WUNRN
Direct Link to Full 95-Page Human
Rights Watch 2013 Report:
Press Release: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/13/canada-abusive-policing-neglect-along-highway-tears
CANADA - ABUSIVE POLICING &
PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN - BRITISH COLUMBIA "HIGHWAY OF TEARS"
(Ottawa) – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in northern British Columbia has failed to protect indigenous women and girls from violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Women and girls Human Rights Watch interviewed also described abusive treatment by police officers, including excessive use of force, and physical and sexual assault.
This report, “Those Who Take Us Away: Abusive Policing and Failures
in Protection of Indigenous Women and Girls in Northern British Columbia,
Canada,” documents both ongoing police failures to protect indigenous women
and girls in the north from violence and violent behavior by police officers
against women and girls. Police failures and abuses add to longstanding
tensions between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and indigenous
communities in the region, Human Rights Watch said. The Canadian government
should establish a national commission of inquiry into the murders and
disappearances of indigenous women and girls, including the impact of police
mistreatment on their vulnerability to violence in communities along Highway
16, which has come to be called northern British Columbia’s “Highway of Tears.”
“The threat of domestic and random violence on one side, and mistreatment by
RCMP officers on the other, leaves indigenous women in a constant state of
insecurity,” said Meghan Rhoad, women’s rights researcher at Human
Rights Watch. “Where can they turn for help when the police are known to be
unresponsive and, in some cases, abusive.”
Human Rights Watch conducted research along Highway 97 and along the
724-kilometer stretch of Highway 16 that has become infamous for the dozens of
women and girls who have been reported missing or were found dead in its vicinity
since the late 1960s. In July and August 2012, Human Rights Watch researchers
interviewed 50 indigenous women and girls, and conducted an additional 37
interviews with families of murdered and missing women, indigenous leaders,
community service providers, and others across 10 communities.
Indigenous women and girls told Human Rights Watch that the RCMP has failed to
protect them. They also described instances of abusive policing, including
excessive use of force against girls, strip searches of women by male officers,
and physical and sexual abuse. One woman said that in July, four police
officers took her to a remote location, raped her, and threatened to kill her
if she told anyone.
Women who call the police for help have been blamed for the abuse, shamed over
alcohol or substance use, and have found themselves at risk of arrest for
actions taken in self-defense, women and community service providers told Human
Rights Watch.
“I will never forget that day,” said “Lena G.,” whose 15-year-old daughter’s
arm was broken by a police officer after the mother called the police for help
during an argument between her daughter and her daughter’s abusive boyfriend.
“It’s the worst thing I ever did. I wish I didn’t call.”
Despite policies requiring active investigation of all reports of missing
persons, some family members and service providers who made calls to police to
report missing women or girls said the police failed to investigate the
disappearances promptly.
Women and girls have limited recourse when they experience police abuse or when
police fail to provide adequate protection, Human Rights Watch said. They can
lodge a complaint against the police with the Commission for Public Complaints.
But the process is time consuming and the investigation of the complaint is
likely to fall to the RCMP itself or to another police force.
Human Rights Watch researchers were struck by the fear expressed by women they
interviewed. The women’s reactions were comparable to those Human Rights Watch
has found in post-conflict or post-transition countries, where security forces
have played an integral role in government abuses and enforcement of
authoritarian policies.
In September 2012, Human Rights Watch wrote to the RCMP to advise the national
headquarters and the “E” Division in British Columbia of the results of the
research and seek information about questions raised by the research. The RCMP
responded in November. Human Rights Watch did not include details of specific
incidents of abuse in the September 2012 letter because of victims’ fears of
retaliation if the officers they accused were able to identify them.
British Columbia’s legislature recently established the Independent
Investigations Office (IIO) to provide independent civilian “criminal
investigations regarding police-related incidents involving death or serious
harm.” The law’s definition of “serious harm” would exclude most cases of
police rape and other forms of sexual assault, however, sending a strong
message that assaults on women and girls are not important, Human Rights Watch
said.
“The lack of a reliable, independent mechanism to investigate allegations of
police misconduct is unfair to everyone involved,” Rhoad said. “It is unfair to
the officers who serve honorably. It is unfair to the northern communities that
deserve to have confidence in their police forces. And it is especially unfair
to the indigenous women and girls, whose safety is at stake.”
United Nations human rights bodies have criticized Canada for the inadequate
government response to violence against indigenous women and girls. The United
Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women announced
in December 2011 that it was opening an inquiry into missing and murdered
indigenous women in Canada. In 2008, the committee called on the government “to
examine the reasons for the failure to investigate the cases of missing and
murdered aboriginal women and to take the necessary steps to remedy the
deficiencies in the system.”
The government of Canada has taken some steps to address the murders
and disappearances, Human Rights Watch said, but the persistence of the
violence indicates a need for a national public commission of inquiry.
“The high rate of violence against indigenous women and girls has caused
widespread alarm for many years,” Rhoad said. “The eyes of the world are on
Canada to see how many more victims it takes before the government addresses
this issue in a comprehensive and coordinated way.”
Additional recommendations
Statements about police abuse
“I feel so dirty….They threatened that if I told anybody they would take me out to the mountains and kill me, and make it look like an accident.” – Gabriella P. (pseudonym), who told Human Rights Watch that in July 2012 four police officers took her to a remote location and raped her. She said that police officers had raped her in similar circumstances on previous occasions.
“‘Here’s your choice, you either get charged with assaulting an officer or
you take the beating,’ [said one of the officers.] Stupid me I said, ‘I’ll take
the beating.’ She grabbed me, slammed me up on the wall and I hit my head. Then
she slammed me on the ground. A male cop drove his knee into my back while she
stripped earrings out of my ears and elastics out of my hair. ‘Have you had
enough?’ ‘Yes, I’ve had enough. I’m sorry.’ ” – Anna T. (pseudonym) who spat on
a police officer when she was arrested.
“I had a woman about two years ago who decided to report [a sexual assault] to the RCMP – very rare. I have worked with many women sexually assaulted and only a handful go forward with charges. She was made to feel that she was to blame….You have a system of authority that puts the blame on the victim.” – Community service provider in northern British Columbia