Public Comment

A three-year investigation of the genocide of Indigenous women, and girls in Canada has finally been concluded. The callous treatment of these women and girls was made possible by the colonial mindset of the white invaders who regarded themselves superior and the local population ripe for exploitation. The report cited the common practice of forcing thousands of children to attend government-sponsored residential schools where they were horribly abused. Every effort was made to erase their culture from their names to their native customs. 

Indigenous women and girls were the favorite target of abusers who acted with complete impunity. According to government statistics, Indigenous females make up about 4 per cent of Canada’s females but accounted for 16 percent of females killed. 

It is a sad testament to “white man’s” colonial history that pleas for help and intervention were ignored. Survivors and their families complained bitterly that the criminal justice system was “inadequate, unjust and re-traumatizing.” The report is right to focus on the urgent need for increasing the number of women’s shelters, expanding policing especially in remote areas, intensifying recruitment of Indigenous people on police forces and civilian boards overseeing the police. To ensure Indigenous people retain their culture and pride, their language should be given equal status to Canada’s official languages of English and French. 

The recommendations outlined in the report should be applied to our own native "Indians" who have experienced their own “trail of tears.”