Why Violence Against Women and Indigenous People Persists in Canada - Research Paper

Introduction

Canada remains one of the most respected countries around the universe. With an intact democratic record and championing for human rights both home and abroad, the nation has earned its place among the international community as a firm believer in the rights of all people. However, this stand is always questioned when it comes to how the women and other indigenous people in the country are mistreated. The situation becomes worse when there is violence involved as it leaves the victims with severe physical injuries or permanent incapacitation. More often than not, there are numerous cases reported of the victims either missing or being found dead altogether. Being a woman or an indigenous person in Canada, or even both, is perceived as a crime in a country with a long history of violence against these minority groups (Fontaine, 2018). This research paper will explore the reasons for violence against indigenous people and women has persisted in Canada and how this has also affected the country's migration. As already noted, violence against the women and indigenous communities of the Canadian society is a deep-rooted issues that has been around ever since the colonial settlers came into the country. The country's leadership has maintained a deaf year to the plight of these minority groups in Canada until recently when the premier hinted at the formation of a national inquiry to address the issue. The three most recent past decades has seen the nation lose over 1000 women and indigenous people to unexplainable murder which the minority ethnic group leaders want to be thoroughly investigated and brought to a close. The gender violence, especially among the Metis, Inuit, and First Nation women, has dented Canada's reputation in the international community with global human rights watch dogs demanding the upholding of the human rights and dignity of the affected demography.

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The country's aboriginal populace that comprises of the minority community heralded this new change of attitude from the authorities as a step in the right direction towards the reconciliation of the general Canadian society and the aboriginal people. This move will only offer a temporary relief to the affected community of indigenous people particularly the ones who feel aggrieved by the countless unsolved cases of their kins' death or kidnapping. The announcement of the national inquiry by the prime minister is also hoped to be a source of solace for the women and indigenous population in more than one way. This is because there is finally a ray of hope that the numerous cases that have been piling up and pending over the past few decades will get a real shot at being solved amicably. The national inquiry suggested by the country's premier is also thought to be a positive thing because it is expected to lower or completely eliminate the cases of violence against the Canadian women together with the indigenous people. Also, the move is expected to create public awareness within the predominantly Caucasian public that is largely ignorant about the plight to the women of Canada and the ethnic minority communities. The prevalent violence in the Canadian social context is thought to be perpetrated by the extensive racism that is commonplace in the country. The families of the affected people, the survivors of these violent ordeals, and the ethnic minority communities have always agitated for the government authorities to intervene throughout the decades with their pleas falling on deaf ears since there has never been any meaning course of action undertaken to arrest this runaway violence.

The violence against the indigenous community and Canadian women has become the order of the day such that the majority of the population has already lost hope in obtaining justice for their kidnapped, lost, or dead relatives and loves ones. Concerns have always been raised about the ability of the country's judicial system to deliver justice without fear or favor. The situation is worsened by the different leadership administrations that rise at the helm of power. They have all conveniently ignored the wanton violence which has been taken as a sign of normalizing the prevalent violent actions against the women and indigenous groups found in the Canadian social fabric. The has been partly due to the historical context of these violent actions that stretch back to the colonial times when even the republic of Canada was not even established as of yet (Dhillon & Allooloo, 2015). For the settlers to expand their capitalistic tendencies, they had to engage in rampant violence to establish dominance and conquer the indigenous communities living in the uninhabited land before the formation of Canada as a country. This colonial violence has been getting passed down the generations with the descendants of the colonial masters believing they are entitled to mistreat and manhandle the women and indigenous Canadian communities. It is with this background in mind that one finally comprehends the social, economic, and political aspects that encourage the violence against this vulnerable demography. Most of the affected people in the disappearances and murders witnessed in the Canadian violence spree are either young girls, the indigenous women, or the often ignored two-spirit people. The two-spirit people are the ones thought to be male with feminine features or female with masculine features, commonly regarded to as homosexuals in the Western world.

This historical context explains why the violence is prevalent in the contemporary era because Canada as a country would be non-existent without the violence. The country was built on the back of aggressive colonial acquisition of parcels of land from the indigenous community. The aim was to dismantle the connection that the indigenous communities attached to their territorial lands. Part of destroying this connection involved violence against their women because these were seen as the lifelines of the indigenous ethnic minorities. The violence meted against the indigenous women was by design to adversely affect the ability of the ethnic communities to cling on to power and claim autonomy as well as disintegrate them into factions that would have limited or no ability at all to procreate and continue with their genetic lineage. Fast forward to the modern day and these violent actions against the indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people are still being encouraged in the purportedly progressive Canadian society. There is a systematic vulnerability in which all the affected people feel that the racist tendencies towards them are a recipe for the chaos that they continue to witness (Kassam, 2018). Advocating for changes or a complete overhaul of the system becomes a tough ask because the racist and violent elements are spread to all the other facets of the Canadian society especially in the healthcare, social services, education, and prison sectors. Both the criminal justice system and the state have watched helplessly from the sidelines as more indigenous people and women in Canada continue to vanish in thin air or their bodies being found murdered. This has further emboldened the male perpetrators of the violence to have a culture of impunity in the full knowledge that nothing will be done to them. Although the state has sanctioned for the protection and safety of the indigenous people, this has remained a policy on paper and an illusion in reality (Bellrichard, 2018).

Conclusion

The extensive violence against the indigenous populations especially the women and girls has spilled over to other cogs of the Canadian society. Examples include in the education and healthcare sectors, but it is the immigration that has been widely affected by the extreme violent actions. Immigration detention for asylum seekers and other immigrants are full of violence that results in despair and distress among the victims. This violence is gender-based because most of the women and girls are affected while it also remains racially inspired where people with dark skin or from ethnic groupings have it rough. Separation from families and friends, imprisonment in distant locations, and the denial of legal and medical check-up services characterize the immigration system in Canada. Death is a common occurrence in these immigration detention centers with the women adversely affected in the violent spree, a fact that has left untold pain and trauma to the victims. Before, during, and after detention are all probable times for the women to be violently harassed within the detention facilities. The violence gradually destroys women and it is about time either the international or domestic community does something about this violent behavior.

References

Bellrichard, C. (2018, April 27). 'Urgent actions' needed to address violence against Indigenous women and girls. CBC.

Dhillon, J., & Allooloo, S. (2015, December 14). Violence against indigenous women is woven into Canada's history. The Guardian.

Fontaine, N. (2018, January 11). The enduring violence against indigenous women in Canada. SBS News.

Kassam, A. (2018, May 1). Violence against women in Canada is 'pervasive and systematic'. The Guardian.

Klingspohn D. M. (2018). The Importance of Culture in Addressing Domestic Violence for First Nation's Women. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 872. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00872.