Originally Posted by Opa
A well researched and excellent reply to Mr. Mulcair's ridiculous comments in the Calgary Herald a while back.
These clueless vote seeking politicians.
Mr. Mulcair,
Judging from an article in The Calgary Sun entitled "Enough is Enough", your positon on a National Enquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women is NOT what needs to be done and Harper is right in not pursuing this time wasting, expensive suggestion supported by both the NDP and Liberals. If you were paying attention at all and did your research you would understand this tragedy, the real issues and what needs to be done to address them.
Some statistics:
According to the RCMP:
6,420 missing persons in Canada 1,455 are women - out of those 164 are aboriginal
88% of murders of aboriginal women have been solved by police
89% of murders of non-aboriginal women have been solved by police
Between 1980 and 2012 there were 20,313 murders in Canada.
6,551 of those victims were women and
1,017 of those were aboriginal women.
Here's where it gets even more interesting:
Almost 30% of the 1,017 aboriginal women were murdered by their husbands.
23% were murdered by another family member.
30% were murdered by an acquaintance.
So, only about 8% of aboriginal women were murdered by strangers.
More statistics:
44% of the family members and acquaintances who kill aboriginal women were drunk
74% of the murderers of aboriginal women are unemployed.
AND NOW THE MOST SHOCKING:
71% of the murderers of aboriginal women already had a criminal record.
53% had been convicted before of a violent crime;
62% had a history of violence with the specific murder victim herself.
To be clear, there are some Chiefs and aboriginal communities in this country that are doing well, for various reasons, but much of it has to do with their leadership (i.e. Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band, but no one (especially the media & government) ever talk about him and his people.
Here are the REAL issues:
1. Welfare. The billions of tax payer dollars that go to support aboriginal people, not only in living expenses but free education, free medical, no taxation, etc. has crippled them (as it has crippled many non-aboriginal Canadians for generations). I would venture to say many of them have not worked a day in their lives.
2. Corrupt leadership who have no idea how to lead, manage, inspire or teach their people ..... who take for themselves and their families and friends and are not accountable to anyone (as evidenced most strongly by Chief Theresa Spence in Attiwapiskat.) and blame, blame, blame the Canadian Government.
3. Alcohol and drug abuse, gang violence .... all contributing factors in the crime rate on reserves, lack of parenting, family violence and poverty.
4. A two-tiered justice system that gives aboriginal offenders lighter sentences, or no sentences at all allowing them back into their communities to continue to abuse the same aboriginal women again and again .... often resulting in death (as evidenced by the 83% who were murdered by their husbands, a family member or an acquaintance. If you want a National enquiry .... it should be on this issue.
When you say "It is inconceivable that we, as a country, allowed this situation to continue" .... and "We urgently need to acknowledge the systemic aspect of this crisis instead of ignoring or dismissing it" ..... what are your intended solutions? A National enquiry is not going to fix these problems!
Giving the aboriginals more of hard earned Canadian taxpayer dollars is NOT going to fix this problem! WHAT ARE YOUR REAL SOLUTIONS TO THE REAL ISSUES?
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Let's get this straight.
1. This land does not belong to them and they never were a 'Nation'. These people's ancestors did not just appear in North America, magically out of thin air one day 40 or 50,000 years ago. They came in waves across the land/ice bridge from Asia . What's more, these waves, in many cases, were not related groups of people. They came from various places around North Eastern Asia and were from different genetic strains. In other words the "natives of North America " are not a homogenous group of people and more importantly...they are immigrants too. Like millions of immigrants today.
2. The idea that the "natives" were peaceful caretakers of the land or benevolent tenants couldn't be further from the truth. The various tribes right across Canada warred on each other constantly. They were violent. Want proof? Ask the Hurons ... oh, that's right you can't. The Iroquios wiped them out.
How about slavery that was rife among all the first nation tribes until the Europeans came and freed the slaves and put an end to this "valued cultural tradition". Is slavery peaceful and humane?.
3. The idea that we "stole" this land from them is also ridiculous. A more technologically advanced and numerous culture invaded and conquered. This is exactly what has been happening since the dawn of humanity all around the globe. To say we "stole" their lands is just plain wrong. That is akin to saying the Saxons should return England to the Angles. Or maybe we should launch a campaign to have the Roman descendants give Italy back to the Etruscans.
It is a nonsensical notion driven by the politically correct bleeding hearts, some intellectually deficient politicians and via pressure on the Government from lobbying groups. Also by the Indian people. It will continue to cost this country needless and wasted billions until we get some backbone and turn off the taps.
Are these people in trouble? Yes.
Do they need help? Yes.
Are they responsible enough to look after themselves and efficiently spend the billions that tax payers give them? Certainly not.
The only way to fix this situation is to bring them into society as equals.
They should be getting jobs and paying taxes like the rest of us because in reality, they are no more special than any of the other numerous cultures that call Canada home
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