By Kenneth Jackson
APTN National News
An RCMP project aimed at tallying the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women has uncovered “over 1,000” cases, APTN National News has learned.
The RCMP was able to determine that there are more than 1,000 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women with the help of other police forces across the country, according to a person with knowledge of the project, who asked not to be named because they’re not the official spokesperson on the project.
As part of this project, the RCMP reached out to over 200 police forces across the country and asked to get a peek at their files to compile the statistics.
APTN was told the project was complete and the report’s release was supposed to come out March 31, but is being held up by the federal ministry of public safety Canada.
However, RCMP Aboriginal policing Supt. Tyler Bates denied the report was done when contacted on his cell phone Wednesday afternoon.
“There is no report as of yet that has been disseminated,” said Bates. “There will be a publicly available document down the road.”
When asked about the tally of over 1,000, Bates said he couldn’t confirm or deny any number.
“I’m not going to speak to a specific number to confirm or refute anything at this juncture,” he said. “I don’t have any comment right now. All I can tell you is there is work that remains ongoing.”
The purpose of the project was to give the RCMP clear data on the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women, Bates told APTN in December.
The tally of over 1,000 cases would shatter any numbers compiled to this point. The Native Women’s Association of Canada released a report in 2010 with nearly 600 cases and recently and an Ottawa researcher released a study that puts the number at over 800.
The RCMP questioned NWAC’s numbers in the past, but, until the recent project, the federal force only tallied information from within its own files.
A call to the Public Safety minister’s office was not immediately returned.
– with APTN files
Doesn’t seem odd that the RCMP continue to simply cover up what they do not want told. Prince George BC was the subject of a report of missing and abused Aboriginal women by Human Rights Watch. During their investigation they found that the records that should have been kept in regards to missing women were lacking and/or uninvestigated. The responsibility for these reports falls back onto the officer in charge for the detachment. That Officer was not brought up on charges but instead the RCMP recently reposted him as Officer in Charge in Sooke BC. Accountability is key, otherwise this will never end.
Is it all that surprising when the apathy shown to our women has been rampant for so many generations?
This is a National disgrace for Canada. While the federal government,specially Harper & Baird blatter about Human Rights in the Ukraine, Sudan, Syria, the worst lack of human rights is right here in Canada. Why in the last fifty years so little has actually been completed or finalized or implemented to address the ever ongoing issues with First Nations?
The RCMP hides its head in the sand or ignores the reality of the sheer number of First Naions’ mising/murdered women they lck the motivation to honestly investigate & solve very few cases, always an excuse or rationalization of lack of action.
One acknowledges that First Nations people them selves must take responsibility too, to reverse the acceptance that alcohol is the primary cause –
But likewise the ingrained culture within the RCMP in western provinces is the biggest stumbling block. Will this ever change? Will both alter their attitudes? Or will the human rights of women continue to be ignored?
Well, it is about time. Dr. Pearce also showed the disproportionate numbers compared to other ethnicities, but with 1,600 of her names that are not ethnically identified, the number is bound in increase.
Last month a nationally known aboriginal researcher published the number 600. Now APTN reports an unknown researcher has reported over a 1,000. Really
What is the definition of indigenous women used is this project? What time frame?