The murder of Marcedes Myran, Morgan Harris, Rebecca Contois and Mashkode Bizhikiโikwe (Buffalo Woman) at the hands of a man who was known to the Criminal Justice System for previous violent crimes that he committed against women, is tragic evidence of Canadaโs failure yet again to guarantee Indigenous women with the most fundamental human rights; the right to life, liberty and security.
Watch Fay Blaney, Founding member of the Aboriginal Women's Action Network, speaking about her experience and analysis of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
We recognize the many useful recommendations made by the commissioners of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and call on all levels of government to promptly and diligently implement them in order to protect Indigenous women from menโs violence and get them closer to safety and freedom.
The Womenโs Equality and Liberty Coalition, who as an intervener made an oral submission on the case to the Supreme Court of Canada is disappointed by the judgment.
We do not accept murder, rape, wife battering and incest as inevitable and we do not accept prostitution as inevitable.
These are all acts done by men to women in patriarchal world where the relationship between men and women are based on domination and subordination. We do not accept that this kind of relationships between men and women are inevitable.
Learning that Indigenous women in pre-colonial Canada were treated in their nations with respect and honor, gives us hope. It reinforces our refusal to accept womenโs oppression as inevitable. Knowing that fairly recently in human history, women had social and spiritual roles that were regarded as valuable as those men had, makes our fight for liberation not only possible, but tangible.
