THUNDER BAY – Crime News – “There is something wrong in our country if Indigenous women are five times more likely to be violently attacked than non-aboriginal women,” Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy stated. “Enough is enough. The senseless loss of another life and the people that it affects is devastating to communities and families”.
Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy is once again calling on the federal government for a national inquiry into the hundreds of murdered and missing Indigenous women in Canada, after another woman was murdered this week in Nova Scotia.
Regional Chief Stan Beardy stated, “I know too well the how a loss of a loved one due to violence can alter one’s life and leave a shocking impact in a community and family. This has to end and I am supporting the call by the Aboriginal Women’s Association for a national inquiry.”
Yesterday the president of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association said this latest murder of Loretta Saunders, an Inuk woman should trigger a national inquiry into the hundreds of murdered and missing aboriginal women in Canada.
The Chiefs of Ontario demand the federal government provide equity in services and resources for First Nations children and youth; provide adequate programs and establish services to end violence against Indigenous women and girls; and to establish a National Public Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Nation leadership have signed a Declaration by First Nations Political Leadership to Support Ending Violence in Our Communities and Against Our Peoples last year and are working to facilitate and strengthen relationships among them and the government of Ontario and Canada in order to end violence and the discrimination of services for our community members, in particular our women and children.
