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Canadian data shows crime against Aboriginal women is escalating

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Summary of story from CTV News, September 19, 2011

Walk 4 Justice, a group collecting evidence about aboriginal women missing since 2008, say the number of victims in Canada is on the rise.

Since June 21 this year it has documented 37 more missing or murdered women, nearly all aboriginal.

“This is telling us that the violence against women is escalating in this country and it’s being socially accepted. We need to stop these acts of violence,” said Gladys Radek, who co-founded the Walk 4 Justice group after her niece disappeared without a trace from the so-called Highway of Tears in British Columbia.

The group’s database contains the details of around 4,200 victims, the majority aboriginal. Yet aboriginal people account for only three per cent of Canada’s population.

A protest on Parliament Hill was attended by several New Democrat MPs and other aboriginal groups, who again asked Ottawa for a national inquiry and task force that would investigate the missing-women.

However, Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose has already dismissed the idea of the national inquiry. Last year the minister announced a $10 million five-year plan that would help police and victims’-services organizations deal with missing people

Walk 4 Justice say that so far, the government’s efforts have shown few results. Beverley Jacobs, past president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada said: “Nobody knows what they’re doing with that money.”

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