The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police isn’t taking a position on whether there should be a public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women, despite the growing calls for a national study over the last year.
“The groups that are calling for the national inquiry have not asked us to support their request,” said Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu, the outgoing president of the chiefs’ association. Chu commented on the issue Monday while speaking at the association’s annual meeting being held in Victoria this week. The association’s Policing with Aboriginal People committee is reaching out to the Native Women’s Association of Canada to find out more about what it would like an inquiry to look like, he said.
But one of the women’s groups calling for the national inquiry says the chiefs should not have to wait for a request to take a stand on the issue.
“Isn't their motto ‘beyond the call?’ So why are they waiting for a call? They should be going beyond the call and that they’re waiting is really strange and disappointing,” said Irene Tsepnopoulos-Elhaimer, executive director of Vancouver-based Women Against Violence Against Women.
Retired judge Wally Oppal headed the Missing Women Commission that looked into the handling of the cases of women who were victims of serial killer Robert Pickton. In December 2012, Oppal issued a report with 65 recommendations aimed at fixing the police failures that allowed Pickton to prey on so many vulnerable women for so long. Oppal found that because many of the women were drug-addicted, working in the sex trade or aboriginal, their disappearances were subject to “systemic bias by the police.” The Vancouver police department was part of the inquiry.
“The police forces [across Canada] have a huge duty to step up and address the systemic issues in their own police force and society,” Tsepnopoulos-Elhaimer said.
Aboriginal and women’s rights groups across the country have renewed calls for an inquiry after the murder of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine, whose body was found wrapped in plastic in the Red River in Winnipeg on Aug. 17. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rejected calls for an inquiry, saying it’s a criminal issue, not a sociological issue, which has sparked waves of criticism.
An RCMP report issued in May found that nearly 1,200 aboriginal women have gone missing or have been murdered over the last three decades. The report also found that aboriginal women comprise 4.3 per cent of the female population in Canada, yet account for 16 per cent of female homicides and 11.3 per cent of missing women cases.
More than 400 police leaders from across the country are in Victoria for the association’s annual meeting, co-hosted by the Victoria police and the Canadian Forces military police group. The conference continues today and wraps up Wednesday.
