Canadian Inquiry Calls Killings of Indigenous Women Genocide
Canadian Inquiry Calls Killings of Indigenous Women Genocide
A memorial for Tina Fontaine sits by the Red River in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The teenager’s killing in 2014 angered many people, setting off protests and questions about the deaths of Indigenous women in Canada.CreditCreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times
By Dan Bilefsky
June 2, 2019
MONTREAL — A national inquiry into the widespread killings and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls equates the violence with genocide and holds Canada itself responsible for much of it, in a report to be released on Monday.
That powerful rebuke of violence against one of the country’s most vulnerable minorities comes after a nearly three-year inquiry during which more than 1,500 families of victims and survivors testified in emotional hearings across the country.
The report, which will be officially released in a ceremony Monday, says the violence against women and girls amounts “to a race-based genocide of Indigenous peoples, including First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.”
“This genocide has been empowered by colonial structures,” the report adds.
The report cites, among other events, Canada’s onetime practice of sending thousands of Indigenous children to residential schools, where they were abused over decades.
More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/world/canada/indigenous-women-girls-violence-inquiry.html
