Aboriginal Women 'Overrepresented' Among Violence Victims: RCMP
Aboriginal women are “overrepresented” among totals of murdered and missing women in Canada, accounting for 16 percent of female homicide victims while comprising just 4.3 percent of the female population in the country, an official police tally has revealed.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Friday May 16 released its National Operational Overview on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women report on aboriginal women and violence, and the numbers paint an even starker picture than advocate estimates had.
Moreover, the report found, aboriginal women account for 11.3 percent of missing-women cases, the RCMP said in the comprehensive, final report whose preliminary results had been released earlier in the month.
“This report concludes that the total number of murdered and missing Aboriginal females exceeds previous public estimates,” the RCMP said in a statement. “This total significantly contributes to the RCMP’s understanding of this challenge, but it represents only a first step.”
In total, the RCMP tallied, 1,181 incidents of indigenous female homicides and unresolved missing women cases, 164 of those disappeared and 1,017 murdered. A good 225 cases are still unsolved, including 105 women missing for more than 30 days as of November 4, 2013, with their cause of disappearance characterized as unknown or of suspected foul play. Also unsolved are 120 homicides, the RCMP said. The report covered the period from 1980 through 2012.
“The total indicates that Aboriginal women are over-represented among Canada's murdered and missing women,” the RCMP said. “There are similarities across all female homicides. Most homicides were committed by men and most of the perpetrators knew their victims—whether as an acquaintance or a spouse.”
About 90 percent of both aboriginal and non-aboriginal victims’ cases have been solved, the RCMP said.
You need to be logged in in order to post comments
Please use the log in option at the bottom of this page