Missing and Murdered Women: May 2014

Thursday, May 29

Missing women remembered as advocates continue calls for inquiry

by Yolande Cole on May 29, 2014 at 12:00 pm

Every year since her daughter Stephanie Lane’s death, Michele Pineault has marked her birthday in some way.

Often, she would come to CRAB Park with Lane’s son, now 18, who was just eight months old when his mother went missing. Her DNA was later found on Robert Pickton’s Port Coquitlam farm.

Wednesday would have been Lane’s 38th birthday, which was Pineault’s age when she lost her 20-year-old daughter.

“It’s a tough year to know that,” she said in an interview.

Pineault marked the date surrounded by family, supporters and other advocates for missing and murdered women. In a tribute to Lane, community members laid sunflowers at the foot of the memorial rock for the missing and murdered in CRAB Park.

The event was also intended to mark three years since Angeline Pete went missing from North Vancouver.

“Three years of no contact or anything of Angeline,” Molly Dixon, Pete’s mother, told the Straight.

“It’s been really hard, you know, not knowing where she is, or what’s happened. It’s just heartache.”

Dixon said she has put up posters around B.C., hoping for some information about her daughter. In the time that she’s been searching, other aboriginal women have gone missing, she noted.

“I’m really hoping someone comes forward…just so we can have peace of mind,” she said. “If she’s alive or something happened, you know? It’s really hard.”

Lorelei Williams, one of the organizers of the event Wednesday, said she and other advocates want to see a national inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women.

Williams is part of a coalition that has urged the provincial government to implement recommendations including improved transit along the Highway of Tears in northern B.C.

“They should be able to put a bus there—it’s not that hard,” Williams said in an interview. “How many more women have to go missing or be murdered on that Highway of Tears? It’s very upsetting.”

For Pineault, time hasn’t made the loss of her daughter any easier.

“Nothing like losing your child and especially the way I lost her,” she said. “That’s the part I can’t get over.”

But two things that have saved her, she added, have been raising her grandson, and her work as an advocate for missing and murdered women.

“Because I do the work that I do now, it’s made this struggle easier,” she said.

“That’s kind of my life’s work now.”

Source URL: http://www.straight.com/news/654801/missing-women-remembered-advocates-continue-calls-inquiry

Friday, May 16

Aboriginal women overrepresentd in murdered and missing statistics

Police worked with Statistics Canada and nearly 300 agencies on national report

CBC News Posted: May 15, 2014 8:32 PM CT Last Updated: May 16, 2014 9:36 AM CT

The RCMP have released what they call their most comprehensive account to date of Canada's missing and murdered aboriginal women, which shows aboriginals are over-represented in stats of missing and murdered women.

The Mounties say they worked with Statistics Canada and almost 300 policing agencies to produce the National Operational Overview on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women, released Friday at RCMP D Division headquarters in Winnipeg.

Since 1980 the rate of women who are victims of homicide has trended down, except in the case of aboriginal women which has increased, the report states.

Earlier this month, officials confirmed that there are 1,181 police-recorded incidents of aboriginal homicides and unresolved missing women investigations over the past three decades — a much higher number than previously thought.

Key findings in the report:

Of the 1,181 investigations, 1,017 are aboriginal female homicide victims between 1980 and 2012 and 164 women are considered missing.
Currently, there are 225 unsolved cases: 120 are homicides, 105 are missing or foul play suspected.
Aboriginal women make up 16 per cent of all murdered women on record, five per cent of all murders on record, 11.3 per cent of all missing women on record.

Aboriginal women most likely to be murdered by an acquaintance (30 per cent), spouse (29 per cent), or family member (24 per cent).

As a whole, more than 90 per cent of indigenous female murder victims knew their killer, RCMP said.

Mobile users can watch the live stream here

Michèle Audette, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, was anxious to see the report's recommendations.

She believes the lobbying for a national inquiry prompted the RCMP to begin working on the report.

"And from that, it's going to be a political tool. It's going to help the social movement out there [that] is pushing for justice and equity," she said.

For years, members of Canada's aboriginal community have been raising awareness of the issue and calling on the federal government to hold a national inquiry.

The Conservative government has refused to call an inquiry to date, referring instead to initiatives carried out over the years to combat violence against women and girls.

Derek Nepinak, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said the RCMP report is a step in the right direction.

"It's not the full step," he said.

"The full step needs to be a full public inquiry. But it is an intermediate step, and it does raise the spectre of concern that, you know, there is a much bigger issue out there."

Missing, murdered aboriginal women: RCMP set to release new report

Police worked with Statistics Canada and nearly 300 agencies on national report

CBC News Posted: May 15, 2014 8:32 PM CT Last Updated: May 16, 2014 7:42 AM CT

The RCMP are releasing what they call their most comprehensive account to date of Canada's missing and murdered aboriginal women on Friday morning.

The Mounties say they worked with Statistics Canada and almost 300 policing agencies to produce the National Operational Overview on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women.

RCMP officials will speak to reporters about the report Friday at 10 a.m. CT (11 a.m. ET) at its D Division headquarters in Winnipeg. CBCNews.ca will carry a live video stream of the news conference.

The report will include the RCMP's current count of missing and murdered women across the country.

Earlier this month, officials confirmed that there are 1,186 police-recorded incidents of aboriginal homicides and unresolved missing women investigations over the past three decades — a much higher number than previously thought.

The figure includes 1,017 aboriginal women slain between the years of 1980 and 2012, as well as 169 missing women dating back to 1952.

Among those hoping for answers from the RCMP report is Candy Volk, whose 18-year-old niece, Hillary Wilson, was killed almost five years ago.

Wilson's body was found in August 2009 on a dirt path northwest of Winnipeg. RCMP have said her death is a homicide, but the case remains unsolved.

"Hillary was a person. She was loved. She's missed daily," Volk told CBC News late Thursday.

"But she's just another statistic, and as her family we're the only ones who are acknowledging her. So it's really frustrating."

Mobile users can watch the live stream here

Michèle Audette, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, said she is anxious to see what recommendations, if any, the RCMP report will have.

She believes the lobbying for a national inquiry has prompted the RCMP to begin working on the report.

"And from that, it's going to be a political tool. It's going to help the social movement out there [that] is pushing for justice and equity," she said.

For years, members of Canada's aboriginal community have been raising awareness of the issue and calling on the federal government to hold a national inquiry.

The Conservative government has refused to call an inquiry to date, referring instead to initiatives carried out over the years to combat violence against women and girls.

Derek Nepinak, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said the RCMP report will be a partial step in the right direction.

"It's not the full step," he said.

"The full step needs to be a full public inquiry. But it is an intermediate step, and it does raise the spectre of concern that, you know, there is a much bigger issue out there."