Inuit women want police, justice officials to offer more protection

Inuit women from across the Arctic and southern Canada have been meeting at the Sheraton Hotel on Albert St. in downtown Ottawa this week to find ways of ensuring Inuit participation in the federal government’s upcoming national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

OTTAWA — In an effort to ensure recognition of Inuit-specific needs, Inuit women meeting in downtown Ottawa this week say the Liberal government’s upcoming national inquiry on missing and murdered Indigenous women must focus on policing, the justice system, the protection of crime victims and the need across all of Inuit Nunangat for family violence services.

And for Pauktuutit, the national Inuit women’s organization that’s organizing the gathering, this still includes immediate adoption of an action plan to provide for violence prevention and healing in the four regions of Inuit Nunangat.

“That’s always been our priority,” Pauktuutit president Rebecca Kudloo said Feb. 11 at the start of the segment of that gathering that’s open to outside observers.

Participants, including 30 women from across the Arctic brought to Ottawa for the event, along with Inuit women living in Ottawa and Pauktuutit board members, met privately Feb. 9 and Feb. 10 to share experiences — many of them horrific — and to talk about how to ensure Inuit participation at the upcoming MMIW inquiry.

They kept those sessions closed to protect the privacy of those who made intimate and painful disclosures.

But on Feb. 11, the organization, in a written summary of those discussions, listed their priorities and recommendations.

They include recommendations for the MMIW inquiry to look into how police and the justice system respond to Inuit.

This flows from complaints that police do not adequately investigate homicides and other crimes against Inuit women.

“Even though it’s a murder, they say it’s a suicide,” a participant from Nunavik said.

A related recommendation is that the inquiry look into the lack of support for victims of violence in Inuit regions, and the hollow application of the “Victims Bill of Rights,” or Bill C-32, which Stephen Harper’s former Conservative government passed in 2015.

The Victims Bill of Rights codifies a long list of rights that crime victims are supposed to be able to exercise, such as the right to be informed of the progress of a criminal investigation, the right to know when an offender is released from prison and the right to protection from retaliation.

But many participants at the meeting said the new law is not implemented in remote communities and many Inuit don’t know about it.

Another recommendation is for the inquiry to look at the lack of community services like shelters, mental health facilities and counseling.

One woman from Nunavik said a women’s shelter in her community was so badly underfunded, the staff went without pay cheques for three months.

The meeting’s many recommendations include:

• a separate inquiry process for Inuit with Inuit-specific research, funding and structure;

• an Inuktitut name for the inquiry and the use of consistent Inuktitut terms for various concepts;

• at least one or two Inuit “commissioners,” including at least one Inuk lawyer;

• hearings in Inuit communities;

• the use of Inuit cultural practices and ceremonies;

• the availability of counselors before, during and after hearings;

• participation from affected families, Inuit organizations, governments and community services; and,

• equal representation from each region.

To take those messages to the federal government, Pauktuutit appears to have the support of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

“I do feel that we at ITK can work with Pauktuutit to make sure our voices are combined together,” Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s president, Natan Obed, said during the Feb. 11 session.

“That’s where all Inuit society should be standing — with our women and our girls,” he said.

Obed said he wants to see inquiry sessions “across Inuit Nunangat” and that by working together, Pauktuutit and ITK can “amplify the voice of Inuit.”

The minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, with federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, and Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu have nearly completed pre-inquiry consultations with affected families across the country.

And their last consultation meeting is set for Feb. 15 in Ottawa.

Later in the month, a second national roundtable on the MMIW issue is to be held in Winnipeg, and is to be hosted by Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger.

That’s a gathering that will bring provincial and territorial governments together with national Aboriginal leaders.

The first such national roundtable, hosted by Ontario Premier Katherine Wynne, was held Feb. 27, 2015 in Ottawa.

Read Nunatsiaqonline.ca later for more coverage of the Pauktuutit pre-inquiry meeting.