October 20, 2004

Government, Police Provide Inadequate Protection for Aboriginal Women: Amnesty

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

Amnesty International has released a report in which it finds that the plight of indigenous women has for far too long been marginalized or simply ignored by many levels of Canadian society and services. The report is part of a global campaign to stop violence against women, and illustrates its finding by using heartbreaking case studies and examples involving abductions, violence, prostitution, poverty, and murders taking place across Canada.

The report points out that police services provide an inadequate standard of protection for the women, and also that a history of ineffective government policies has resulted in poverty, homelessness, and prostitution. The authors point out that men prey on the women due to both racism and to knowing the history of judicial indifference.

Recommendations made by the report include more police involvement, more funding from all levels of government, more research programs, more indigenous police, more training on indigenous issues for those involved, and direct involvement from indigenous women themselves on carrying out each of these improvements.

» Amnesty International: Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and violence against Indigenous women in Canada