Press Statement
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) welcomes a report released yesterday by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that takes Canadian governments and police to task on missing and murdered indigenous women.
The NTC applauds the report’s call for a national action plan to address social and economic issues that marginalize indigenous people and “originate and exacerbate the violence”. These issues include discrimination, poverty, disproportionate incarceration, and inadequate education, employment and housing.
“The Harper government can no longer ignore and deny the facts,” said NTC President Deb Foxcroft. “This highly regarded human rights organization has conducted a well-researched and comprehensive study of the issue over a two year period and concluded that there is a systemic problem that requires national attention and resources. These results confirm concerns and support recommendations made by the United Nations and First Nations governments. It is time for the federal government to stop trying to pass the buck and to take national coordinated action.”
See the Declaration of Nuu-chah-nulth Women here: http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2014-06-13/declaration-nuu-chah-nulth-women
Here is a link to the commission’s full report: http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1479300/canada-indigenous-women-iac.pdf