Introduction ...

 

Our aboriginal sisters have experienced what I am going to term a genocide in our own country. The word 'Genocide' was termed by Raphael Lemkin after WWII as he and others were horrified at witnessing Nazi terror although they were considered "rumours" at the time. 'Genotype' denotes a biological type determined by the genetic characteristics common to a group. 'Cide' is a suffix signifying killer; destroyer; or a killing. Lemkin was almost single handedly responsible for getting the United Nations to adopt genocide as a criminal atrocity in the political evolution of a nation. (for more information see Samantha Power's book "A Problem From Hell" - American in the Age of Genocide. This is a subtle warning, it's a difficult read even for those who are addicted to news but a recommended read for those who are human rights activists).

Excerpt from the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

Adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948.


Article 1

The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.


Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 3

The following acts shall be punishable:

(a) Genocide;

(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;

(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;

(d) Attempt to commit genocide;

(e) Complicity in genocide.

Article 4

Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3 shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.

http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html

The term genocide may not sit well with Amnesty International (AI) officials here in Canada because the Convention is explicit about the genocide being obvious and public. What about quietly ignoring the concerns of our aboriginals to such an extent that the full system becomes complicit in genocide by their negligence?

Another reason I believe AI would not agree with the term genocide is from the response I recieved when I voiced my concerns to them in 2002 about the systemic issues violating many women's rights here in Ontario constituted psychological torture. From the AI official I got the "officical scorn" which lead to the dismissal of my concerns by not investigating the concerns.

Not to take away from the physical aspects of torture, psychological torture is utilized by the person's own fear about ominous future incidents of the infliction of agony and undue strain. It has been argued in some international law textbooks that torture can also be in the form of psychological torture as opposed to just the physical aspects of it.

I argued this in my CEDAW submission for the committee to consider that the mental harm that our provincial government has forced women to endure, particularly Kimberly Rogers. Those texts maintain, depending on the state of the woman's (or man's) emotional health at the commencement of the abuse, could qualify as "degrading treatment" violating international human rights laws on crime against humanity.

The report "Walking on Eggshells: Abused Women's Experiences with Ontario's Welfare System", is an example of systemic psychological torture to the extent that the system's methods were equated in the women's experiences as equivalent to the violence they experienced by their partners or family members. Such systemic abuse, implemented to such an extent that reaches beyond the experiences of abused women and into the general Ontario Works & ODSP population, that many individuals cannot function normally to attempt to remove themselves from such a degrading system. Living in a cycle of poverty can push many women into lives of prostitution and substance abuse to cover the pain of anxiety and depression forced on them by such a system.

Amnesty International's mandate as of 2002 did not allow for individuals living in Canada to report on human rights abuses domestically, which seems to have changed now. For individuals reporting on human rights abuses, it is paramount their safety is not in danger and is done so by removing them from their home country as threats of physical harm is greatly increased in many countries. In Canada, the worst that could happen is systemic reprisals resulting in an incidious form of psychological torture as opposed to the risks of an assasination or an assasination attempt. Those who fight for human rights in Ontario are at risk in the local community of reprisals and systemic abuses unless the media brings it to the fore. In many cases, especially with respect to women's issues, the media is to blame.

The concerns of our native sisters are documented in their websites below. Media reports below finally are starting to pay attention to the problems instead of continuing the fabrication of the Canadian myth that Canada is a bastion of respect for human rights by Charter waving politicians. Those Charter waving politicians have committed major violations in their own laws and have diverted away public attention and scrutiny by campaigning strongly against other Charter opposing political parties. They achieved this with the help of broadcasting and publishing media ignoring the concerns of women 1) in their election coverage 2) ignoring the CEDAW committees request to "disseminate widely so all Canadians will know" Canada's commitment women in the Beijing Platform. - MW

Excerpt from Sisers in Spirit:
"Over the past 20 years, approximately 500 Aboriginal women have gone missing in communities across Canada. Yet government, the media, and Canadian society continue to remain silent.

In Vancouver, more than 50 women went missing in that city’s Downtown Eastside. Sixty percent were Aboriginal, and most were young. These were poor women involved in the sex trade. They struggled with drugs and alcohol. Some suffered from the effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and many were victims of childhood sexual abuse. Every one of them grew up in a foster home. In other words, their lives bore all of the markings of the violence of colonization." http://www.sistersinspirit.ca/engmissing.htm


Excerpt from CBC Report:
"Amnesty International is going to release a report this fall on missing aboriginal women. "We're aware of what we see as a pattern of vulnerability experienced by native women in Canada" said Amnesty's Cheryl Hotaiss." http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/07/02/canada/missing040702


Excerpt from Alex Neve's public statement, Secretary General Amnesty International Canada (English Speaking):
"This is not just a criminal law issue, it is not only a social problem. Perhaps most importantly of all it is entirely about human rights. And plain and simple, over the past twenty years – and long before that – a wrenching human rights tragedy has been unfolding in Canada. Hundreds of Indigenous women are reported to have gone missing in this country. Abused, raped, attacked, murdered, neglected, forgotten -- the fundamental right of these women to live their
lives in safety has been shattered and discarded."
http://www.amnesty.ca/IndigenousPeoples/sisters_statement.php

Excerpt from CBC Report:
"The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Matthew Coon Come, says the report will open the eyes of the world to Canada's treatment of native people. "Canada, supposedly the human rights boy scout of the world, now has its name inscribed in a book of shame. I welcome and commend Amnesty International for its even-handed treatment of Canada's hypocrisy."
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2001/05/30/canada/amnesty010520

CBC backgrounder on Canada's Aboriginals:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/firstnations/

Media

AMNESTY LOOKING INTO CASES OF MISSING ABORIGINAL WOMEN
Amnesty International is going to release a report this fall on missing aboriginal women.
FULL STORY:
http://cbc.ca/stories/2004/07/02/missing040702

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Page last updated July 4, 2004