“The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry is looking to hire four lawyers to represent the interests of First Nations women and residents of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
The commission of inquiry came up with the plan after the provincial government refused to provide legal funding for 12 of 13 groups who have been granted standing to participate in the inquiry, which will probe the police failures during the investigations of serial killer Robert Pickton.” This inquiry is informally known as the Pickton Inquiry and many of the missing and murdered women were First Nations women.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Compromise+lawyers+hired/5216373/story.html#ixzz1UG0SSy8o.
The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) were denied funding to participate in the Pickton Inquiry. NWAC reportedly withdrew from participating in the Pickton Inquiry because of the lack of funding. I have yet to see a news article verifying this fact. However, a few other organizations withdrew over the past few days because they were denied funding to hire legal counsel.
Grand Chief Phillip Stewart of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) formally withdrew from the Pickton Inquiry. UBCIC should have been funded to participate in the Pickton Inquiry because Grand Chief Phillip Stewart truly has the interests of our people at heart. He would have ensured that all of the important issues affecting First Nations women were addressed at the Inquiry. He is a leader that has the ability to think collectively about our issues.
On the other hand, I do not have any sympathy, whatsoever, for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) who were denied funding to participate in the Pickton Inquiry.
We all know that the AFN and NWAC are federal government organizations called “National Aboriginal Organizations” that sell off our rights in exchange for big tax-free paychecks. The AFN and NWAC use federal monies to hire their consultant/lawyer friends to develop First Nations policies and they would do the same if they were funded to participate in the Pickton Inquiry. They would hire their lawyer friends to represent the interests of First Nations women and most likely that friend would be non-Aboriginal or an Aboriginal male. It is called the Aboriginal industry for a reason and only the Aboriginal industry would benefit from the Pickton Inquiry.
It is time for the offices of the National Chief of the AFN and CAP (Congress of Aboriginal Peoples), and the President of NWAC to take a good hard look at their governance style and assess the relationship between their lawyers/consultants and their office. One will find many friends reaping the benefits of federal dollars. Perhaps the offices of the National Chiefs of the AFN, CAP, and NWAC would actually have some credibility among the people if they reformed their governance practices and were actually accountable to the people. We are not allowed to participate in decision-making or to vote in free and fair elections for the positions of National Chief and President of these organizations.
AFN, CAP, and the President of NWAC sold off the rights of all Aboriginal women by supporting Bill C-3 in 2010, the discriminatory amendments to the Indian Act that restores status as an Indian under the Indian Act to some Indian women who married non-Indian men and their children, but not all. Prior to 1985, Indian women lost their status as Indians under the Indian Act if they married non-Indian men whereas non-Indian women gained status as an Indian if they married Indian men.
Bill C-3 still denies Indian status to Indian women who married non-Indian men, and their children, and it is an act of cultural genocide against our people. The AFN, CAP, and NWAC were told by the federal government that funding for roundtables on citizenship would not be forthcoming until Bill C-3 was passed into law. AFN, CAP, and NWAC supported Bill C-3 and are committing cultural genocide against our people. These organizations are now happily implementing citizenship roundtables and their boards of directors are continuing to receive big tax-free paychecks at our expense.
Many of the missing and murdered women from downtown East Vancouver were First Nations and also negatively affected by Bill C-3 just like the rest of us. Did AFN, CAP and NWAC think of these missing and murdered women when they unilaterally chose to support Bill C-3 without consulting the people???
Supporting Bill C-3 was an act of spiritual, cultural and physical violence against First Nations women. The President of NWAC, Jeannette Corbiere-Lavell, perpetuated lateral violence against our women by supporting Bill C-3. She fought her own personal battle against the discriminatory Indian Act status provisions in the 1970s, which is at the heart of Bill C-3 today. Jeannette Corbiere-Lavell lost her status as Indian in the 1970’s because she married a non-Indian man and she fought this discrimination against her all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Here is the link to the Attorney General of Canada v. Lavell, [1974] S.C.R. 1349 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1974 dismissing Jeannette Corbiere-Lavell’s appeal regarding her disenfranchisement from the Indian Act because she married a non-Indian man. http://scc.lexum.org/en/1973/1974scr0-1349/1974scr0-1349.html.
Why did Jeannette Corbiere-Laval support Bill C-3??
So, please excuse me if I do not feel any sympathy for NWAC and the AFN for not receiving funding to participate in the Pickton Inquiry.
So, please excuse me if I do not feel any sympathy for NWAC and the AFN for not receiving funding to participate in the Pickton Inquiry.
Perhaps, hiring four lawyers to represent First Nations women is the most logical approach to funding the interests arising from the Pickton Inquiry. They should hire lawyers who actually have knowledge and professional experience working on issues affecting First Nations women. I, for one, am supportive of this approach. At least we would be sure that the Aboriginal industry, i.e. friends of the National Chief of the AFN and President of NWAC, would not reap the benefits of the taxpayers’ income.
After all, NWAC is not a true representative group of First Nations women. We are not allowed to participate in their decision-making processes unless we formally become a member of NWAC yet the President of NWAC unilaterally makes decisions that negatively affect us all. Need I say more???
WHO IS WATCHING OUT FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN? Certainly not the President of NWAC or the National Chief of the AFN.
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