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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

MP Neville wants Ottawa to look into disappearance of aboriginal women

By: Mia Rabson

13/05/2009 3:29 PM | Comments: 1

OTTAWA - Manitoba Liberal MP Anita Neville is asking Ottawa to launch a public and independent investigation of the disappearances of hundreds of aboriginal women in the last few decades.
Over 245 aboriginal women and girls have been murdered or gone missing since 2000. Since 1970, the number is 520.
Seventy-one of them are from Manitoba, including three who have been missing for less than a year now.
Neville said if those numbers represented any other community the outcry would be enormous but because they are aboriginal, their cases are being overlooked.
She said if the government decides an inquiry is warranted that would be great but she said there are many options here to look at the common themes among the lives of the murdered and missing, including the response to missing persons' reports by police, the media and the community at large.
Todd Russell, Liberal MP and aboriginal affairs critic, said the families of these women deserve to know what happened.
"It’s never too late for justice," said Russell.
Helena Guergis, Conservative Minister of State for the status of women, said during question period the government is funding the Sisters in Spirit project with $1 million a year.
The project, run by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, is documenting the stories of the missing women.
Neville said it’s time for the government to do more than record the stories, and actually take steps to figure out why this is happening so aboriginal women can be safer.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

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1 Comments

Posted by: Jason Wayne

May 13, 2009 at 5:46 PM

And from "left" field, come Neville. I notice that Anita rarely opens her trap for anything else like how ineffective her party is yet she chooses to bring this up. The "520" missing or murdered is a doctored statistic.

There is no way you're going to be able to prove they were all murdered and certainly not missing of their own accord. Maybe many of them don't want to be found? And how about those who are in CFS care etc.? Believe me, missing persons cases get investigated.