Canada's Missing And Murdered Aboriginal Women - Essay Example

Topic: Canadas Missing And Murdered Aboriginal Women In august 30, the Canadian people mark the annual day of the disappeared. This is the day that the natives remember the people that got lost in the desert. Over the past 30 years, there have been over 600 cases of disappeared women. The disappearance cases are often thought to be a result of extrajudicialkillings and other forms of murder. The spread of the new that such a number of women have disappeared over the years with little government commitment leads to the questioning of the commitment of the government towards the protection of the natives. It also leads to the question of whether the government is discriminative in the approaches that it used to deal with the numerous cases of disappearance of the women. In order for the government to redeem its look in the eyes of the public, it has to consider the extent at which it has indicated the dedication towards the solving of the disappearance case (Cbc par5). Since the issue has blown into different parameters, the government ought to consider the potential implication of the disappearances by setting up a national public inquiry, better police intercommunication and improving the relations between the aboriginal and non-aboriginal more so in the police relations. Background The issue of the disappearance of the women can be best explained using the highway of tears. This is documentation of the number of deaths that have taken place in an 800 km stretch between Prince George and Prince Lupert. The documentation covered the number of the disappearances to be between 18 according to the official information, however, the aboriginal leaders place the number of the women that disappeared to be up to 43 people from 1969-2011. The lack of a conclusive solution to the murdershas often been linked to the assumptions that the government is not keen on the investigations owing to the racial orientations of most of the victims. The issue that most of the reports overlooks is the races of the victims of the murders. Over half of all the people that died in the highway of tears are aboriginal. This is the main aspect that the proponents of the racial discrimination possibility use to argue for their assertion. The annual women memorial march for murdered and missions women is an awareness campaign that is organised by the women to commemorate the victims that have disappeared from the incidences at the highway of tears. The marchis often held in February 14th. The selection of the date is important in that the women seek to show their love for the disappeared women. One of the women that the annual commemoration seeks to remember is Mary smith. Mary smith is often remembered on the annual march. She disappeared in 1999. She was an aboriginal woman last seen in the Manitoba Avenue. Her case has never been solved and the women is often remembers in the annual marsh since she was aboriginal and she passes the notion that the investigating units are impartial in the investigations on the missing women (Cbc par 5-7). Problem Summary The majority of the women that have disappeared since the 1969 in the highway of tears to date are aborigines. This aspect of their disappearance introduces new variable of looking at the issue of the disappearance(Swop-LV News 1). Over half of the murdered or disappeared women are aboriginal. In addition to this aspect, there has been a uniformed trend when it comes to the investigation of the disappearances since the police are often viewed as non-committalwhen it came to the solving of the disappearancecase of the aboriginal women. The government has often been on the receiving end of the anger of the aborigines that have come to decipher that the reactions that the government displays towards the displaced people are discriminative. In most of the cases that there were aboriginal women involved, the government was quick to place the case in the missing people files and extend the offer to the members of the public to come forward with any information on the disappearance of the women. This approach leads to the assumption that the government is not as committed in dealing with the case of the disappeared aboriginal women as it does to the cases of the other women from the Caucasian races. The span of the problem is another issue that has led to the assumption that the government is noncommittal to the end of the trend. The location of the murders is widely known among the governmental officials. The location has been documented in many films and it is a matter of public knowledge that the area is the main site for the murders or disappearances of the women. The federal government or even the provincial government is not really committed to the provision of the right attention to the area. There are not efforts of increasing the patrols over the stretch of reducing the chances of the murderers to continue with their nefarious activities. Therefore, the creation of the committee of inquiry into the action of the government in the area is called for since the people ought to have the reassurance from the government and the police official that there is a lot of commitment to the eradication of the murders that have been ongoing for the longest time (Swop-LV News 2). The committee ought to look into the issues that the people have against the government and the potential recurrence of the situation. The inquiry will also help in the reduction of the feeling that most of the people have that the government is not as committed in the solution of the cases that involve the aboriginal women than in the cases that involve the other women from any other races. This will be instrumental in the creation of trust that the government has undivided attention on the matter and that there are no sacred cows when it comes to the investigation. This approach adopted by the government will help in the reduction of the image that most of the victims have on the commitment of the government incoming up with a conclusive end of the cases (SPIEGEL ONLINEpar 8). The government will also redeem itself and have a chance to explain its choice of approaches when it came to the handling of the case. There is a common trend when it comes to the incidences of violence in Canada. The aboriginal women are often in higher danger of violence compared to the other women from the rest of the races(Ricketts 1). The commons incidences of violence that the aboriginal women face include the sexual assault, stalking and spousal attacks. This probably the reason behind the high cases of the disappearance and murder of the aboriginal women compared to the non-aboriginal women. There are numerous challenges that faced the investigator when it came to the solving of the murder and disappearance cases. One of the main issues that the police faced was lack of the investigative capacity since the investigations were complex and did not involve the common people. The delay in reporting also complicated the investigations in a large way. There was poor coordination between the police agencies that would have helped in pooling of resources and expertise to come up with the best approaches of dealing with the issues (Cbc par 4). The mobile nature of the victims made it difficult to point out the possible location where they disappeared. The creation of national public inquiry to look into the issue is important since it will lead to the accumulation of the synergies of all the people involved in the investigation. The inquiry will enable all the people to come together and make their recommendation on the best approaches that the government can use when it comes to the issue(Ricketts 1). The commission will be instrumental in the positive identification of the root causes of the case. This solution is popular among the variousgroups of people involved since the political parties and the Human Rights Watch proposed it. The second approach that the government agencies can adopt is the coming up with the uniform systems that will facilitate the sharing of information among the agencies involved in the cases. This is the main issue that could have made the investigations less effective in the past three decades. The invention of a uniform way of dealing with the cases will eventually lead to the creation of the synergy in the police units. It also reduces the time lapses that increase the difficulty of the case. The response to the cases of disappearance ought to be improved. The other solution to the issue is coming up with plans that will improve the relations that the people have between the aboriginal and non-aboriginal people. The destroyed trust between the police and the aboriginal women ought to be rebuilt. The government can also come up with the awareness campaigns between the non-aboriginal people and the numbers and circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the aboriginal women. The government can foster the trust that the people have about them by increasing the number of the aboriginal police officers. The fact that the government deals with people from diverse groups and communities means that the police force ought to reflect the diversity of the community that the police force serves. The police officers that work in the north should have more officers that are aboriginal since the northern part of Canada is where most of the aboriginal people are located. The inclusion of the aboriginal police officers into the police force will help in the reduction of the negative views of the people towards the police (Human Rights Watch par. 2, 3& 8). In conclusion, the creation of a paradigm shift in the relations of the police with the aborigines is important. The use of a public inquiry will help to create the goodwill between the people and the members of the police force. It will also be instrumental in the clearing of the circumstances surrounding the police investigations that made it hard for the government to come up with the anticipated solution to the disappearances. The inclusion of the aborigines in the police force is also another important approach that will help in the creation of the feelings of goodwill in the police force from the aborigines. Works cited Cbc. "Unsolved murders of women under review by Winnipeg police - Manitoba - CBC News." Cbc.ca, 2014.Web. 24 Mar 2014. . Human Rights Watch. "Canada: Abusive Policing, Neglect Along ‘Highway of Tears’ | Human Rights Watch." Hrw.org, 2014.Web. 24 Mar 2014. . Ricketts, Sue. "‘Highway of Tears’ The Unsolved Murders of Indigenous Women in Canada." Sue Ricketts, 2012. Web. 24 Mar 2014. . SPIEGEL ONLINE, Germany."Highway of Tears: The Unsolved Murders of Indigenous Women in Canada - SPIEGEL ONLINE."SPIEGEL ONLINE, 2012.Web. 24 Mar 2014. . Swop-LV News. "Canada: VANISHING POINT: The highway murders." SWOP-LV NEWS, 2009.Web. 24 Mar 2014. . Read More