Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women

The RCMP has confirmed that they have accumulated in the past thirty years just over 1,100 cases of missing or murdered aboriginal women  (CBC). I would guess that the number is in fact still higher. This story is disturbing on a number of levels.

As a parent  I can only imagine the pain of a child disappearing with no one in a position of authority seeming to care about where they have gone. The sense of not knowing the fate of a child would inevitably cause a permanent tear in that family's narrative. I would suspect that it would be barely marginally better to know that that the child is dead. However the lack of official caring would both infuriating and crushing to the psych. The denial that there is a systemic problem must only add to the frustration and to the pain.

Of far greater concern is that lack of government response not just now but for the past 30 years. The present federal government makes the argument that their recent initiatives will resolve the problem; that there is not a need to investigate why, again according the CBC 

              " aboriginal women make up four per cent of Canada's population, they represent 16 per                cent of all murdered females between 1980 and 2012, as well as 12 per cent of all missing 

               females on  record. CBC"

Our present government seems to believe, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, that stricter laws and harsher penalties will make Canadians more law abiding. And that all that we need to do is to create better systems of managing the system and the problems will go away. While we should be concerned as to why these women were abducted and/or murdered, and what we can do to stop this level of violence, we also need to discuss as a nation why no one cared enough to raise the alarm as to what was happening. Or more accurately why when Aboriginal groups raised the issue again and again - no one listened.

It is important that we continue to refine systems/laws that address violence against women. But  I don't know how we can do that if we don't let the women most affected tell their stories.

Toyota

I don't like cars. I don't like driving them; I don't like fixing them and I don't like begin dependent upon them (yes I am aware it is a wee bit paradoxical that a hitchhiker doesn't like being dependent upon cars). While it may be a bit unlikely, if machines could have feelings, I am quite convinced that cars and machines in general don't like me either.

The engine light on my Toyota '07 Yaris was on. The garage that I normally go to said the car was running fine and that the light did not signal anything serious mechanically. But I had to go to the dealer today to get it fixed as it was time to get my license  sticker renewed and I needed to get the air quality test done. It turns out that the charcoal cylinder has moisture in it and needs to be replaced. It will cost $1,000.00!!!

I find it absurd that one part could cost that much.

Toyota should be ashamed of itself for producing something that (1) it needs to be replaced after 75,000 km and (2) that cost so much.  In spite of my last two cars being a Toyota, I certainly will never buy one ever again.

On the Road Again 2014 Prologue #2

It has been such a strange spring that I am loath to announce that it (spring) is finally here. In fact I somehow suspect that we have gone from a state of very early spring- still almost winter to late spring- almost summer in a handful of days. I am not complaining but it does feel as if we have missed at least part of a season. However as the long term forecast suggest that 11 degrees will be the average temperature for the next week or so - perhaps I am being overly optomistic. Still I don't think that this year I will experience spring fever this year. Pity.

I am however ready to travel west. I have a bit of administrative clean up to do at work but by tomorrow noon I will be out of school and I won't be back until September. I can feel the start of that gentle pull to be on the road; I have started thinking of spots that I have stood before and to wonder if I will stand there again this year. I can see in my mind street corners I will need to get to so that I can catch a city bus to the outskirts of Winnipeg or Calgary or Vancouver. I can, without even thinking about it, see the highway stretching out before me at Portage La Prairie, Medicine Hat, Canmore, or Salmon Arms. I remember the stories of previous drivers; unbidden I find myself repeating my story to make sure I have not forgotten any part of it. Yes I am ready to be on the road again and it feels good to be in that state of anticipation and nervousness.

I have made a commitment to be at the Peterborough farmer's Market for most Saturdays in May and June. I have lots of weaving  to sell and I find myself looking forward to meeting new customers (especially the kids who have never seen a spinning wheel and the seniors who start of the conversation with "I can remember my mother doing that when I was young").  But in spite of my enthusiasm for being at the Market - I almost regret making that commitment. If I didn't have to sell stuff I could head out west in a few weeks.................

I know I should feel blessed that I have such wonderful choices - and I do.

Open letter to Mr. Harper

 Dear Mr. Prime Minister

I think I can appreciate how satisfying and perhaps even energizing it is to visit other countries to discuss trade, the economy and the general state of world affairs. I am sure that the conversations that happen once the cameras are turned off can be challenging and stimulating.

It must be particularly gratifying to have the opportunity to speak other countries on how to create and run an effective democracy. I have listened to part of a number of your international comments and I have been impressed with your commitment and perhaps even your passion in regards to various specific ethnic, cultural or national groups’ right to self-determination. One can only hope that the various countries that are not as democratically evolved as you suggest Canada is, will quickly reach the ideals that you so eloquently describe.

Of course I too wish that those ideals could be met, not only in other countries but in Canada as well. I wonder, for example when your government will finally listen to those First Nations communities who continue to be lied to, obstructed in due process by your government, not listened to and ignored in spite of treaties, agreements and any reasonable definition of human rights.  I wonder as well why you and your government have created a new bill purportedly to improve our electoral process when not only does that bill ignores the opinion of the past and present chief election officer but misquotes and takes out of context the very report you commissioned. But perhaps my expectations are just too high, stimulated no doubt by your rhetoric about what other countries should do.

I suppose the truth of the matter is that it is always so much easier to tell other people what to do as opposed to doing it ourselves.

Yours sincerely etc etc.

Do you think this is too sarcastic?

On being ethnocentric

A few weeks ago I was attending a lecture (I do a seminar attached to the lecture so I get to sit in the audience and observe). The topic of the day was gender inequality. I find it incredible that in Canada it is an issue that needs to be discussed.  We as a nation and as individuals should be well past not only the debate but in fact have systems in place that ensure equality for all is the status quo. Unfortunately we are nowhere close to that goal.

The class started to talk about other countries. It is so much easier to find fault with others rather than ourselves. Specifically it was mentioned that in Bombay (Mumbai), India, of 8000 abortions performed after amniocentesis, 7900 were of female fetuses. And of course everyone was horrified. The class then moved to talking about China and the apparently well-known fact Chinese would prefer to have male children rather than female children.

I am becoming more cautious of believing something just because “everyone knows” that it is true. A few years ago I was picked up by a Mom, Dad and their two kids (one boy, one girl) who had just immigrated from China. It was not a long ride but I did ask them about having two children stating that I believed in China this was not allowed. They had a hard time understanding my question in part because there was a language issue (their English as poor as it was, was far better than my non-existent Mandarin). But the question made no sense to them. They indicated that in the city the number of children could be an issue but they were from a rural area and no one was concerned there that they had two kids or that one was a girl. This family may have been an exception. The number of children may have even been the reason why they immigrated but their comments did cause me to think about absolute statements

As I sat there in class I started to realize how ethnocentric we were all being. We were  saying that our culture’s values were superior to other cultures’ values. That is because we in Canada at least on paper, state that both sexes are of equal value, any culture (race?) that has a different set of practices must be wrong. Even if there are logical (to them) reasons why those culture values and practices are in place, we in the west, state that they are wrong to believe those things.

To be clear – I am a strong advocate for women around the world to be empowered to be in control of their own lives. Cultures or countries or faiths that deny women the right to education and opportunities need to change those policies. That is, in my mind, not negotiable. It needs to happen sooner than later. 

In a country of 1.3 billion people it is not surprising (in fact one could argue that it is responsible) that China limits the number of children born. While it may be repellant to many of us that boys are valued more than girls, both India and China have had over 3000 years of history that supports those values. Before we condemn other cultures and their values we need to remember that Europeans (and their descendants) have a long history of making moral judgments on other cultures only to realize 200 years later that they were wrong. We also need to remember that 80 odd years ago in Canada women who were of a visible minority or were from a First Nation were not allowed to vote. It was not until 1944 that women in Quebec were allowed to vote in provincial elections. We are far from perfect and it has taken us a long time to get even to here. And we live in one of the richest countries in the world with a variety of financial and personal choices.

So while I don’t agree with the attitude that women have less value than men, I do think that rather than condemning them as being some sort of barbarians that we attempt to understand how and why they make decisions. Maybe then we can figure out some way of growing up together so that everyone’s potential is maximized. And maybe before we spend too much energy finding fault with the rest of the world we could make sure that we are as perfect as we expect others to be.