in Spirit was one project that was working and now is hobbled by a new name and restrictive conditions. Sisters in Spirit made headway where no other project did and although Evidence to Action (Phase 2) did receive funding, no research or advocacy activities are allowed. It was the research and advocacy that compelled the government to finally pay attention.
More than 600 women have been murdered or have gone missing and, incredibly, until Sisters in Spirit compiled the data, the Government of Canada did nothing to address this travesty. Sisters in Spirit gave families and friends of the victims a voice. It gave them hope that finally someone was listening.
These women were mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters, aunties and nieces. Sisters in Spirit gave a voice to these families and now that voice has been taken away because the funding has ended. There will be a serious gap between the data collected by Sisters in Spirit and the RCMP database due to the three year delay and it is unclear how the RCMP database will capture the same data as Sisters in Spirit did. The Sisters in Spirit data was vital in illustrating the cross jurisdictional pattern of disappearances and murders and gave proof of the crisis that aboriginal women face in Canada.
I would ask that the minister and the Parliamentary Secretary for Status of Women advocate and push the government to continue to fund Sisters in Spirit so its important work to end violence against aboriginal women can continue. Aboriginal women in Canada have been waiting too long. Will the members opposite finally make it a priority and stop playing games with the lives of aboriginal women? Will the government fund Sisters in Spirits so it can continue its important work?
Aboriginal women need a government that is willing to give them a voice and to take action. They need a government that is willing to work to finally end the violence. Will the minister and the Parliamentary Secretary for Status of Women stand up for aboriginal women and advocate on their behalf in cabinet? Will they ask for funding so that Sisters in Spirit can continue its all important work?