An aboriginal organization has managed to find in archives nearly a hundred aboriginal women murdered in Quebec between 1980 and 2012, more than double the toll of the RCMP.
“The police don’t care! It’s as if there was no urgency. It’s the Aboriginal organizations that have to hire someone to find out the numbers,” says Janis Qavavauq-Bibeau, research coordinator for the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal.
For nearly three years, the latter has been combing through existing databases, newspaper articles from the time and collecting testimonials from families to get an accurate picture of the situation.
In 2014, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Statistics Canada calculated that 46 Indigenous women had been murdered in the province between 1980 and 2012. These are the most up-to-date figures.
Except that for his part, Janis Qavavauq-Bibeau arrives at nearly a hundred women murdered in the same period. This number continues to increase as his research progresses.
How can such a disparity be explained?
“When there’s a murder, it’s the police who tick “native” or not in the report. It’s problematic because they are the ones who judge,” underlines the young Inuk (see other text).
Since a long time
But his database covers a much longer period than the RCMP report, and goes back to the beginnings of the colony until today. It currently has 201 names.
“Quebecers are not aware of the number of victims here, they think it only happens in British Columbia,” drops Nakuset, director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal.
“We all know who Cédrika Provencher or Julie Surprenant are. But Tera Fay Jolly, who was murdered at 16 [à Waskaganish, dans le Nord-du-Québec, en 2009] ? Nobody knows who it is, ”adds Janis Qavavauq-Bibeau.
To not forget
During her research, the 26-year-old woman also realized that many of these women had fallen into oblivion, even in their communities of origin.
She is therefore considering the creation of an interactive map to make their story known. “I just want to give a voice to women who have never had one,” says the researcher.
His own grandmother is among the tragic statistics. “There are really, really, really a lot of murdered women in Nunavik,” she sighs.
As proof, Janis Qavavauq-Bibeau recounts a recent meeting with two other Inuit women visiting Montreal.
“There were three of us, from different communities [nordiques]. And the three of us had a family member in my database. It really shocked me, ”she laments.
Impossible to have a portrait of the situation
Even the Royal Canadian Mounted Police recognizes the difficulties of compiling statistics on the disappearance or murder of Aboriginal women in Canada.
“Asking a police officer to determine a person’s race based on their perception is difficult, as it can yield incomplete and inaccurate results,” reads a 2014 report.
For example, some might rely solely on the victim’s last name or skin color to determine their origins.
The RCMP also points out that the different police forces do not base themselves on the same criteria – Indian status, police officer’s impressions, information from relatives, etc. – which complicates the compilation.
This same report suggests that 46 Aboriginal women were killed in Quebec between 1980 and 2012, a figure that would be greatly underestimated (see other text).
“Systemic ignorance”
The Journal has tried to obtain more up-to-date figures, without success.
“The RCMP does not have the mandate to do this kind of statistical research nor the budget appropriations to do so,” wrote a spokesperson, who directed us to tables from Statistics Canada.
Nakuset, director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, sees in this “an institutional and systematic ignorance” which contributes to minimizing the extent of the problem.
“We are really at the bottom of the totem when it comes to police priorities,” she scolds.
The Sûreté du Québec did not respond to our questions at the time of going to press.
under the radar
Informed of the difficulties of Log to obtain an official portrait of the situation, the Quebec minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Ian Lafrenière, acknowledged that “the system was not adapted to the demands”.
“It’s not out of bad will, it’s out of lack of resources,” he said.
He recognized in the same breath that some murders of Indigenous women could slip under the radar of the authorities and not be counted as such.
In 2019, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls pointed out that the data available was often incomplete in Quebec, “which prevents[ait] to paint a fair picture of the situation.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com