International Women's Day: Indigenous women still not equal in Canada

CBC News will continue to investigate missing and murdered indigenous women and girls by exploring the stories of these women, their families and their communities.

On Fridayanother damning report was released thatconcludedCanada committed grave violations of the human rights of indigenous women and girls across the country. The report alsorecommended a national inquiry.

Aboriginal women and girls are more likely to be victims of violence than men or non-aboriginal women, and they are more likely to die as a result, said NiklasBruunand Barbara Bailey, members of theCommittee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Yet, despite the seriousness of the situation, the Canadian State has not sufficiently implemented measures to ensure that cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women are effectively investigated and prosecuted.

• More CBC coverage: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

At least 1,200 indigenous women and girls have gone murdered and missing in the past three decades. How did we come to this state of affairs in Canada?

How could the senseless and unfortunate murder of one soldier on Parliament attract Harpers empathy, compassion and conviction to prevent another senseless death, but 1,200horrific murders and missing indigenous women and little girls do not rank high on our radar?

Unequal value ingrained in Canada's history

The unequal value placed on one mans life versus hundreds of indigenous womens lives require a closer examination of our history and how this sort of blatant racism came to be ingrained in every level of our government.

Under the Indian Act, indigenous women were confined to reserves, stripped of their political and legal powers, and excluded from residing with their communities if they married out.- Pamela Palmater

The acquisition of the lands and resources in Canada were not all acquired through peace-making in treaties. The dispossession of Indigenous Nations came about, in part, through the violent oppression of indigenous women. In 1749, scalping bounties were placed on the heads of Mikmaw men, women and children and represented the first state-sanctioned cases of murdered and missing indigenous women.

Under the Indian Act, indigenous women were confined to reserves, stripped of their political and legal powers, and excluded from residing with their communities if they married out. Canadas policy to sever her connection wholly with the reservewas a way to ensure the gradual assimilation of Indians.

However, all of Canadas policies were not so gradualin their effect. During the 1900s, thousands of indigenous women and little girls were forcibly sterilized without their knowledge and consent. Ironically this wasthanks in partto NellieMcClung and Emily Murphy of the Famous Five whowon their legal challengein 1928 to have women declared persons underthe law. McClung and Murphypublicly advocated racist ideologies related to cleansing the human race of inferior people like indigenous peoples.

During the residential school era, thousands of indigenous girls were subjected to rape, torture and physical abuse in residential schools. These were not isolated or anomalous incidents, like in the case of one random serial rapist/killer, but represented the whole scale of violent, sexual and physical oppression of indigenous girls.

These little girls could not call out for help. If they tried to run away or tell the RCMP, the RCMP did not help them, but instead dragged them back to the residential schools.

Little has changed

Today, when Indigenous women and girls call the RCMP for help the call often goes unanswered or little effort is exertedto search for the missing or investigate the murdered. The Robert Pickton inquiry highlighted these gross failures.

Whats worse is that state actors, like judges and law enforcement, have themselves taken part in the violence. Former provincial court judge David Ramsayplead guilty to sexual and physical assault on indigenous girls as young as 12 years old.

RCMP Const.Kevin Theriault only lost sevendays pay for arresting an intoxicated indigenous woman and taking her out of jailand back to his house to engage in relations with her all while his colleagues and supervisor goaded him on. The Human Rights Watch report which has documented many accounts of indigenous women who have been beaten and raped by RCMP officers seems to suggest these are not isolated incidents.

The kidnap and murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas and the failure of the RCMP to properly investigate the case, and the wrongful imprisonment of Donald Marshall Junior, led to justice inquiries which revealed the real problem in Canada:

1. The long history of discriminatory Canadian laws and policies which disadvantage indigenous women and girls and make them vulnerable
2. The overt and systemic racism against indigenous peoples in every level of Canadas justice system.

Canada has ignored more than 50studies which have made more than700 recommendations on how to address murdered and missing indigenous women and girls. The majority of Canadians, First Nations, provinces and territories and the United Nations have all called for a national inquiry and an emergency action plan.

This Sunday, March 8is International Womens Day. The theme this year:Empowering Women: Empowering Humanity."We collectively have an opportunity to make Canada a better place for all women and girls by letting the families of the murdered and missing have justice.