Native Women’s Association Of Canada

Posts Tagged ‘Native Women’s Association of Canada’

Remembering Murdered and Missing Aboriginal Women

Posted on: May 28th, 2012 by Nellie's No Comments

Last December we wrote about Human Rights and Aboriginal Women in Canada, a topic we would like to re-visit today in honour of Aboriginal Awareness Week. Aboriginal women continue to experience violence at a rate higher than any other group of women in Canada. They are 5 times more likely to die as a result of violence and 3.5 times more likely to experience spousal abuse than non-Aboriginal women. Rather than looking at violence against Aboriginal women as an individual problem, Canadians must recognize it as the deep structural problem it is – created through years of colonialism, racism and genocide.

According to the Native Women’s Association of Canada, more than 580 Aboriginal women and girls have gone missing or have been murdered in Canada. Most of these murders have happened in the past two decades and nearly half of these cases remain unsolved. Amnesty International’s Stolen Sisters Report, released in 2004 remains one of the most comprehensive pieces of literature to address this very serious issue.

(image from aaron.resist.ca)

At Nellie’s we believe that acknowledgement is the first step towards healing and we are committed to bringing awareness to the issue of violence against Aboriginal women and children as well as supporting them on their journey towards a life free from violence. As part of our programming, we attend First Nations events including the Stolen Sisters march and vigil every October 4^th. Staff and clients also participate in ongoing anti-racism training to increase awareness and understanding of the issues Aboriginal women and children face as a result of colonialism and racism in Canada.

In 2010, the Native Women’s Association of Canada released a community resource guide “What Can I Do to Help the Families of Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls?” . The guide includes comprehensive information about how you can get started as an advocate and raise awareness about the issue of violence against Aboriginal women. Also included in the guide is information for service providers about how to support the families of murdered women as well as resources for teachers and educators.

As Aboriginal Awareness Week comes to a close, we encourage everyone to remember the missing and murdered Aboriginal women who have been taken from us and to pledge your support to keep this important issue circulating in the media, online, and in our own personal conversations so that we do not lose any more sisters.

Human Rights Day and Aboriginal Women in Canada

Posted on: December 10th, 2011 by Nellie's 1 Comment

Today, December 10th is celebrated as Human Rights Day both at home and around the world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted on December 10th, 1948 and for 63 years this date has marked Human Rights Day worldwide. This year the theme for Human Rights Day is the transformative power of social media, and how tools like twitter, facebook, blogs, and instant messaging are transforming ordinary people into human rights activists. Over the past 6 months at Nellie’s, we have experienced firsthand the power of social media to communicate and engage with our supporters online through our twitter, facebook, and blog and we believe that social media is a great tool to advance important causes.

On Human Rights Day this year, we would like to use the power of social media to bring attention to the most important human rights issue in our country – the treatment of Aboriginal Women and Girls. The Native Women’s Association of Canada estimates that within the last twenty years, over 500 Aboriginal women and girls have gone missing in Canada. According to the Canadian Government, young Aboriginal (First Nations, Metis & Inuit) women are five times more likely than other women of the same age to die as the result of violence in Canada. Indigenous women have struggled for a long time to draw attention to violence within their families and communities, without much support from Canadian police and public officials.

Racist violence against Indigenous women in Canadian cities is well known through the media, but little has been done to prevent it. The results of these racist policies and lack of attention have resulted in racist and sexist stereotypes of Indigenous women, encouraging some men to feel they can get away with acts of hatred against them. In April 1999, the U.N. Human Rights Committee declared the situation of Aboriginal people in Canada as “the most pressing human rights issue” in our country. In 2007 Robert Pickton had 27 charges laid against him and 1/3 of the women he is accused of killing were Aborignal.

Decades of government policy have impoverished and broken apart Indigenous families and communities, leaving many Indigenous women and girls extremely vulnerable to exploitation and attack. Since the early 19th century, over 150,000 Aboriginal children have been forced to attend residential schools, away from their families and their communities. Children were forced to assimilate to mainstream Canadian culture and were “discouraged from speaking their first language or practising native traditions. If they were caught, they would experience severe punishment.” (CBC News). Many children taken from their parents were subjected to horrific violence and sexual abuse.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada and Amnesty International are two organizations that work tirelessly to keep the issue of violence against Aboriginal (First Nations, Metis & Inuit) women in the public eye. Amnesty International released their Stolen Sisters Report in 2004 and The Native Women’s Association of Canada holds an annual Stolen Sisters Vigil every year on October 4th to honour the lives of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.

Today, Human Rights Day, is an opportunity to reflect on violations against those that are most vulnerable in our communities. Stand together with us to recognize that human rights means the right to health and well-being for ALL regardless of gender, race, class, sexual orientation, age or ability. This blog post marks the end of our 16 Days to End Gender Violence Blog Series. Thank you for following this series and for sharing our posts with others. Together, we are creating awareness and inspiring action to prevent violence against women at home and around the world.