Balloons Marked Native Women Victims of Violence

Jo-Ann Daniels's outrage echoed off the high-rise office buildings surrounding Churchill Square.

Her barely contained anger radiated over the small crowd clutching white balloons, ready to be released like prayers to the heavens. On each balloon was the name of a native woman who had been victimized by violence.

The one closest to me carried the name Maggie Lee Burke, 21, who vanished without a trace in 2004. Now her family is locked in a prison of unanswered questions, impotent anger and inconsolable grief.

High-risk lifestyle

Burke was one of thousands of native women across Canada who lived a so-called "high-risk lifestyle," which is inoffensive shorthand for drug use, prostitution and violence.

But as Daniels, who was speaking at a rally put on by the local chapter of Amnesty International and the Edmonton-based Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women, put it last week, "high risk, for aboriginal women, means simply being an aboriginal woman."

Daniels just completed a study of native women and violence for the institute.

The report will be made public later this year, but Daniels made it clear that her findings - while hardly surprising to anyone who has been paying attention - are nothing short of staggering.

She told the crowd that over the years, she has met thousands of native women across the country.

Of all those women, she knew of only two who had who remained untouched by violence, whether it's in their own homes, on the streets or elsewhere.

For some of us, it's tempting to dismiss the carnage as self-inflicted.

Media dwell on the street deaths, the ever-increasing body count of prostitutes - mostly native - who've been used and then tossed out like last week's garbage.

If they really wanted to, they could get off the streets, we say.

But the question hanging overhead is, what drives so many native women to the streets in the first place?

And what of all those tens of thousands who aren't living "a high-risk lifestyle" but still aren't safe in their own homes?

Statistics Canada says aboriginal women aged 25 to 44 are five times more likely to die violently than other women the same age.

The numbers are so horrifying that Amnesty International has gotten involved. NDP MLA Dave Eggen notes the significance of having a group that devotes its efforts to freeing political prisoners, exposing tyranny and fighting for human rights focusing on an issue in Canada.

"Normally they concentrate on dictatorships," he says.

IAAW head Muriel Stanley Venne says while the situation is bleak, there's plenty of cause for hope.

Stanley Venne says she was beaten and left for dead in alley back in the '70s. The attack was all but dismissed by police.

"In those days, you weren't taken seriously," she says.

But times have changed, she says, adding that she's delighted with Edmonton city police Chief Mike Boyd's assurances that he's committed to improving the situation.

Methods reviewed

For example, Boyd says the department's methods of dealing with missing persons reports are under review.

Under particular scrutiny will be how the "element of risk" in each case is assessed to determine how serious the report is.

He also wants to see more "cultural sensitivity" used in the handling of all cases.

Boyd says police departments across the country are examining how they handle these cases.