KRG councillors call for focus, better stats on missing, murdered Nunavik women

This RCMP chart compares some of the factors behind murdered Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women in Canada, between 1980 and 2012, based on files from police services across the country. (IMAGE COURTESY OF RCMP)

KUUJJUAQ — Kativik Regional Government councillors made a push Sept. 8 to see more data and focus on missing and murdered women from Nunavik.

KRG councillors say those efforts should also look at Nunavimmiut women living in Montreal.

“I see people are crying out to the federal government about missing and murdered women,” Kuujjuaq councillor Jennifer Watkins told the KRG council Sept. 8. “I’m concerned….we have lost a few women in and from Nunavik and I’m sure it’s not going to decrease.”

Calls for a federal inquiry into the missing and murdered indigenous women have grown louder in recent months, since the RCMP released a study last May showing that Aboriginal women in Canada suffer much higher rates of violent crime than non-Aboriginals.

The 22-page report found a total of 1,181 aboriginal women who were murdered or reported missing between 1980 and 2012.

But, Watkins pointed out, the region of Nunavik has so far been quiet on the issue.

“Other provinces are doing a lot of lobbying and think we need to do that,” she said.

As national Inuit groups like Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami pointed out, Inuit women face different challenges than many First Nations women. Because of the North’ geography and climate, Inuit women rarely go “missing,” ITK said, although many face violent situations at home, and a number in those situations have been murdered.

And while the RCMP report highlighted certain risk factors of murdered Aboriginal females, like employment status, use of intoxicants and involvement in the sex trade, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada has said the report fails to identify the vulnerabilities that are unique to Inuit communities, like the housing crisis, high suicide rates and unresolved past traumas.

Without statistics on the number and circumstances of Nunavik’s missing or murdered women, it’s difficult know how to move forward, some KRG councillors said Sept. 8. No regional organizations have publicly endorsed the federal inquiry.

“We want to hear more information and statistics on Nunavimmiut women,” said Akulivik councillor Eli Aulluluk.

“And there are many Nunavimmiut women in the streets of Montreal,” Kangisujuaq councillor Charlie Argnak pointed out.

But over the coming months, Saturviit Inuit Women’s Association of Nunavik plan to implement a survey in Nunavik to gain a better understanding of women’s circumstances.

Saturviit board member Lisa Koperqualuk, told KRG councillors Sept. 8 that the organization had been approached by the Quebec Native Women’s Association to collaborate on the project.

“Some women are murdered in our communities by people who they knew very well,” Koperqualuk said. “It’s a concern for women and it has to be investigated.”

Saturviit had already commissioned a researcher from Laval University to travel the communities to identify the needs of Nunavimmiut women, Koperqualuk said.

Saturviit will also work with the Conseil du status de la femme, or Quebec’s council on the status of women, on the file.

The federal government has so far refused to launch a national public inquiry into the issue.

During his recent Northern tour, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was asked again if the recent murder of a young Aboriginal woman in Winnipeg should prompt an inquiry.

Harper told a press conference that the issue of missing or murdered Aboriginal women should not be viewed as a sociological phenomenon, but rather as a crime – one that police can deal with.