Aboriginal Women and Girls

Aboriginal Women and Girls

Aboriginal Women (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) in Canada experience multiple layers of discrimination and hardships. These include the impact of Canada's historic government policies (especially residential schools), and double discrimination based on race and gender. The undermining of Aboriginal culture and social fabric has taken a high toll on Aboriginal women.

Violence

Aboriginal women experience alarming rates of violence. Aboriginal women are eight times more likely to be murdered, and three times more likely to be abused by their partner than non-Aboriginal women. For Inuit women, the rate of violence is 14 times the national average. Symptomatic of this is the high number of missing or murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. Racism, sexism, poverty, historic government policies, substance abuse and marginalization contribute to this violence.

Poverty

Aboriginal women experience high levels of unemployment, low wages and receipt of social assistance. As a result, they experience high rates of poverty-related diseases such as diabetes, obesity and poor nutrition. The unemployment rate for Aboriginal women is 13.5%, compared to 6.4% for non-Aboriginal women. In 2005, Aboriginal women received a median income of $15,600 - $3,600 less than non-Aboriginal women. Aboriginal women are concentrated in low-paid jobs. 59% work in sales, service, finance or administration jobs. Adding to the marginalization of Aboriginal women and children is the underfunding of child welfare services on reserves.

Education

Despite multiple challenges, Aboriginal women are strong and resilient. This is reflected in Aboriginal women's education levels. Aboriginal women attend school at higher rates than both non-Aboriginal women and Aboriginal men. Aboriginal women are nearly twice as likely as Aboriginal men (7.1% versus 4.5% respectively) to have a University certificate, degree or diploma. This is despite the fact that many Aboriginal women are raising children alone and in poverty. High fertility rates (2.6 children versus 1.5 for non-Aboriginal women) mean Aboriginal women require family, social and economic supports to achieve education and career goals.

Consider asking your candidate the following questions:

Q. Does your party support policies that will recognize and restore the role of aboriginal women and girls in society?

Q. Will you party stop the persistent underfunding of programming and services delivered to First Nations, Inuit and Métis women and girls?

Law and Order Agenda -

Despite media attention and Government claims to the contrary, crime rates have fallen. In 2009 nearly 2.2 million crimes were reported to police, which is 17% lower than ten years ago. The law reforms introduced recently will not prevent crime, and they will cost tens of billions of dollars.

Women are the fastest-growing prison population. The so-called "Law and Order Agenda" will not make women safer, and it will drain resources from services necessary for women's substantive equality. Depending upon the prison and the needs of women, it costs anywhere from $50,000 to $500,000 per year to keep a woman in prison. If she has mental health issues, she will likely be held in segregation and subject to high security.

Under-protected Women in Canada are under-protected. Women experience the highest rates of poverty in Canada. This is compounded by victimization, substance use, mental health issues, racialization and disabilities. Women commit crime, in many cases, to survive.

Over-policed Crime rates are down, yet women are the fastest- growing prison population. Aboriginal women are overrepresented in the prison system. An expensive prison complex will not address the economic and social issues that women in Canada face. Prisons do not guarantee rehabilitation or health care and education programs that meet women's needs.

Unaffordable The "Law and Order Agenda" is expensive compared to alternatives. The planned changes to the prison system will cost taxpayers an estimated $9.5 billion by 2015-2016. It costs on average $185,000 per year to imprison a woman in Canada.

The "Law and Order Agenda" Displaces Children When you imprison women, you imprison mothers. 60% of children whose mothers are in prison live with grandparents, 17% with other relatives, and 25% live in foster care or group homes. Interestingly, almost 90% of children whose fathers are in prison continue to live with their mothers.

The inaccessibility of social programs, combined with increased imprisonment, are not resulting in any increased safety or equality for Canadian women and children. Women in prison experience high rates of depression and self-injury. 80-90% have survived sexual and/or physical abuse. 34% of women in federal prisons are Aboriginal. When they leave, they deal with trauma, violence, poverty, and lack of access to good jobs, health care and mental health services.

The Government of Canada needs to make Canada safer for women and girls by:

* Ensuring access to participation in a knowledge-based society.
* Creating access to decent work.
* Increasing rehabilitation programs and supports in prison and the community.
* Implementing a national strategy with specific policies and resources dedicated to ending violence against women and girls.
* Creating equal access to health, mental health and education programs.

Implementing the recommendations of the Arbour Report to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

To find out where your candidate stands on the "Law and Order Agenda" consider asking the following questions:

Q. If elected will you work to repeal the unnecessary criminal justice reforms and reallocate resources to develop social, educational and health services?
Q. Will you reinstate the Court Challenges Program?

Petition in support of the long gun registry

Please visit http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/supportguncontrol/ to sign this petition in support of the long gun registry.

TO: 

Stephen Harper, Leader, Conservative Party
Michael Ignatieff, Leader, Liberal Party
Gilles Duceppe, Leader, Bloc Québécois
Jack Layton, Leader, NDP
Elizabeth May, Leader, Green Party

Violence against women is a $4 billion problem in this country. Every year, 100,000 women and children leave their homes fleeing violence and abuse. Almost 20,000 of those come through the doors of the 31 shelters operated by YWCAs across Canada looking for safety, for a roof over their heads, for care and support.

As the nation's largest single provider of shelter to women and children fleeing violence, YWCA Canada knows the long gun registry is a public safety tool that makes women’s lives safer. Across the country, our shelters tell us the long gun registry is useful and needed. Our rural shelters tell us police consult the long gun registry every time they go to a domestic violence incident. These are not automatic checks, but deliberate and specific searches for the presence of firearms in the home, especially long guns.

Among service providers working in violence against women there is no rural-urban divide on the registry. YWCA Canada's national network of shelters is urban and rural, and includes Sudbury, Niagara Region, Brandon, Prince Albert, Lethbridge, Peterborough, St. Thomas-Elgin, Saskatoon, Banff, Yellowknife and Iqaluit, where shot guns and rifles are part of the culture. In every province and territory, the shelter and transition house associations support the long gun registry.

Why? Because shot guns and rifles are the guns most commonly used in spousal homicides, and especially when women are the victims. Not handguns. Shot guns and rifles. In the last decade, 71% of spousal homicides committed with a firearm involved a shot gun or a rifle.

Women's voices from rural Canada tell the tale. Lyda Fuller, Executive Director of YWCA Yellowknife, which operates shelters in Yellowknife and Fort Smith for women and children fleeing violence, reports that, “Women have told us that the guns used here in the North predominantly for hunting – that is, llong guns – are also used to intimidate, subdue and control them. Wee hear this over and over again, in small communities without RCMP and in larger communities with RCMP. Women do not want these guns to be unregistered, but do not feel safe expressing this opinion other than in whispers to people who may be able to voice these "unpopular" opinions and who may be heard.

When YWCA Canada addressed the House Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, Lyda Fuller said, "Please make it clear that it is not city-born, city living folks who are asking for this registry to continue; it is the voices of northern women who fear for their lives and their mental health who are asking for protection. We see women who have experienced years of brutal intimidation. These women cannot safely express their need for protection themselves, and it is up to Canada to understand this and respond in an appropriate way."

Dismantling the long gun registry would not serve the interests of women and children vulnerable to violence. It would put them and the police services who respond to domestic violence at greater risk.

As a nation, it's time to listen.

Paulette Senior, CEO YWCA Canada

Access to Education on Reserves

Students march for First Nations equality; Children will take to Parliament Hill to push for better access to education on reserves, writes Matthew Pearson

Ottawa Citizen

Sat Apr 23 2011

Page: C6

Section: City

Byline: Matthew Pearson

Inspired by a Cree teen who dreamed of attending a safe, comfortable school in her isolated James Bay community, hundreds of Ottawa students will march on Parliament Hill Wednesday to demand the federal government provide First Nations children on reserves with equal access to education.

"It makes no sense to them that there's such an inequality in Canada," said Danielle Fontaine, the Grade 3 and 4 teacher at Lady Evelyn Alternative School.

The Parliament Hill rally is part of a national day of action in memory of Shannen Koostachin, an aboriginal teen killed in a car crash last May.

For years, the children of her hometown of Attawapiskat, a fly-in First Nations community, have waited for the federal government to rebuild the elementary school, which was closed in 2000 after a large diesel spill contaminated the ground beneath it. A smattering of portables were installed as a temporary solution, but years of neglect have not been kind to them. Some have no heat, forcing students to wear winter coats inside. Others have fire doors that are warped or frozen shut in winter.

Frustrated and feeling abandoned, the children launched a letter-writing campaign, calling on the government to build them a new school. They also turned to Facebook and YouTube to reach non-aboriginal students across the country, urging them to support the cause.

In 2008, the Grade 8 class cancelled a trip to Niagara Falls and used the money to send three representatives to Ottawa to meet face-to-face with Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl.

"They decided, rather than go on a class trip, they were going to go confront the government," said Charlie Angus, the Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay.

Koostachin was one of them. The 13-year-old demanded action from Strahl, convened a news conference with national media and later gave a raw and rousing speech at a conference in Toronto. She was soon nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize and the campaign is the subject of a documentary produced by Heartspeak, a youth engagement organization.

Koostachin eventually moved south, where she lived with Angus's family, to attend a non-native high school. She was living with another family in New Liskeard when she died.

"I cry every day about Shannen," Angus said.

In the days following her death -amid waves of grief -individuals and organizations from across the country began connecting. No one could let Koostachin's message die with her, so Shannen's Dream was born. The campaign's goal is to raise public awareness about the plight of reserve schools and address the lack of funding.

"People need to realize what's been happening," Angus said.

Like many, Fontaine said she was shocked when she learned more about the situation. "I haven't been able to sleep since I heard about Shannen's Dream," she said.

Learning about the dire conditions in Attawapiskat has given 11-year-old Zoe Bevan a whole new appreciation for her school and its stocked library shelves, bright gymnasium and warm classrooms.

"The children in Attawapiskat should be the ones complaining, not us," she said.

Her classmate, Ian Bourrie, said he worried it might be hard for young people from the community to find jobs if they don't get a proper education.

Madeline Cuillerier, another Grade 6 student, added the government has continually broken its promise to fix the school.

"They have enough money to build a school, but they just choose to spend it on other things that aren't as important," she said.

More than 50 schools on First Nation reserves across Canada have been closed or condemned or are operating in substandard condition, Angus said. He introduced a motion in the House of Commons last fall calling on the government to close the funding gap for the schools and says it will be his first order of business if he's re-elected May 2.

Interesting comments to voters on Middle East Issues

Elections Guide gives recommendations to voters on Middle East Issues   

For Immediate Release 

Montreal, April 18, 2011 -- On April 15, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) released its Elections Guide for the 2011 Federal elections. The guide provides useful resources and information to enable CJPME's 33,000 adherents to participate actively in Canada's electoral process. It also carefully compares the performance of the different federal parties on issues affecting peace and justice in the Middle East, as well as on the rights of Canadians of Middle East origin.

The full Guide can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/3zaocfw. While the full guide does not yet exist in French, CJPME has packaged its write-up on the Bloc Quebecois in a separate document which can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/3qdyr39.

In addition to summarizing party platforms on the Middle East, the Guide reviews the performance of dozens of individual MPs on these issues, identifying "swing" ridings across the country.  It suggests alternatives for those parties and candidates who do not have a strong Middle East record.  The Guide reflects the urgency felt by CJPME and many Canadians to salvage Canada's values and international reputation, to help ensure that principled and balanced parliamentary leaders are elected.

"If the current Conservative administration strengthens its position through this election, Canada's international stature and humanitarian institutions will suffer irreparable damage," says CJPME President Thomas Woodley.  CJPME believes that the Guide will enable people to play an active role in shaping the outcome of the election, no matter where they may live.

CJPME notes that Canadians have become much more aware since the 2008 election of Canada's role in propping up less-than-legitimate regimes in the Middle East. CJPME's Election Guide will enable people concerned about justice and peace in the Middle East to speak up confidently in this crucial election.  "We can shape Canada's role in the world.  Getting active in this decisive election is an opportunity no Canadian should pass up," concludes Woodley.

  

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Violence Against Women and Girls in Canada

Violence Against Women and Girls in Canada

Canada urgently needs a national strategy to end violence against women and girls. Male violence affects all women and girls in Canada, but racialized women, Aboriginal women, women living with disabilities, and recent immigrant women are more vulnerable, as a result of poverty, marginalization and discrimination. 

Reality:

• Between 2002 and 2009, 1 in 5 murders in Canada were spousal homicides, 83% of which were murders of women.S

• Spousal homicides of women declined for three decades, until 2006-2009 when they stopped declining and remained stable. 
• 76% of victims of criminal harassment (stalking) are women, and over half of these were harassed by a former or current intimate male partner. 
• Women are over 6 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than men. Men are the assailants in 97% of sexual assaults. 
• Less than 1 in 10 sexual assaults are reported to the police.

  Disproportionate Reality: 

There are 582 documented cases of murdered or missing Aboriginal women and girls. This represents approximately 10% of female homicides in Canada, despite the fact that Aboriginal women make up only 3% of the total female population in Canada.

Violence against women affects children: 

Nearly 360,000 Canadian children witness domestic violence every year.  88% of the missing and murdered Aboriginal women were mothers, whose children are left behind.

Effective gun control under attack:

Canada’s gun control laws, enacted after the 1989 École Polytechnique Massacre, reduced gun-related spousal homicide by 50%. Long guns are the guns most likely to be used to murder women. Despite this, the Conservatives have introduced bills to abolish the long gun registry. Canada needs strong gun control to disarm violence against women.

Urgently needed:

To escape violence, women need:

• free or low-cost family law legal aid;
• adequate and affordable housing;
• a national, non-profit child care system
• a guaranteed liveable income, and economic parity with men
• supports and resources provided by the autonomous women’s movement which prioritizes women’s liberty and equality;
• culturally-relevant resources and policies dedicated to ending violence against Aboriginal women and girls
• immigration policy that protects women, both with status and undocumented, who are escaping violence to and/or within Canada.

It is not acceptable for various levels of government to hide behind jurisdictional arguments in defence of their own inaction.

Male violence maintains women’s inequality in Canada. Government inaction to stop means women’s and girls’ fundamental freedoms enshrined in Canada’s constitution continue to be violated.

Consider asking your candidate the following questions:

Q: How will your party work with grassroots feminist and Aboriginal anti-violence groups to develop a national strategy to end violence against women?

Q: How will you party ensure that federal funds flow to grassroots supports and services, such as shelters and rape crisis centres, and culturally-specific violence against women programs?

Canada Pension Plan

Pensions must be expanded: expert

The Leader-Post (Regina)

Thu Apr 21 2011

Page: B1 / Front

Section: Business & Agriculture

Byline: Neil Scott

Expansion of the Canada Pension Plan is the best way to solve the looming problem of providing good retirement income for Canadians, according to a featured speaker at a pension conference in Regina.

Sylvain Schetagne, a senior economist with the Canadian Labour Congress, said many workers are facing an uncertain future, as they try to cobble together enough income from government pension plans, company pension plans and personal savings to retire in comfort.

Expansion of the existing Canada Pension benefits, so the benefits would ultimately double, is the best solution, Schetagne said.

"It's something that works; why not expand it?" Schetagne asked.

He made his comment in an interview Wednesday, prior to participating in a panel discussion today at a regional pensions and benefits conference being held by the Canadian Benefits & Pensions Institute, at the Hotel Saskatchewan Radisson Plaza.

Another possible solution to retirement problems would be improving the company pension plans that are available to some but not all Canadian workers.

But Schetagne said there are problems with company pension plans, including that about two thirds of Canadian workers aren't covered by a company plan.

Schetagne said an increasing trend has been for many pension plans to be "defined contribution" - plans where both the employer and employees contribute a set amount to the plan on a regular basis.

But Schetagne said there is a problem with defined contribution plans because the amount of money received is not guaranteed, with the amount varying depending on the return received on the invested money.

The retirement nest eggs of many Canadians were sharply reduced about two years ago when the recession hit and stock markets tumbled. While the markets have substantially recovered, Schetagne said the risk will always exist that drops in the stock markets and other financial markets could wreck the retirements of many Canadians involved in defined contribution plans.

The other main type of pension plan is the defined benefits plan, which gives workers a guaranteed amount of monthly pension, usually based on how many years they worked and how much money they made while they were working.

But many defined benefit plans have been facing problems in having enough money, long-term, to pay all the pensions that have been promised.

Schetagne said many employers are becoming increasingly reluctant to offer defined benefit plans because of liability issues they could face in providing the promised pensions if the pension plan doesn't have enough money.

There is also a potential problem for workers, to the extent that a guaranteed pension might not be so guaranteed if the pension plan goes broke.

The best solution for resolving those issues would be to expand the Canada Pension Plan, Schetagne said.

While the existing Canada Pension Plan pays a pension of up to 25 per cent of a worker's earnings when they are working, a doubling of the benefit could increase the benefit to 50 per cent.

That increase could be accomplished by increasing both employer and employee contributions to the Canada Pension Plan from 4.95 per cent each to 7.95 per cent each, Schetagne said.

Those increase premiums could be phased in over several years, to help ease the burden for workers and employees, he said.