Today on Parliament Hill, Liberal MPs will be standing alongside the families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls for the Sisters in Spirit’s First Annual Day of Justice rally.
“When the Harper government cut off Sisters in Spirit last year, they attempted to muzzle the leading voice on missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls,” said Liberal Status of Women Critic Anita Neville.
“Their research into nearly 600 cases broke new ground in an area that had been previously ignored. The national database it created on these cases became the first of its kind in this country. And now they’re being shut out by Stephen Harper.”
The Sisters in Spirit Initiative of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has worked to conduct research and raise awareness of the alarmingly high rates of violence against Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.
Funding for Sisters in Spirit was put in place by the previous Liberal government, with $5 million over five years. When funding expired at the end of March 2010, the Conservatives offered NWAC a one-time $500,000 lifeline to keep the project going. News reports claim this extension was conditional on NWAC not using the name Sisters in Spirit, and not doing any research, advocacy or policy development as part of its programming.
It is estimated that if the rate of missing and murdered Aboriginal women was extended to all Canadian women, it would be equivalent to approximately 19,400 missing and murdered women. Since May 2009, Liberals have been calling for a full public investigation into why so many deaths and disappearances have occurred – and the systemic issues they raise.
“This government has treated Aboriginal people like second-class citizens, first by cutting important social programs contained in the Kelowna Accord, and then by refusing to call a full investigation into these missing women and girls,” said Liberal Aboriginal Affairs Critic Todd Russell.
Liberal Women’s Caucus Chair Lise Zarac said it’s part of a pattern by this government to actively undermine the status of women in Canada.
“This government has spent the last five years turning back the clock on women’s equality in Canada,” said Ms. Zarac. “By trying to shut down the Sisters in Spirit program, the Conservative government is undermining civil society’s ability to improve gender equality in Canada.
“It’s clear that Stephen Harpers’ priorities are in the wrong place when he would rather give tax breaks to the largest corporations and spends billions of dollars on fighter jets than fund this initiative. The sad truth is Aboriginal women and girls will continue to go missing until more is done to stop this violence,” concluded Ms. Zarac.
