Inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women has
global rights groups watching By Joanna SmithThe Canadian Press Thu., Aug. 4, 2016
The launch of the long-awaited national
inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women has groups around the world
watching to see how things unfold.
AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde
speaks following the announcement of the inquiry into murdered and missing
indigenous women at the Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec on Wednesday. (Justin
Tang / The Canadian Press)
OTTAWA—The number of missing or murdered indigenous women in Canada
has not escaped the attention of members of the international human rights
community, who will keep a close eye on a national inquiry they say is long overdue.
“I think the international community
in general is looking to see Canada live up to the human rights principles and
values that it espouses,” said Meghan Rhoad of Human Rights Watch in
Washington, D.C.
The United Nations and other
international human rights bodies and non-governmental organizations have all
issued reports on the nearly 1,200 indigenous women and girls who have gone
missing or been murdered in Canada.
Canadian families and advocates
alike have used that degree of global scrutiny to amplify their calls for an
inquiry — calls that until this year have gone unheeded.
The scrutiny included a stinging
rebuke by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women,
which released a report last year concluding the disproportionate amount of
violence indigenous women face in Canada, including the high number of deaths
and disappearances, constitutes “grave violations” of their human rights.
Perry Bellegarde, national chief of
the Assembly of First Nations, said the impact goes beyond borders.
“It’s a national tragedy, but it’s
an international shame,” Bellegarde said Wednesday in Gatineau, Que., after the
Liberal government unveiled the terms of reference for the inquiry and handed
the reins over to its independent commissioners.
Dinah Shelton came to Canada to
learn more about the issue in 2013 when she was rapporteur on the rights of
indigenous peoples at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an arm of
the Organization of American States.
Its 2014 report added its voice to
the call for a national inquiry.
“It took a lot of external pressure
for something that should have been dealt with internally a long time ago,”
said Shelton, a professor emeritus of international law at George Washington
University.
“Hopefully, this will encourage
others not to wait so long, when they have similar problems, to take this up.”
There’s another lesson the situation
in Canada can teach other countries about the pervasiveness of violence against
women, she added.
“It’s not limited to poor countries.
It’s not limited to Islamic countries. It happens in countries that have
overall good human rights records, and yet it still happens and it can still be
very widespread.”
The reports from international human
rights groups have included recommendations on how police handle investigations
involving missing or murdered indigenous women, and also on how to deal with
allegations of police misconduct.
The terms of reference for the
inquiry give the commissioners broad powers to compel witnesses and summon
evidence, including in provincial and territorial jurisdictions such as
policing. They do not, however, mention police explicitly — an omission that
has been a point of contention for family members and
critics.
“I think it is entirely legitimate
for everyone to be asking that question, because we have seen processes gone
forward on this topic before that did not deal with those (issues),” said
Rhoad, whose organization issued a 2013 report on the role of policing in
missing and murdered indigenous women in northern B.C.
She said the report from the UN
committee, for example, pointed out that the recommendations in the 2014 report
of the House of Commons special committee on violence against women did not
include anything on police misconduct.
Craig Benjamin, of Amnesty
International Canada, said it remains to be seen whether the inquiry is
equipped to address the concerns raised by international groups.
“It’s significant that the
government has been clear from the outset that the intention is to get at the
root causes, and to move forward with a comprehensive response,” Benjamin said.
That has been central to what the
international human rights bodies have asked for, he added.
“How well the inquiry can actually
serve that purpose is going to depend to a large degree on the co-operation
that it receives from the provincial and territorial governments, from policing
services — and questions remain about that.”
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