The situation in Canada regarding police misconduct around
women and girls who are native to Canada is a huge problem. This problem
mirrors the problem in the United States. Police here in the United States also
have sexual misconduct with women and girls. The Prime Minister of Canada, Mr.
Stephen Harper ignored the problem. He should not be in office because public
officials are honor bound to protect women from police misconduct. He has
authority over the police in Canada because he is the prime minister. The
police do not seem to want to fix the problem and allow women and girls to file
complaints against the police for misconduct without fear of reprisal. The
problem that they face right now is weak laws that do not protect women from reprisal
if they file a sexual abuse lawsuit against the police. Human Rights Watch basically said that if the
government wants accountable policing they better fix the flaws in the policing
system. “We would like to be able to share the full details of the allegations
of abuse we uncovered with the IIO, but the office is hamstrung by its limited
mandate,” Rhoad said. “You can’t expect indigenous women and girls to come
forward when some of the most egregious crimes against them have been excluded
from the one existing institution that offers a meaningful, safe way to bring
complaints.” The report’s researchers are meeting with the Independent
Investigations Office (IIO) in British Columbia on February 14. The office,
which became operational in September, provides independent civilian
investigation of serious allegations of police misconduct involving death or certain serious bodily
injuries. However, rape and sexual abuse are excluded from its mandate -- an
unacceptable, discriminatory omission on the part of the provincial
legislature, Human Rights Watch said.” There is long standing tensions between
the police and the native women and girls because of sexual misconduct and
other violent police crimes that are not handled by law.
Nathan Baker
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