essay

The amount of missing aboriginal women in Canada is something that is not being recognized as the societal tragedy that it is. According to Amnesty International there are "more than 580 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, most within the last three decades. Because of gaps in police and government reporting, the actual numbers may be much higher" (Amnesty, 2014). Violence against aboriginal women is extremely high. "Aboriginal women are murdered at rates 5 and 10 times higher than those of non-aboriginal women" (Henslin, 2010,p.373). The long lasting effects of the Residential School system is very evident on aboriginal people. "The effects of the residential school system were long term especially when it is considered that successive generations of Native Canadians grew up abused or traumatized in the residential schools" (Cultural Survival). The effect of children being removed from their communiites has led to generations of abuse, poverty and addiction. "As the children of each successive generation went through the residential school system, more of their Native culture, language and identity were lost...unfortunately, for any Indian families, once known for their extreme gentleness and patience with their children, important parenting skills were lost as their young children were taken away with each succeeding generation" (Cultural Survival). The effect of poverty on aboriginal women makes it more likely that they will be abused or kidnapped. "Some of the missing women in Canada left their communities in an attempt to escape grinding poverty" (Cultural Survival) In my paper I intend to show that poverty, a history of discrimination, and the placement of aboriginal children in residential schools has led to the increase of missing and abused aboriginal women throughout Canada. Aboriginal people have a history of being treated as less than human; this view has led to the lack of awareness that our country has in