Mr. Speaker, I rise today to strongly support Motion No. 411 put forward by my colleague and friend, the member for St. Paul's. This is the day after Mother's Day, and my heart goes out to these families.
The motion says:
—the tragic and inequitable issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls is of critical importance for all Canadians; that the government has failed to provide justice for the victims, healing for the families, or an end to the violence; and that...the government to take immediate action to deal with this systemic problem and call a public inquiry.
Each missing and murdered indigenous woman or girl leaves behind a family that loved her and a community struggling to deal with her loss. As a country, as Canadians and as members of the House serving our communities, we must continue to tell the stories of missing and murdered women and girls until perpetrators are brought to justice, families are given necessary resources for healing, violence is brought to an end, and the lives of these women and girls are honoured.
A CBC news database was recently launched and found that there were more than 230 indigenous women across Canada whose deaths or disappearances were unsolved. The CBC interviewed 111 of their families and told their stories, not just about the death or disappearance of a loved one, but who she was and how she lived. As the CBC reported:
Each one of those women is unique, each story is gut-wrenching. Yet reading these profiles together, we begin to see patterns emerging. The underlying causes associated with missing or murdered indigenous women become hard to ignore.
CBC reported on one woman. She was a survivor of a sexual assault by age six, and that had haunted her for years. As she grew older, she continued to struggle. There were addictions and suicide attempts, and when she was 24 she disappeared. The report recorded life after life and, while they are each unique, some similarities arise again and again.
Advocate and lawyer, Christa Big Canoe, said that much could be traced back to colonization and policies rooted in assimilation. She said:
We have to contextualize everything. We have to look at the history and roots of institutionalization of aboriginal people in this country, including things like residential schools, the '60s Scoop and, most importantly, the criminalization which has incarcerated a lot of people in our communities...
A recent report supports the idea that the violence currently faced by indigenous women has roots in the past. The Cedar project followed 259 aboriginal women for seven years. Researchers found that survivors of childhood sexual abuse were 10 times more likely than the average person to be sexually assaulted. The children of survivors of residential schools were 2.35 times more likely to be sexually assaulted.
We cannot ignore the patterns that are being repeated again and again in the lives of these women. Until the root causes are addressed, the violence will continue. Dealing with these issues is not just a matter of violence prevention; it is a matter of crisis intervention.
Indigenous women and girls are dramatically more likely to be the victims of homicide or to go missing in Canada. While only 4% of women in Canada are indigenous, this demographic accounted for 8% of female homicide victims in 1984 and a staggering 23% by 2012; that is, the situation has been getting worse and now almost one in four female homicide victims in Canada is indigenous.
Last year's RCMP report, which identified almost 1,200 indigenous women and girls who had gone missing and been murdered since 1980, crystalized both the scope and the urgency of this national crisis. The epidemic of violence must end and the Conservative government, which claims to be tough on crime and to stand up for victims of crime, cannot continue to ignore this national tragedy.
In February 2013, my friend and colleague, the member for St. Paul's, tabled a motion in the House of Commons asking for unanimous consent to convene a special committee on violence against indigenous women and girls.
In March 2014, the special committee tabled its report, including 16 recommendations intended to address the violence faced by aboriginal women. However, the report did not include a recommendation to set up a national public inquiry. Liberals were very critical of the report's recommendations, as well as the manner in which the committee conducted its work.
The Prime Minister's comments last summer that “we should not view this as sociological phenomenon”, and his shocking admission during his year-end interview with Peter Mansbridge that “it isn’t really high on our radar” were insensitive and reprehensible. The Prime Minister and his government are on the wrong side of history on this issue.
The Prime Minister's stubborn refusal to call a national public inquiry is in stark contrast to the overwhelming consensus that one is needed. Grieving families, indigenous leaders, victims' advocates, civil society, the international community, and every provincial and territorial premier have urged the government to call a national inquiry. The Prime Minister and his Conservative government are alone in their refusal to see the need for action on this issue.
In the fall of 2014, the government tabled an "Action Plan to Address Family Violence and Violent Crimes Against Aboriginal Women and Girls". Unfortunately, the action plan does nothing new to stop violence against indigenous women and girls. Instead it is a laundry list of existing federal government initiatives, many not even specific to indigenous women and girls.
Moreover, the $25 million highlighted in the announcement is not new money. It is simply a renouncement of funding from budget 2014, which is an extension of temporary funding of $25 million over five years, first announced back in 2010.
In February 2015, the government held its first round table on missing and murdered indigenous women. Although the federal government belatedly agreed to send the Ministers of Aboriginal Affairs and Status of Women to the round table, the federal government remained the only participant adamantly opposed to an independent national inquiry.
Afterward, the government indicated that the issue was one of domestic violence within aboriginal communities. Indigenous groups, however, dispute this and point out that many of the women met their fate in major cities and not just on reserves, for example, the murders by serial killer Robert Pickton. They also argue that the violence facing indigenous women has deep social roots in discrimination, poor education and poverty that lead indigenous women in to high-risk lifestyles.
Only a national inquiry would have the credibility, scope and resources to address the systemic problems underlying the violence, provide the accountability to ensure implementation of its recommendations and bring justice and reconciliation for the victims and their families.
The Liberals have long joined aboriginal communities and Canadian society in calling for a national public inquiry on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. That is why a future Liberal government will hold a national public inquiry. That is why the member of Parliament for St. Paul's tabled this profoundly important motion in the House of Commons to do so.
I thank her for her work and I thank the families. I want them to know my heart goes out to each and every one of them.