Proactive approach needed for missing women

While the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women went national due to B.C.’s Robert Pickton case, it is also an issue in northwestern Ontario.
“In addition to British Columbia, Ontario has a very high incidence of missing Aboriginal women as well,” said Betty Kennedy, executive director of the Ontario Native Women’s Association. “We are hopeful in the future we will be able to engage with the justice department as well as policing to take a much more proactive approach in terms of dealing with this particular problem.”
Pickton was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2007, with no eligibility to apply for parole for 25 years, for second-degree murder in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Kennedy encouraged people in Thunder Bay and the surrounding region to demonstrate their support for missing and murdered women by participating in the Sixth Annual Full Moon Memory Walk, to be held Sept. 23 along Simpson St. and Pacific Ave. in Thunder Bay.
“The issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women is a very serious matter,” Kennedy said. “We are confident and hopeful the government will engage with us on an ongoing basis to tackle this issue from a much broader perspective as well as dealing with the impact that has on families and communities across Ontario.”
Sharon Johnson is one of the organizers of the annual Full Moon Memory Walk. Her sister was found dead on the frozen Neebing-McIntyre Floodway in 1992. She finds it difficult to watch any news about the Pickton case.
“I switch the channel,” Johnson said. “It is already traumatic for families like my own to hear that everyday, to see that in the news and to hear it and to watch it. For that reason, myself, I don’t sit and watch it and I don’t follow it. All I know is that I am really disgusted by the thought.”
Johnson said she fell into a self-destructive path after her sister died, but her life turned around after the first Full Moon Memory Walk was held in 2005.
“I had a lot of support from people, going back to school, and then that was when somebody approached me about doing the first walk,” Johnson said. “Ever since then that is pretty much what I do now. That is my focus and that is my work.”
The walk will begin at 6 p.m. at the corner of Simpson St. and Victoria Ave. and will follow a route along Simpson, over the Pacific Avenue Bridge to the Neebing-McIntyre Floodway.
“People should come out and join the walk this year,” Johnson said. “Even if you cannot walk the whole distance, come out and join us. If not for yourself, do it in memory of the family members that we have lost and continue to go missing.”
The Assembly of First Nations recently called for national action on the issue of missing and murdered women.
“There are more than 520 unsolved cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across Canada and there is a clear need for a National Action Plan on Murdered and Missing First Nations Women,” National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo said.
“We have asked many times that Canada work with us to address this urgent situation. First Nations offer a unique and important perspective on the justice and policy reforms that are required and must be active partners to implement changes. First Nations women are a critical link to the strength of our Nations. We must do our utmost to protect, respect and support First Nations women.”
Atleo is calling for a public inquiry into the handling of the Pickton investigation in order to seek justice for the 20 women who lost their lives.
“Many of these victims were First Nations and Aboriginal women and a full and comprehensive public inquiry, with the participation of Aboriginal people, is the only way to address the need for respect, justice and a better understanding of how we can prevent these tragedies in the future,” Atleo said. “Some are saying that the cost of an inquiry would be too high. We say that you cannot put a value on a human life.”
The AFN supports the Native Women Association of Canada’s Sisters in Spirit campaign and has raised the issue with the country’s premiers and territorial leaders.