A. THE COMMITTEE’S APPROACH

When they appeared before the Special Committee on Violence against Indigenous Women* (hereafter the Committee), families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls presented a diversity of situations which led to the tragic loss of their loved ones. The Committee members were deeply moved by the tragedies that had befallen these families, and the lasting effects on those who were left behind.

Family members spoke of the many measures they had taken to come to terms with the violent deaths or disappearances of their loved ones. All of their stories spoke about the lengths to which they went to achieve closure. Some have never found closure.

Family members organize vigils and walks in memory of their loved ones. The need to keep the memory of the loved ones alive speaks of the great tragedy at the heart of the story of the missing and murdered Aboriginal women — the silence within which this tragedy happens. It is the tragedy of not being heard when they called out for help, not being heard when they reported someone missing. That silence is part of the ongoing trend of mainstream society saying to Aboriginal people that they don't count; it joins the resounding silence of the other tragedies which Aboriginal people have lived through at the hands of other Canadians — the residential school system, the large-scale removal of Aboriginal children from their families in the 1960s, the ongoing marginalization and racism. It is that silence which needs to be broken. It is that silence which the Sisters in Spirit initiative aimed to break by documenting the stories of these women as mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.

In 1996 John Martin Crawford was convicted of murder in the killings of three indigenous women, Eva Taysup, Shelley Napope, and Calinda Waterhen, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Warren Goulding, one of the few journalists to cover the trial, commented. I don't get the sense the general public cares much about missing or murdered aboriginal women. It's all part of this indifference to the lives of aboriginal people. They don't seem to matter as much as white people.[1]

The following comments provide insight into the feeling of abandonment felt by many of the families of the victims we met:

Who cares about us brown people? Does anybody care? I'd like to know. Because that's a death, that’s a murder. And those two men are still walking around today to torture other people. Where is justice for our people? It just doesn't exist, does it?

(Brenda Bignell, speaking on behalf of seven missing and murdered members of her family)

When I see another mother, another child, another brother, another son, gone missing and murdered here in Canada, nobody seems to care about us brown people. Nobody seems to care. We have to do it on our own…

Our children are being targeted … We have to stop it. So I'm asking you. I've been here for a long, long time doing this. I'm asking you, please back us up. Let's make a loud ruckus and change this in Canada.

(Susan Martin, mother of Terrie Ann Dauphinais,
murdered on 29 April 2002 in Calgary)

1. A Forceful Call for Action

One wish expressed by several families and witnesses who appeared as part of the study was that the report include recommendations that would make a real difference to the lives of Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. Witnesses urged the Committee to not just write yet another report. Michèle Audette of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) told the Committee:

In 20 years, we have seen it, committees, briefs, reports and so on. I would like you, Ms. Ambler and all the members of the committee, to ensure that this time, things are different and that the committee’s recommendations are different. We are not just going to choose recommendations that are the least costly or the recommendations that are short term, or simply choose them based on a political capital. I’m asking you to find solutions here that all Canadians can benefit from in the short, medium and long term.[2]

Tracy Porteous of the Ending Violence Association of British Columbia echoed Ms. Audette’s remarks:

I’m not going to take the time today to articulate the great volumes of research that have been created about what needs to be done on this subject. In fact I want to caution you about concluding these meetings with recommendations for more studies or more reports. Throughout the first decade of 2000, EVA BC — which is the short form for my organization — working in partnership with the Pacific Association of First Nation’s Women, and BC Women’s Hospital, held a number of meetings with Aboriginal women across the province, all looking at and having discussions about the issue of violence against women, and what Aboriginal women felt needed to be done. We studied the issues very carefully over number of years and we produced two reports, the latter of which is called “Researched To Death”. I think that report alone speaks to what many of our Aboriginal sisters believe today: that many governments are willing to fund studies and reports but very few are willing to stand up and fund and support the long-term infrastructural solutions to the problem at hand.[3]

Building on all the research that has already been done, and reflecting on the testimony of the witnesses, the Committee seeks instead to identify practical, action-oriented solutions to increase safety of Aboriginal women and girls across Canada.

2. Solutions that must be tailored to the unique circumstances of each community

Even though many Aboriginal communities have similar experiences with the root causes of violence — domestic violence, human trafficking, substance abuse, prostitution, poverty, limited access to health and social services, racism and the after-effects of the residential school system, — some witnesses emphasized that violence manifests itself differently in each community depending on the way these factors interact and each community’s culture, geography and situation.

Aboriginal people in Canada include the Inuit, First Nations and Métis people. Some live in rural and remote communities, or the Far North, while others live in urban areas. As one example, pointing out the importance of attending to these differences, Tracy O’Hearn of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada told the Committee:

We want to tell you first about the different circumstances and priorities of Inuit women. Their culture, their language, and the geography of their communities are unique. They live largely in 53 communities across the Arctic. They’re all isolated. They all fly in and fly out. There’s very limited infrastructure, as we’ve heard someone mention before. There may or may not be a social worker, any sort of a health intervention worker.[4]

This diversity of experiences makes it impossible to develop solutions solely at the national level. The most important role the federal government can play is to support initiatives coming from communities themselves. The witnesses told us loud and clear that no single solution would end violence against Aboriginal women and girls. A universal model should not be imposed. Instead, communities should be helped to acquire the tools they need to find their own solutions. Communities are in the best position to identify local priorities and develop tailored solutions, as evidenced by the statements of many of the witnesses who appeared before the Committee:

To achieve positive and sustainable change, solutions have to come from the community. Imposing solutions or quick fixes from the outside will not have a lasting impact. Communities need to be supported and sometimes assisted in moving toward their goal, but the vision, plan, and desire to move forward has to come from the community itself.[5]

[T]he communities need to be able to tackle their issues in a culturally appropriate manner. They are the best judges of what will work.… The fact that the needs were first of all identified by the community is one of the most important factors in the success of such projects. The communities are in the best position to tell us what the relevant needs are, at this point in their process.[6]

[W]e really need to go in and engage communities. We can't just go in and tell people what they need. We ask communities what they need, what they think is not working, and what they think is working. I think that's one thing we forget, that we don't have the key to open every lock. Some people have their own keys that already work or don't work, and they just want support in how to recut a key, if we need to give that to them.[7]

All-inclusive programs have to be delivered from the ground up. In other words, the Aboriginal people should be fully immersed and consulted on the situations, from their community right into the urban centres or the municipalities.[8]

B. MANDATE AND REVIEW PROCESS

On 26 February 2013, the House of Commons unanimously passed the following motion:

That the House recognize that a disproportionate number of Indigenous women and girls have suffered violence, gone missing, or been murdered over the past three decades; and that the government has a responsibility to provide justice for the victims, healing for the families, and to work with partners to put an end to the violence; and that a special committee be appointed, with the mandate to conduct hearings on the critical matter of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada, and to propose solutions to address the root causes of violence against Indigenous women ….

The Committee met for the first time on 26 March 2013, and organized its study along three main themes: violence and its root causes, front-line assistance, and preventing violence against Aboriginal women and girls. In a rare move, the Committee also assigned special status to the native Women’s Association of Canada as “expert witnesses,” providing them with the opportunity to participate in all meetings of the Committee for the duration of the study and report.

The Committee agreed that NWAC be invited to speak at the beginning of each of the three themes (violence and its causes, front-line assistance, preventing violence against Aboriginal women and girls) and that it be welcome to attend all public meetings.  NWAC agreed to be an expert witness, then subsequently appeared at the committee on Thursday, 21 November 2013 voicing displeasure with their role in the Committee.  In order to address their concerns the Committee then agreed to the following motion: 

It was agreed, — That a representative from the Native Women’s Association of Canada be invited to attend all proceedings of the Committee as an expert advisor and expert witness to the Committee.

That the representative be requested to attend each meeting of the Committee and to provide their comments orally or in writing subsequent to each meeting and that the comments be appended to the Committee’s testimony.

That in relation to their participation, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodations and living expenses be reimbursed to the representative.

Despite indicating it agreed to the terms of this motion, NWAC failed to provide their comments to the Committee and did not appear at any further meetings, without explanation. 

An important part of the Committee’s work was to listen to family members of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls tell the story of their loved ones and their experiences with the justice system and victim support services during a special meeting on 9 December 2013. Families openly shared their stories with the Committee with a view to ending this violence that many women and girls in their communities have experienced. The Committee was greatly touched and impressed by their strength, generosity, courage and resilience.

The Committee also held 13 meetings in which it heard from prevention experts and front-line service providers.[9] In this report we summarize the comments we heard during these meetings, mainly regarding the shortcomings raised in the protection of Aboriginal women and girls against violence, and we present our own recommendations. The testimony of the families had at its core a strong cry that their mothers, daughters, sisters and friends matter. Their courage and endurance in holding onto that conviction found echo among the members of the Committee. With them, the Committee is outraged at the violence which befalls so many Aboriginal women.