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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Editorial
Federal New Democrats have joined Manitoba's First Nations leaders in calling for a national inquiry into why aboriginal women are victims of violence at startling rates. Abundant evidence proves this shameful reality in Canada. But spending many millions of dollars exploring the many known factors that feed the tragedy is not a good use of scarce funds.
An inquiry is best used to dig out the truth of miscarriages of justice or serious wrongdoings by public officials. The plea for this inquiry springs from the spectacular rate at which aboriginal women go missing or are murdered in Canada.
Each victim's tragedy is unique, but at root of the wider problem is an insidious social dysfunction that leads impoverished First Nations people into addictions, making them easy prey for the criminal element. Many women land on the street, putting them at extraordinary risk.
The solutions are complex and expensive. The desperation of victims' families is understandable. But the NDP, which proposes itself as a viable option for government, should resist making political points to curry support.
Unless proof emerges that authorities failed in their duty to victims of crime, the NDP should instead redouble its efforts to improve the economies of reserves, provide social supports for families and ensure children get high-quality education. Those efforts offer greater hope for long-standing solutions to conditions that set many aboriginal people up for failure.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 1, 2012 A14
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