Violence Against Canadian Aboriginal Women

Violence Against Canadian Aboriginal Women

History

500 years ago, Aboriginal peoples were the only inhabitants that Canada knew. When Christopher Columbus arrived on the shores of North America in 1492, he referred to those that he saw as “First Nations” or “Indians”. In addition to those names, they are also referred to as Natives, Aboriginals, Indigenous, or First Peoples of Canada. Their numbers are comprised of many different cultures and over 53 distinct languages. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognizes three groups: Inuit, First Nations, and Metis as the Aboriginal peoples of Canada and all are protected according to rights outlined therein.

Beginning in the 18th century and increasing in severity with the coming 19th and 20th centuries, Anglo and Franco-Canadians encouraged, and then forced the assimilation of Aboriginal culture to Canadian standards and customs. Herein lies the root of the social, political, and economic disadvantages experienced by the First Peoples of Canada. Along with Colonization came prejudice and racism, much of which continues today ). In order to force assimilation, European-Canadians removed Aboriginal children from their homes and placed them in Christian-run residential schools. At these institutions, indigenous children were forced to speak English and the practice of Native culture or any recognition of heritage was prohibited . Within these schools the prevalence of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse was irrefutably high .

Presently, Aboriginal women are among the most at-risk populations for experiencing sexualized violence in Canada. Researchers gather that the marginalization of the Aboriginal peoples as a group during colonization resulted in unfair treaties, assimilation, abuse at residential schools, and the denial of many more rights Despite a lack of codified or institutionalized racism towards Aboriginals currently, the trauma associated with colonization influenced consecutive generations to the extent that the inequalities still exist . Due to these factors imposed by early European-Canadians, the violence towards this group of people is extreme. For years, The Government of Canada has worked and continues to work towards making amends. The First Nations of Canada are granted several unique rights as can be seen in The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Women's Role

Before Colonization, women’s roles in Aboriginal society were respected and honored. Women were the primary caretakers and homemakers yet were revered for their abilities to give life through childbirth. Though gender roles existed, they were not embodied in the same way that gender roles were in a European society. While men and women were expected to adopt alternate roles and responsibilities, they were seen as equals. It is common to encounter legends involving women as powerful creatures, such as Mother Earth. As Aboriginal peoples have lived off the land for centuries, they have strong ties to Mother Earth.

As a result of the high rates of sexual and physical abuse that occured in the residential school system many young Aboriginal women were forced out of their homes, and communities and were alienated from where they came from. This is one of the reasons that Indigenous women were forcibly exposed to alternative notions of gender relations, roles and are consequently treated differently post-contact. Within westernized frameworks Indigenous women are treated as inferior to men. .

Protection

The rights of Aboriginals have been outlined in several documents including The Constitution Act of 1892. Here, Aboriginal treaty rights are clarified. Human rights regarding legal government recognition of Aboriginal customs/rituals associated with marriage, adoption, etc. are divulged. The right to harvest land and use it for other food-specific practices is sanctioned as well as the right to occupy traditional lands. However, the Supreme Court of Canada holds true that any rights that Aboriginals agreed upon must be proven to be integral and distinct to their societies. Furthermore, those practices must have been adopted and in use prior to their first interactions with European settlers. The government has made efforts to be lenient when discussing the modernization of certain rituals. In many cases, despite some changes, their protection is still granted by law.

While more rights are specific to Aboriginals than any other distinct group in Canada, not even Aboriginal Law is absolute. It is argued that they are charged with lesser offenses and given more freedoms, however legally, Aboriginal Law constitutes a majority of alike penalties for criminal activity Despite the vast legal protection, Aboriginal men and women suffer the effects of ethnocentric bias and stereotyping daily. In particular, women who live in urban cities are faced with acute violence on a daily basis.

Violence

Background

Across Canada “Aboriginal women aged fifteen or older are three and a half times more likely to be victims of violence than non-Aboriginal women”. In light of this frightening statistic, every year on February 14th, Valentines Day, people gather in the streets of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side to honor the hundreds of unsolved cases of missing and murdered women from this and other regions across BC. Vancouver’s Downtown East Side is one of the countries most dangerous, disease and drug-ridden neighborhoods. It is also home to one of the largest populations of Aboriginal people in the country .

Research shows that the risk of violence these women are subjected to is a result of their lower economic and educational levels. Along with those factors, the Aboriginal population is youthful and home to large family sizes. In these families who live in small rural communities, rates of drug, alcohol, physical, and sexual abuse increase substantially .

Missing Women

Over the past few decades, cross-province Aboriginal women are subject to more violence, both sexual and physical, than any other demographic. Unfortunately, these same women are targets of brutal and fatal attacks that are left unsolved. The gathering on Valentines Day, called Sisters in Spirit Gathering or Valentine’s Day Women’s Memorial March, incorporates Aboriginal rituals and celebrations of the women who have not been found or have lost their lives due to the brutality inflicted upon them by settler colonialism This is a radicalized violence agains the aboriginal women across the nation. there have been a lot of case studies and literature about the missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. A perfect example is the case of the murder of Pamela George, a Saulteaux woman and a mother of two who was murdered in Regina. Pamela was from the Skimpy reserve, she was among the many aboriginal women who migrated to the cities for many reasons including,like of housing an employment, lost of tribal status. The perpetrators of her case were two white students which led to the case not receiving much attention or any appropriate justice of whatsoever. Sherene Razack, in her article, “Gendered Racial Violence and Spatialized Justice" argues that the judges injustice about the case of Pamela to appropriately judge the two men who murdered Pamela as a specialized justice and the murder of Pamela as gendered racial or colonial violence.

Highway of Tears Murders

The Highway of Tears is a 720km section of Highway 16 in Prince George and Prince Rupert, British Columbia where an estimated 19 woman of predominately aboriginal descent have been found as murder victim's. It is estimated that roughly 40 women who are inhabitants of the area nearby the highway are still missing and are yet to be found. It has been said that a lack of investigation into the case has been done due to the victims coming from first nation's backgrounds. The issue of racism is explored within the film "Finding Dawn", a 2006 documentary by Christine Welsch who speaks of the Highway of Tears within the film and the situation revolving the RCMP's ongoing investigation in the case.

== Statistics of Missing and Murdered aboriginal women in Canada

Sex Work

More than half of the population of sex workers in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side are Aboriginal women despite that they represent only 3% of the Canadian population. Among these women, many have a history of sexual and physical abuse. The all share similar upbringings ridden with abuse (physical, sexual, and emotional) and drug and alcohol abuse. A number of indigenous sex workers have expressed their desires to leave the sex trade industry and asked for help in finding housing as well as tools with which to beat their various addictions. Many expressed how their lifestyles are wrought with physical assaults and rape

Domestic Violence

In relation to non-Aboriginal women, Indigenous women in Canada are over 8 times more likely to be victims of spousal homicide. On average, they experience higher a prevalence of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse in the home . While over-use of alcohol has been linked with violence in Aboriginal communities, other factors associated with their socioeconomic status are also strong predictors of a violent family life

Self Inflicted Violence

Being the ‘other’ in society can cause a person to develop addictive behaviors or seek out other alternatives to make money illegally. Emile Durkheim would say First Nation’s people suffered from weak integration because they were forcefully removed from their communities and families, thus causing anomic suicide. In this instant a person can become lost, depressed and even suicidal. In recent years, Aboriginal people in Canada have suffered from much higher rates of suicide then the general population. Dr. Michael Chandler from the University of British Columbia conducted research that indicates 90% of youth suicides occur in only 10-15 bands in B.C” . Statistics tell us, “Youth who has had a parent attend a residential school were more likely to have experienced suicidal thoughts” .

Suicide is just one indicator of individual and collective suffering - it demands special attention because of its severity and finality. Indigenous people also experience twice the national average for rates of Depression amongst youth, men, women, and elders.. A 1997 survey found that “16% of First Nation adults living on a reserve or who had attended a residential school experienced major depression” . Another leading factor in depression is the use of drugs and alcohol. Alcohol is a great concern to the people of First Nations - around “75% of all residents on a reserve feel alcohol use is a problem in their community” (which white settlers gave them), and “25% say they have a personal problem with alcohol”.

Discrimination

Aboriginal peoples are exposed to intense racism from white Canadians. Despite the First Peoples being just that, the first inhabitants of Canada, many European-Canadians express distaste and even hatred towards them. Across Canada, the presence of Indigenous people is overt and white citizens in urban centres are witness to their struggles despite their relatively small populations. However, in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver where populations of indigenous peoples are high and concentrated, “race-blindness” is a common occurrence whereby people become blind and apathetic to the problems facing this community. Many Native residents of the area surrounding Main and Hastings express that it is one of the only areas, with the exception of reserves, where people do not notice their race. They feel invisible. Although this is not an outward form of racism it is implicit and prevalent. While in most circumstances they are ostracized for their race, the government has allowed the only place for Indigenous people to find belonging and community to be a drug-ridden, violent, and impoverished neighborhood. The Canadian government works to protect Aboriginal rights, however has not made a sufficient effort to help the large population of them living right in the centre of an illustrious urban-hub.

Aboriginal peoples face complex intersections of stigmatization associated with racialized stereotypes. They are stereotyped as violent and as alcoholics, primal, under-developed and the like. Outsiders often internally rationalize or justify their racism as being acts of advocacy for those hurt by the alcoholism and abuse that exists at extensive levels within these demographics. As well, pity is given to the victims yet proper help and support is not offered by the public. A prejudicial judgment of Aboriginals as “less-evolved” or “primal” because of choices to live in less technologically advanced or modernized communities are examples of Western societies egocentrism. In Canada, it is expected that “foreigners” assimilate and acculturate entirely. However, when certain groups do not, they become the subject of hatred and discrimination. For women, this translates into brutal sexualisation and gendered violence. While European-Canadian men sometimes describe Aboriginal women as exotic and beautiful, their treatment of them is closer to that of a sex-slave than an equal. Furthermore, the eroticization and Othering of racialized women is a micro-aggressive form of racism. The inconsistency observed in this form of discrimination increases danger and violence for First Nations women. Many European-Canadian men feel as though they are entitled to Aboriginal women because they are women of the land, women that are “supposed” to be available to them if they so desire. This is an extension of male entitlement that includes a racial element.

Indian Princess vs. Dirty Squaw

When European settlers arrived in Canada, they viewed the land as uninhabited and untamed, awaiting them to be taken over. Early artwork depicts vast open land as wild and pure with European settlers building and enhancing the beauty of it. Through preserved writings, stories show that the European men viewed the land to be equated with the Native women they found upon arrival. Similarly, the women were pure and untouched, strong and beautiful as the land itself. Native women came to be known as “Indian Princesses”, virgin women awaiting European men to claim them. In depictions from the time, European men were shown as powerful, and the land as well as the women, were feminine and submissive. Many men wrote letters about the sexual allure of the Native women, often expressing their desire to act further and conquer the virgin frontier .

However, as women started to resist the oppression they felt throughout colonization, European men shifted their view of Native women. During this time, depictions of the land shifted from pure and untamed, to land that needed to be used for its resources and then discarded. Native women were called “dirty squaws” or “drunken squaws”. Men wrote of needing to force the women into submission rather that desiring to be with them. The women were seen as objects to use, then discard immediately following. While this was occurring, hundreds of Indigenous people were forced from their land into reservations, and women were losing their status in Indigenous communities. The 1869 Indian Act stripped women of their rights and enforced a patriarchal ruling system. Although the view of Native women stayed highly sexualized, the perception of them altered from clean and pure, to dirty .

When divulging into the causes of brutal violence against Indigenous women in Canada, it is prudent to look at the stereotyping that occurs regarding them. The shift from Native women seen as Indian Princesses to Dirty Squaws, promoted violence and neglect towards them. By disregarding the women as sexually deviant and irresponsible, it allows for more room to ignore the sexual violence that is directed at them. This link provides an understanding of why this group of women are particularly victimized. Aboriginal women in Canada face a “double-burden” of being discriminated for both their sex, race, and culture. In Aboriginal history, a women’s role in her community is linked to how her sexuality and femininity is viewed. She is likely either revered as a clean princess or forced to submit as a seemingly worthless woman.