Winnipeg case ‘speaks volumes’ of views on Indigenous women, says RoseAnne Archibald
CBC News: On International Women’s Day on Wednesday at the United Nations in New York, the Assembly of First Nations national chief said her number one focus is missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, as well as gender-diverse people.
RoseAnne Archibald spoke specifically about the case of four missing women in Manitoba, who police say were victims of an alleged serial killer.
Jeremy Skibicki is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Rebecca Contois, 24, Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26, and unidentified woman whom Indigenous leaders have named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman). All are alleged to have died in a span of two months.
In December 2022, Winnipeg police said they believe the remains of three of the women are at the Brady Landfill, but that a search of the site wouldn’t be feasible.
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At the UN on Wednesday, Archibald said the case “speaks volumes” about the way society views Indigenous women. “There can be no greater metaphor for how Indigenous women are treated and viewed in Canada than this particular case,” Archibald said. “For too long, colonization has led mainstream society to believe that we are not worthy, but we are human. We deserve respect, we deserve dignity and we deserve justice.”
Nahanni Fontaine, NDP MLA for St. John’s in Manitoba, said there’s a lack of urgency to prevent violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. She called the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls “one of the most historically important events that ever took place.”
The inquiry’s final report, released in 2019, said violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQ people constituted genocide. It highlighted the ways colonization harmed Indigenous women and girls, including through disenfranchisement under the Indian Act, over-criminalization and/or sexual exploitation.
But Fontaine said action on the inquiry’s calls to justice has been too slow. “You would imagine that folks within Canada and provinces and territories and cities and internationally would take that seriously and would be enraged and would mobilize,” she said.
Cora McGuire-Cyrette, executive director of the Ontario Native Women’s Association, also pointed to a lack of progress since the final report. “The fact that we live at least 10 years less than the rest of the Canadian population tells us that we’re not that much farther along than the generations prior to us,” she said.
“That’s what colonization and patriarchy has done to Indigenous women.”
Archibald said work is underway to set up a “a permanent space and mechanism [at the UN] for Indigenous women to network and have a voice on international women’s issues.” Building international relationships with other Indigenous people and sharing lessons learned is an important part of improving outcomes for Indigenous women and girls in Canada and abroad, she said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Samantha Schwientek is a reporter with CBC Indigenous based in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton). She is a member of the Cayuga nation of the Six Nations of the Grand River, and previously worked at CBC Nova Scotia.