The federal government should set up a national inquiry into the
“disturbing phenomenon” of missing and murdered aboriginal women, a
senior UN rights official said Tuesday.
James Anaya, the UN
special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, has spent the
last nine days touring the country, talking to aboriginals and both
federal and provincial government officials.
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And while governments across Canada have pledged a number of steps to
deal with the problem of missing aboriginal women, it’s not enough,
Anaya told a news conference in Ottawa as he wrapped up his visit.
“I have heard from Aboriginal Peoples a widespread lack of confidence in the effectiveness of those measures,” Anaya said.
“I
concur that a comprehensive and nationwide inquiry into the issue could
help ensure a co-ordinated response and the opportunity for the loved
ones of victims to be heard and would demonstrate a responsiveness to
the concerns raised by the families and communities affected by this
epidemic.”
There has been strong pressure from aboriginal groups
and some provinces for an inquiry into the disappearances, which some
say run into the hundreds. The Native Women’s Association of Canada
estimates there have been more than 600 such cases in the last 20 years.
The federal government, however, has so far refused to entertain the idea of an inquiry.
Anaya,
a professor of human rights law at the University of Arizona, also has a
Canadian connection, having done several stints as a visiting professor
in the law faculty of the University of Toronto.
He acknowledged
that Canada has made significant progress on aboriginal issues since his
predecessor delivered a tough report in 2004. But many challenges
remain, he said.
“Canada faces a crisis when it comes to the situation of indigenous peoples of the country,” Anaya said.
The
economic gap between aboriginals and non-aboriginals hasn’t narrowed,
treaty and land claims remain unresolved and “there appear to be high
levels of distrust among aboriginal peoples towards government at both
the federal and provincial levels.”
Liberal aboriginal affairs
critic Carolyn Bennett pounced on Anaya’s report as evidence of a
hard-hearted Conservative attitude towards Canada’s First Nations.
“The
Conservatives’ adversarial approach to Aboriginal Peoples on a host of
issues has created conflict and distrust, rather than reconciliation and
better lives,” Bennett said.
“As Mr. Anaya noted today, Canada
needs to change direction urgently towards a new, collaborative
partnership with Aboriginal Peoples to achieve progress and shared
prosperity.”
Anaya also noted that aboriginal education in Canada
could be improved quickly if money given to native authorities for
schooling was equal, on a per-student basis, to spending in the
provincial system.
But he warned the federal government against
going ahead with its proposed First Nations education bill. He said he
heard “a remarkably consistent and profound distrust” about the measure
and urged the government to take its time and redraft the legislation in
consultation with aboriginals.
Anaya also said housing remains a dismal problem.
“I
urge the government to treat the housing situation on First Nations
reserves and Inuit communities with the urgency it deserves,” he said.
“It simply cannot be acceptable that these conditions persist in the midst of a country with such great wealth.”
Anaya
also said the residential-schools era continues to cast “a shadow of
despair” over aboriginal communities and he urged the government to
extend the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to as long
as it needs to do its work.