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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Chief calls on UN to probe cases of slain, missing women

By: Gabrielle Giroday

Posted: 07/12/2012 1:00 AM

Marchers leave The Forks headed to Portage and Main Wednesday. (PHOTOS BY BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ) Photo Store

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Participants on horseback were among the 300 demonstrators. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

THE United Nations needs to examine the high number of slain and missing aboriginal women in Canada, the grand chief who represents a number of northern Manitoba reserves said Wednesday.

Grand Chief David Harper of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak pleaded for increased international scrutiny of the issue during a rally that attracted about 300 people in downtown Winnipeg Wednesday. The crowd -- which included drummers and riders on horseback -- proceeded from The Forks to the corner of Portage Avenue and Main Street.

Harper said calls by aboriginal leaders for an inquiry have gone unheeded provincially and nationally, so they must go to a global body such as the UN.

"What we're hearing is that the province doesn't want to have an inquiry, Canada doesn't want an inquiry," said Harper. "We're calling on the international community to say, 'Look, we've got to ask Canada for an inquiry.' "

The issue of slain and missing women has received renewed prominence with the arrest in June of Shaun Lamb for the deaths of Tanya Jane Nepinak, 31, Carolyn Marie Sinclair, 25, and Lorna Blacksmith, 18. Lamb has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder for the women's deaths, and police have established a tip line to find out more information about Lamb.

Harper said he's spoken to candidates running for national chief of the Assembly of First Nations about their views about getting a spotlight on the issue at the United Nations.

A report by the Native Women's Association of Canada -- known as Sisters in Spirit -- published in March 2010 studied more than 580 cases of missing or slain aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

The report found "these women represent approximately 10 per cent of the total number of female homicides in Canada despite the fact that aboriginal women make up only three per cent of the total female population in Canada."

It also found "more than half of the women and girls were under the age of 31."

Susan Caribou, an aunt to Nepinak, said she's had four friends and relatives who've been slain or gone missing.

She said she's deeply troubled Nepinak's body has not yet been recovered. She said the family has launched their own search, which means going out during the night, making sleep difficult. She said a family member has been in touch with the accused killer, but so far, information provided hasn't led to Nepinak's body.

"I just want to find my niece so we can have a funeral, a wake for her and a funeral," said Caribou.

She said the family finds the lack of closure from not having Nepinak's body "very stressful."

Derek Nepinak, the grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, told the rally he would like to see more people participating in the next walk.

"We can't go quiet on this again. We need to keep the momentum going, we need to build the message," he said.

The RCMP and Winnipeg police have set up a task force known as Project Devote to look into unsolved cases of slain and missing high-risk women.

Winnipeg police couldn't specify Wednesday how the work on gathering information on Lamb was proceeding, or the official number of cases being dealt with by Project Devote.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 12, 2012 A4