44th Parl. 1st Sess.

May 2, 2023 10:00AM

Mrs. Karen Vecchio (Elgin—Middlesex—London, CPC)

May/2/23 9:10:40 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, it is so important that we are all gathered here today as we are discussing this issue. I would like to thank all of the speakers prior and all those coming after me. I am looking at some of the speakers and notice many members of the status of women committee speaking on this important topic tonight. I think it is wonderful. I guess if we need to get it done, we will just take it to the status of women committee, right ladies? The murdered and missing women and girls issue in Canada is a well-known phenomenon that has been plaguing the country for decades. The issue gained notoriety in the country's consciousness in recent years, but it has been an ongoing problem for indigenous women and girls for much longer. According to the Native Women's Association of Canada, there have been over 1,200 indigenous women and girls reported missing and murdered between 1980 and 2012 in the country. However, this number is believed to be much higher since many cases had gone unreported or were misclassified as non-indigenous, which actually limits the accurate documentation of the issue. The previous research done for the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls issue has revealed that the problem has a complex and multi-faceted root, including colonization, the residential school system, systemic violence and oppression, and ignorance about indigenous culture and heritage. The horrors of the residential schools that indigenous people experienced have had a traumatic effect on generations of families and individuals. This brings me September 30 and the importance of gathering together from all walks of life in our communities to meet with those persons who were representing indigenous communities. We know that a lot of time has passed, but we have a lot of things that we must go forward on in working together. Reconciliation is about the communities all coming together, as I said, from all walks of life, to ensure that we build these links and bridges that we have lost. The issue of missing and murdered women and girls has been exacerbated by a lack of accurate data, a poorly equipped legal system and limited accountability for perpetrators. Indigenous women and girls experience gendered and racialized violence at a much higher rate than non-indigenous women, and this is due to the history of colonization, which deeply entrenched systemic inequalities. The history is compounded by a lack of government interest in this issue, and the belief that indigenous women and girls are unworthy and not to be considered as first-class victims of violent crimes. I want to stop here, because I think this is something we hear all the time. I heard multiple times from the member for Winnipeg Centre, who came forward and had to share some of the tragic stories of things that are happening in her own community. The fact is that these young women and girls are not seen as worthy. I have heard time and time again members from the community talk about the unworthiness and of people feeling second class. However, it is up to us to change that. It is up to the members of Parliament and all Canadians to work together. This is is part of the reconciliation. It is recognizing that when people are being treated as second-class citizens, they are being treated like objects. They are being treated like they are garbage to throw away. The words that the member for Winnipeg Centre said before, unfortunately, I do believe ring true in some cases, that people do not understand that these are women's lives, these are daughters, sisters, mothers and aunties. These are women's lives, and they deserve to be fought for, they deserve to be found and they deserve to see that this never happens. Furthermore, the societal displacement and dislocation that indigenous women and girls experience has made them more susceptible to violence and harassment. It occurs not only outside indigenous communities, but with both non-indigenous and indigenous men who target them as lower status. When we are talking about missing and murdered indigenous women, regardless of all of the data, and we know that there is a lot of information there, it really comes down to societal change where we say that indigenous women matter. It comes back to the whole thing that is to love, to matter and the mental health pieces, which are lacking for so many of the women who have lived on reserve and have not had proper housing or proper care. They see their job is to be there and, in some cases, their job is to be the object of violence. We know this to be true, and we know that with intergenerational trauma over the years, there is difficulty for that perception to change. For all the generations that were there, it takes time to go back as well, and there is a lot of undoing that we must do. We look at the unethical treatment in the justice system. This is something that we can talk about, recognizing the number of people who are in prisons and looking at those numbers. We have to also understand the justice system. The missing and murdered indigenous women and girls report talked about the bias. It talked about the bias of the justice system. I recall when I was growing up, as I think we all do, some of the slang words that were used. I have heard them sometimes from people in the chamber and outside the chamber. When we start disrespecting people and, as we say in this House, when we start calling people names, we are not valuing those people. We have seen that time and time again with our indigenous population, specifically the women and girls who deserve to be recognized, deserve to be loved and deserve to be standing among every single person in Canada as an equal. However, we have not seen this. The missing and murdered indigenous women and girls report released in 2019 pointed out that the systemic bias is there. It is real. We see it in our police. We have seen it in law enforcement with some of the different issues that happen. This comes with training. This comes with recognizing the past and building those bridges. Over time, all of that has been broken. Not only the government but all Canadians need to work to rebuild those bridges. We need to work with our police force to rebuild those bridges. We need to make sure that when people go into the criminal justice system, they are going to be treated fairly and there will not be bias. Unfortunately, that is part of the issue. They are going into something they feel they will already fail in. We are looking at the red dress alert system as the key issue here. In my bedroom when I hear the beep that goes off here in Ontario letting us know that a child is missing, I know there is a call to action. There is a call to action from the people who live in Canada, or live in Ontario specifically, that we need to be on the lookout. That is something I make sure to share. That is something I am watching for. There have been some transient people in my community. We want to make sure everybody is safe. We want to make sure everybody is accounted for. When looking at this, we need to make sure this is also extended to women. There are indigenous women and girls who have been lost and who have been buried in landfills. This is not acceptable at all. We have heard about young women in garbage bins. No person's life belongs in a garbage bin. That is why we need to work together on this. When it comes to the red dress alert, I will be fully supportive of it. We need to make sure that it is done by the people themselves, that it is done by the community, that it is done by the indigenous people ensuring their communities are safe. We are working to make sure that the resources are available for them. It is not just the red dress alert that we need. There are multiple things that we need for those living on reserve and those living off reserve. When it comes to indigenous women and girls, we need to make sure they have the assistance they need. This includes assistance in going to a shelter when fleeing violence, and medical care when living on reserve when the only way to get to a doctor is by getting on an airplane. We need to make sure they have that care and those resources, and that they are accessible. Unfortunately, we have not seen that. I have heard members across the way talk about those resources not being available in communities. We need to make a dedicated promise that we are not going to break. I have heard people talk about governments now and before. It is all of us who need to work together. We have all made mistakes in the past, and it is time that we work together to fix this.

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