THE SO CALLED MISSING INDIAN WOMEN AND GIRLS, THE INDIANS WANT BIG BUCKS FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA FOR.

 JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

THE SO CALLED MISSING INDIAN WOMEN AND GIRLS, THE INDIANS WANT BIG BUCKS FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA FOR.

DEUTORONOMY 18:10-12
10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire,(OCCULT SACRIFICES) or that useth divination,(NEW AGER AND CRYSTALS ETC) divination n. The art or act of foretelling future events or revealing occult knowledge by means of augury or an alleged supernatural agency.) or an observer of times,(Meaning of observer. ... for sketching it. horoscope - Comes from Greek hora, hour, time, and skopos, observer.) or an enchanter,(The word enchant is derived from the Latin word incantare which refers to uttering an incantation or casting a spell). or a witch,(WITCH. Definition: [noun] a female sorcerer (SORCERY IN THE BIBLE IS DRUGS OR OCCULT ACTIVITY) or magician.)
11 Or a charmer,(charmer means a dealer in spells, especially one who, by binding certain knots, was supposed thereby to bind a curse or a blessing on its object.) or a consulter with familiar spirits,(function as mediums or psychics) or a wizard,(MALE WITCH)-influence; a magical spell WITH WANDS) or a necromancer.(one seeking unto the dead.)
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

REVELATION 9:20-21
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues (NUKES) yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils,(OCCULT) and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries,(DRUG ADDICTIONS OR SELLING DRUGS) nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE)(PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)

YOU ALWAYS HERE THE PIECE PIPE SMOKIN, DRUG ADDICTED, ALCOHOLIC, PROSTITUTES, TREE AND ANIMAL WORSHIPPING INDIANS ON THESE CANADIAN RESERVES COMPLAINING HOW MANY INDIAN WOMEN AND GIRLS ARE MURDERED AND MISSING. WELL LETS GET TO REALITY HERE. HOW MANY OF THESE SO CALL MURDERED AND MISSING INDIANS WERE DRUG AND ALCOHOL ADDICTED PROSTITUTES. THEN THEY WENT MISSING OR GOT MURDERED BY THEIR JOHNS. JUST LIKE THE BIBLE VERSES ABOVE. WHAT THESE PEOPLE ADDICTED TO DRUGS WILL DO. MURDER PEOPLE, STEAL, PROSTITUTE THEMSELVES. AND INDIANS WORSHIP IDOLS OF TREES, WATER AND THE ENVIROMENT. GOD WARNED THESE IDOL WORSHIPPERS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THEY WORSHIP IDOLS. THEY WOULD NOT REPENT OF THEIR DEMON WORSHIP. MURDER, PROSTITUTION OR STEALING. SO I WOULD JUST LOVE TO KNOW HOW MANY OF THESE SO CALLED MISSING AND MURDERED INDIAN WOMEN  AND GIRLS. AND NOTICE GOD IS DESTROYING ONE GOD ON INDIAN RESERVES ALREADY IN CANADA. THE IDOL WORSHIP OF TREES. HOW MANY TREES ARE BEING BURNT TO THE GROUND BY WILDFIRES. AND IT JUST HAPPENS TO BE MOSTLY ON INDIAN RESERVES. THEN GOD VOMITS THE INDIANS FROM THE LAND FOR THIS ENVIROMENTAL WORSHIP. AND I COULD CARE HOW THE LIBERALS, DEMOCRATS OR INDIANS COME AGAINST ME FOR REAVEALING THIS TRUTH. GOD WARNED US WHAT WOULD HAVE TO THESE IDOL WORSHIPPERS INSTEAD OF HIM. SO LETS GET A DOSE OF REALITY HERE.I GO BY WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. WHICH IS THE ONLY TRUTH. NOT BY USELESS WORDS AND THOUGHTS AND BELIEFS WHEN IT COMES TO SIN. THERES MORE THEN JUST ONE SIDE (INDIANS) OF THIS FACT OF WHY THESE WOMEN AND GIRLS INDIANS GO MISSING. AND FORGET THIS POLITICALLY CORRECT NONESENSE THEIR INDIGENOUS. THEY WERE INDIANS 1,000 YRS AGO. 10 YEARS AGO. AND THEIR STILL INDIANS TODAY.

I GOT A BRIEF STORY OF MY INCOUNTER OF TRYING TO HELP A DOPE OR ALCOHOL OR BOTH ADDICTION INDIAN WOMEN. WHEN I LIVED IN KITCHENER IN 1988.I LIVED THERE FROM 1980-1994. IN A SMALL APARTMENT ACROSS FROM MARKET SQUARE. THIS ADDICTED INDIAN WOMEN WOULD SLEEP IN OUR HALLWAY. I SEEN HER A TIME OR TWO. SO I DECIDED WHEN I SEEN HER IN MY HALLWAY. I WOULD INVITE HER IN TO SLEEP ON MY COUCH INSTEAD OF THE HALLWAY. SO I TOLD HER TO COME ON IN. FILTHY AND DIRTY I SAID WOULD YOU LIKE A COFFEE. SHE SAID SHE WANTED TO USE MY WASHROOM. I SAID OK. A HALF HOUR LATER SHE CAME OUT. AND I ASKED HER IF SHE WAS OK. SHE SAID YES. AND I WENT TO MY COT. AND I TOLD HER SHE CAN SLEEP ON MY COUCH. THEN WHEN SHE WOKE UP IN THE MORNING. SHE SAID SHES LEAVING NOW. I SAID BYE. AND I NEVER EVER SEEN HER AGAIN AFTER THAT. BUT WHEN I WENT TO MY WASHROOM TO HAVE A RELIEF. I NOTICED MY LYSOL SPRAY CAN WAS IN THE GARBAGE. I SAID TO MYSELF. WHY WOULD THAT BE IN THE GARBAGE. I NEVER PUT IT THERE. SO I PICKED THE CAN UP WHICH WAS A FULL CAN OF LYSOL I JUST BOUGHT IT TO CLEAN WITH. AND I NOTICED THE BOTTOM WAS CUT OUT OF THE CAN. AND THERE WAS NO LYSOL IN THE CAN AT ALL. THEN IT FINALLY CAME TO ME. THAT INDIAN WOMEN SOME HOW GOT MY LYSOL CAN OPENED. AND DRANK ALL MY LYSOL. I SAID WHAT THE HECK WAS SHE ADDICTED TO. IT HAD TO BE ALCOHOL FOR SURE. BECAUSE OF THE ALCOHOL IN THE LYSOL CAN. SO I KNEW WHY AND WHAT SHE WAS DOING IN MY WASHROOM FOR A HALF HOUR THE NIGHT BEFORE.SO DON:T TELL ME THESE MISSING INDIAN WOMEN AND GIRLS WERE KILLED BY JOHNS. HOW MANY WERE DRUG AND ALCOHOL ADDICTED. AND DIED SOMEWHERE FROM THAT ADDICTION. AND SOMEBODY JUST BURIED THEM SOME WHERE.IS MY QUESTION. AND I DO NOT NEED AN INQUIRY TO WASTE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO GET THAT QUESTION ANSWERED FOR ME. AFTER THAT EXPIERENCE I HAD FOR BEING NICE TO AN ALCOHOL ADDICTED INDIAN WOMAN. BY DRINKING MY CAN OOF LYSOL FOR THE ALCOHOL IN IT. 

AND ALSO IN ON JAN 01,1991.A BLOCK FROM MY FINAL PLACE I LIVED WITH MY EX WENDY, A COUPLE MONTHS BEFORE WE SPLIT UP. THERE WAS A HOMOSEXUAL SLAUGHTER OF A GAY MAN AND HIS WIFE. THERE NAMES WERE JOSEF AND PERSA GLIGOR. THEY WERE HACKED TO DEATH WITH AN AXE AND HATCHET. THEN WHEN IN 2004 I MOVED TO HANOVER ONTARIO. I DECIDED TO PHONE KITCHENER POLICE TO SEE IF THE GLIGOR MURDERS WERE EVER SOLVED. THEY TOLD ME NO. BUT THEN CAME BACK WITH. WE WOULD LIKE TO INTERVIEW YOU. WE WILL COME DOWN FROM KITCHENER TO HANOVER TOMORROW TO TALK WITH YOU. I SAID OK WITH ME. THEN THE NEXT DAY AROUND 11AM. THEY MUST OF TOLD ME WHAT TIME THEY WOULD BE THERE. BECAUSE I REMEMBER LOOKING OUT MY WINDOW. AND SEEN THE POLICE CAR THERE. SO I WENT OUTSIDE AND GOT IN THE BACK SEAT OF THE CRUISER. THEY ASKED ME QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MURDERS. AND I ANSWERED ALL THE QUESTIONS. THEN AFTER ABOUT A HALF HOUR OF QUESTIONS. THE POLICE MEN 2 THAT WERE ASKING ME QUESTIONS. SAID IF YOUR NOT INVOLVED IN THIS CASE. YOU WILL GIVE US A SWAB OF YOUR DNA. I TOLD THEM. NO PROBLEM AT ALL. ALL I WANTED TO KNOW IS IF THE CASE WAS EVER SOLVED. THEY GOT A SWAB OUT. SWABED MY MOUTH. PUT IT BACK IN THE LITTLE PLASTIC THING SO IT WOULD NOT GET CONTAMINATED. AND THEY SAID THANK YOU FOR THE INTERVIEW. WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU IF YOU WERE INVOLVED. I GOT OUTTA THE POLICE CAR. THEY LEFT AND I WENT BACK UP TO MY ROOM. THAT WAS 2004. AND I NEVER HEARD FROM THEM AGAIN. BUT IN 2011 OR 12. I GOT CURIOUS ABOUT IF IT WAS EVER SOLVED. BY THEN I HAD AN OLD COMPUTER WITH THE INTERNET. SO I COULD CHECK IF IT WAS EVER SOLVED. AS IT TURNED OUT IN 1993.TWO YEARS AFTER THE SLAUGHTER. THERE WAS A APARTMENT FIRE RIGHT ACROSS FROM ME AS ME AND MY EX SPLIT 2 YEARS EARLIER BUT I STILL LIVED IN AN APARTMENT BESIDE THE HOUSE WE LIVED TOGETHER IN. SO I WAS STILL THERE. SHE MOVED TO COURTLAND AVE 2 YEARS BEFORE. SO I WAS WATCHING THE FIRE ACROSS THE ROAD FROM MY APARTMENT. AS THE FIREMEN PUT IT OUT. AS IT TURNED OUT THE PERSON WHO MURDERED THE GLIGORS LIVED THERE AND DIED IN THE FIRE. BUT THE POLICE NEVER GOT THE DNA OF THE KILLER FROM THE SCENE TILL 2007. WHEN IT WAS FINALLY SOLVED.3 YEARS AFTER I PHONED THE KITCHENER POLICE.SO LITTLE DID I KNOW WHILE WATCHING THAT FIRE ACROSS FROM MY APARTMENT. THE MURDEROUS SLAUGHTERER FOR 2 YEARS WAS LIVING RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD FROM ME. BUT WAS BURNT TO DEATH IN THAT FIRE. THATS NOT THE ONLY FIRE HES BURNING IN NOW WITH HIS NEVER DYING BODY. FOREVER THIS MURDERER WILL BE LIVING IN THE LAKE OF FIRE FOREVER NEVER ENDING. WHEN I LIVED IN THAT APARTMENT I HAD THE INDIAN EXPIERNCE WITH. I WOULD GO ACROSS THE STREET TO THE MARKET SQUARE. AND GET A COFFE ON THE SECOND FLOOR. WERE THE COFFEE STORE WAS. AND THERE WAS TABLES YOU COULD SIT AT WHILE DRINKING YOUR COFFEE. WELL MANY A TIME JOSEF GLIGOR WOULD COME UP TO ME. AND ASK ME IF I WOULD LIKE TO COME TO HIS HOME TO HAVE SEX. I ALWAYS SAID NO IAM NOT A HOMOSEXUAL. I HAVE A GIRL FRIEND. AND I'M NOT INTERESTED. SO HE WOULD CARRY ON WITH THAT REALLY CURLY HAIR OF HIS. RED VERY CURLY HAIR. SO I SUSPECTED RIGHT OFF WHEN IN 1991 WHEN HE AND HIS WIFE WERE SLAUGHTERED. THAT HE PROBABLY WAS AT MARKET SQUARE ASKING GUYS TO COME HOME WITH HIM. WHEN JAMES HAROLD MIDDELJANS 33 WAS PROBABLY HAVING A COFFEE AT MARKET SQUARE. WHEN JOSEF CAME UP TO HIM AND ASKED HIM IF HE WOULD GO TO HIS HOUSE. HE ACCEPTED. HE PROBABLY SAID TO HIMSELF. WHAT A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO ROB THIS GUY. HE WENT BACK TO HIS HOME WITH HIM. JOSEF AND HIM WENT DOWN STAIRS. JOSEF THINKING HE WAS GOING TO HAVE SEX WITH HIM. BUT SOMETHING HAPPENED DOWN THERE. WERE MIDDELJANS DECIDED HE HAD TO KILL THIS GUY, HIS WIFE. THEN STEAL STUFF. BUT THIS IS JUST MY TAKE BY HOW JOSEF GLIGOR ALWAYS CAME UP TO ME. AND ASKED IF I WANTED TO GO TO HIS HOUSE BTO HAVE HOMOSEXUAL SEX.

Josef Gligor Gender Male Crime Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] murdered 
Persa and Josef Gligor of Kitchener were killed with an axe and hatchet at their Madison Avenue North home.Eby ID Number Waterloo-125490 Died     1 Jan 1991 - Kitchener Daily Record Newspaper, Kitchener, , Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
Cause: murdered Person ID  I125490  Family     Persa,   d. 1 Jan 1991 Sources-[S490] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - The Record (1994-March 2008), Investigator 'solves' murder. 

1991, January 2 (Wednesday) * Gligor Murders (Kitchener)

On p.A1 of The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario), 2007, April 21, there was an article by Melinda Dalton, Record Staff entitled “DNA and a tip crack brutal 1991 slaying of couple” reviewing how the Gligor murder case had finally been solved. Information from that article follows. The reporter noted that on 1991, January 2, Josef Gligor (61) and his wife Persa Gligor (60) had been found brutally murdered in their Madison Avenue home in Kitchener. “In 1991, police said Josef Gligor, an employee of J. M. Schneider Inc.,was known to seek out transient homosexual encounters in downtown Kitchener, and they believed his behaviour may have put him risk.” Insp. Bryan Larkin indicated in the 2007 interview with the reporter that in the early days, there had been much public and police speculation that Gligor's homosexual behaviour had been a factor in the murders. The article also indicated that “A psychological profile of the suspect released by police shortly after the killings suggested he was a psychopathic killer linked to the gay community. Police said Joseph Gligor likely knew his killer and invited him into the house. Yesterday, those claims were laid to rest as police revealed they no longer believed the Gligors knew their killer and that the likely motive was robbery.” The report said that a tip, along with DNA evidence, allowed the police to prove conclusively on 2007, April 20 that the murderer had been James Harold Middeljans (33), who had a lengthy criminal record, and who had perished in a fire two years after the murder. After 16 years, all the speculation about a link between the murders and the local gay community was finally put to rest.[source: The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario), 2007, April 21, p.A1.]

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada Article by Jennifer Brant-Published Online March 22, 2017-Last Edited July 8, 2020

The Missing and Murdered: Statistics and Demographics-There is a lot of disagreement about the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police    (RCMP) acknowledged in a 2014 report that there have been more than 1,200 missing and murdered Indigenous women between 1980 and 2012. Indigenous women’s groups, however, document the number of missing and murdered to be over 4,000. The confusion about the numbers has to do with the under-reporting of violence against Indigenous women and girls and the lack of an effective database, as well as the failure to identify such cases by ethnicity (See Indigenous Women’s Issues).The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has drawn attention to figures from Statistics Canada documenting high rates of violence against Indigenous women. For example, Indigenous women 15 years and older were 3.5 times more likely to experience violence than non-Indigenous women, according to the 2004 General Social Survey. Violence against Indigenous women and girls is not only more frequent but also more severe. Between 1997 and 2000, the homicide rate for Indigenous women was nearly seven times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous women.The demographics give a sense of the extent of the violence that Indigenous women and girls face across this country, but they fail to tell the stories of the deep trauma that this violence has on entire communities or the stories of children who have lost their mothers to senseless violence. The statistics cannot reflect the experiences of the families and communities who have lost a loved one. The missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls were mothers, daughters, sisters, aunties, cousins and grandmothers. Many were students completing post-secondary education, such as Loretta Saunders, an Inuk woman murdered at age 26 in 2014, who was completing her honours thesis on this very issue at the time she went missing. Some were only children, such as 14-year-old Azraya Acakabee Kokopenace and 15-year-old Tina Fontaine — who were both in the child welfare system at the time — or 16-year-old Delaine Copenace. This ongoing tragedy affects all Indigenous women and girls from all walks of life and throughout many communities and cities across Canada. Although some perpetrators are known to the victim, many are strangers.Historical Context: Colonialism, Racism and the Sexualization of Women-Nick Printup, director and producer of the documentary Our Sisters in Spirit (2015), stated in a 2016 interview that “to begin to understand the severity of the tragedy facing Indigenous    women today you must first understand the history.” The issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada is as old as the development of Canada itself and must be understood within the historical context of settler colonialism that has led to the ongoing racialization and sexualization of Indigenous women. Historically, Indigenous women were sexualized and held against dangerous cultural attitudes and stereotypes that permeate many facets of Canadian society today.The late Mohawk poet Tekahionwake (E. Pauline Johnson) wrote about these stereotypes 125 years ago. In an essay entitled “A Strong Race Opinion: On The Indian Girl in Modern Fiction,” which was originally published in the Toronto Sunday Globe on 22 May 1892, Johnson spoke out about the images of the “Indian    squaw” that were presented in mainstream literature. Similarly, in her book, Iskwewak — Kah’Ki Yaw Ni Wahkomakanak: Neither Indian Princesses nor Easy Squaws (1995), author Janice Acoose also drew attention to the racialized and sexualized legacy of settler colonialism that has led to an acceptance of violence. As Acoose noted, these colonial attitudes have justified many of the legally sanctioned policies that have targeted Indigenous women and families, such as the Indian Act and residential schools. Other examples include the pass system (a process by which Indian agents approved passes for First Nations people to leave the reserve for whatever reason) and forced sterilization (see Eugenics). These policies severely limited Indigenous women’s livelihood by severing community ties and preventing Indigenous women’s access to community resources and safety networks. Colonial attitudes also justified the mass removal of Indigenous children through policies of state apprehension, such as the Sixties Scoop, and this continues today in what is now referred to as the “Millennium Scoop.” Violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada today cannot be understood without first examining the effects of Canada’s deep history of settler colonialism on Indigenous families and communities.Amnesty International: A Call to Action-In October 2004, Amnesty International released a report called Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada, in response to the appalling number of Indigenous women who are victims of racialized and sexualized violence. This report was positioned as a call for action. Amnesty highlighted the stories of nine women, including Helen Betty Osborne (a Cree woman abducted and killed at the age of 19 by four white men in The Pas, Manitoba, in 1971) and her 16-year-old cousin Felicia Solomon, whose remains were found in the Red River in 2003. Amnesty shared some stories of the missing and murdered to bring clarity to the severity of the violence faced by Indigenous women. The report also noted a lack of comprehensive reporting and statistical analysis, and called for more police accountability, stating that Indigenous women are both overpoliced and under protected. Amnesty documented the social and economic marginalization of Indigenous women, noting that racism, poverty and marginalization, along with a lack of police protection, heighten Indigenous women’s vulnerability to violence.Tragically, since 2004, the numbers have continued to rise. Five years after the initial report, Amnesty International released No More Stolen Sisters: The Need for a Comprehensive Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada. This report highlighted the following five key issues as reasons for the continued national tragedy of violence against Indigenous women:
The role of racism and misogyny in perpetuating violence against Indigenous women
Sharp disparities in the fulfilment of Indigenous women’s economic, social, political and cultural rights
The continued disruption of Indigenous societies caused by the historic and ongoing mass removal of children from Indigenous families and communities
Disproportionately high numbers of Indigenous women in Canadian prisons, many of whom are themselves the victims of violence and abuse
Inadequate police response to violence against Indigenous women as illustrated by the handling of missing persons cases-
In 2014, Amnesty presented a report to the Special Parliamentary Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women entitled Violence against Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada: A Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns and Call to Action. This submission urged the federal government of Canada to take immediate action through a comprehensive approach to addressing violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada.Amnesty International has been instrumental in the push to launch a national public inquiry alongside Indigenous communities, women’s groups and grassroots movements.Native Women’s Association of Canada: Sisters in Spirit Initiative-The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) secured funds in 2005 from Status of Women Canada to research and provide awareness about violence against Indigenous women. With this funding, the Sisters in Spirit Initiative was launched. NWAC also developed a national database to track cases of violence against Indigenous women. Their work culminated in a final report entitled What Their Stories Tell Us: Research Findings from the Sisters in Spirit Initiative.The report includes a framework for addressing and preventing violence against Indigenous women along with the stories of missing Indigenous women and recommendations for policy development. NWAC’s prevention and safety policy includes tools for educating young Indigenous women and girls on safety issues and looks at risk factors that make Indigenous women vulnerable to violence, including poverty, homelessness and lack of affordable housing (See also Social Conditions of Indigenous Peoples and Economic Conditions of Indigenous Peoples).The need for police accountability and transparency, cultural sensitivity training and forming good relationships with Indigenous communities are other key areas highlighted in the report. NWAC also expressed a need for more research and awareness about various forms of violence, particularly violence perpetrated by strangers or acquaintances. The need for improvements in tracking and identifying cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women was another key area identified in the report. NWAC articulated that the violence experienced by Indigenous women is much higher than reported in government statistics and police-collected data. The report noted that about six out of ten incidents of violent crimes against Indigenous people go unreported and that demographic information is not always collected (See also Demography of Indigenous Peoples).The Legal Strategy Coalition on Violence Against Indigenous Women-The Legal Strategy Coalition on Violence Against Indigenous Women (LSC) was formed in 2014 following the murder of Inuk student Loretta Saunders. The coalition is a Canada-wide advocacy group that supports a national inquiry and seeks to bring justice to the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women. In February 2015, the LSC released a report in which it argued that over 700 recommendations made in 58 reports on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls have been largely ignored by police and government.RCMP Reports on Violence against Indigenous Women-In 2013, the commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) called for a report on missing and murdered Indigenous women to help guide operational planning. In May 2014, the RCMP released Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: A National Operational Overview. This report documented a total of 1,181 people — 164 missing Indigenous women and 1,017 Indigenous female homicide victims between 1980 and 2012. An updated report was released in 2015, entitled Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: 2015 Update to the National Operational Overview. This update documented an additional 11 Indigenous women identified as missing since the 2014 overview was conducted.Prior to these reports, the RCMP’s investigations of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls had included a stretch of British Columbia’s Highway 16, known as the Highway of Tears. While the RCMP acknowledges 18 murders and disappearances (mostly of Indigenous women and girls) in its list of Highway of Tears cases, dating from 1969 to 2006, Indigenous groups argue that this number is misleading because it reflects only the disappearances and murders that have happened in a specific geographic area, and that the real number in northern British Columbia exceeds 40.Critique of RCMP Reports-Groups including Amnesty International and the Legal Strategy Coalition on Violence against Indigenous Women (LSC) critiqued the RCMP report for having critical gaps in the data. Amnesty noted that the 2015 update only included cases within the RCMP’s own jurisdiction. Over 300 non-RCMP police agencies were included in the original 2014 report, but these were excluded from the update. According to Amnesty International, this means that missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Ontario and Québec, for example, were not included in the update. This is concerning given the mistrust and violence that has historically characterized Indigenous-police relationships. In the fall of 2015, eight officers from the Sûreté du Québec were suspended as a result of 14 allegations of abuse of power, sexual assault and other forms of assault against Indigenous women.The LSC criticized the 2015 report for highlighting intimate partner violence as a risk factor, which places blame on Indigenous men and communities while failing to point out that many of the perpetrators are acquaintances or strangers.Response from the Federal Government-Despite the ongoing push from Indigenous women and communities and human rights groups such as Amnesty International, the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, Human Rights Watch and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the federal government continued to dismiss the need to launch a national public inquiry. In fact, former prime minister    Stephen Harper, speaking at Yukon College in Whitehorse in August 2014, following the death of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine — who was killed after she left her foster home — stated that violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada should not be viewed as “sociological phenomenon.” In other words, the Fontaine case was not part of a larger crisis resulting from a variety of racial, sexual and colonial abuses or socio-economic issues. Several months later, on 17 December 2014, during an interview with CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge, Stephen Harper stated that a national inquiry on missing and murdered Indigenous women wasn’t “really high on [the government’s] radar.”Following the change in government in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the government of Canada launched a national public inquiry.National Public Inquiry-On 8 December 2015, the Government of Canada announced plans for the launch of an independent national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The government pledged $53.86 million over the course of two years for the inquiry, and held a “pre-inquiry” to seek input from stakeholders across Canada. The inquiry was officially launched in September 2016. From the outset, the commission of inquiry was scheduled to provide a final report by 1 November 2018, outlining its findings and recommendations for steps forward.Pre-Inquiry Findings-The first step of the investigation was a pre-inquiry process, which took place between December 2015 and February 2016. The goal was to receive input from groups including family members, Indigenous communities and front-line workers about the scope and structure of the inquiry. This process aligns with the inquiry’s commitment to focus on the well-being of Indigenous families and to ensure the process is culturally appropriate. A summary of the feedback from the pre-inquiry process was published in May 2016. It included four recommendations:
The inquiry’s leadership must be transparent, independent and representative of the Indigenous population. It was also recommended that Indigenous women should lead the inquiry. The investigation itself must be “sensitive to the needs of survivors, families and loved ones. Efforts must be made to avoid a long, drawn-out and legal process”
The inquiry must address various points of view and must hear from as many people and organizations as possible
A “broad approach to [the inquiry’s] analysis of the issues” is important. The inquiry must take into consideration — and recommend solutions to — all of the socio-economic, cultural and political causes of violence against Indigenous women, girls, trans and two-spirited people. (See also Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights in Canada)
The inquiry must provide various forms of support to families and their allies. This includes ceremonies, spiritual support, mental health counselling and community support
Based on these findings, the government appointed five commissioners to lead the inquiry: Marion Buller (chief commissioner, member of the Mistawasis First Nation and first Indigenous woman appointed to British Columbia’s provincial court bench); Michèle Audette (former president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada); Brian Eyolfson (human rights lawyer); Marilyn Poitras (constitutional law expert); and Qajaq Robinson (lawyer raised in Nunavut). The inquiry also includes other staff and will likely not hear formal testimony from the families until spring 2017. Marilyn Poitras resigned as a commissioner in July 2017, stating that she is "unable to perform [her] duties as a commissioner with the process designed in its current structure.”National Inquiry Findings-The National Inquiry officially began on 1 September 2016. It was expected to release an interim report by 1 November 2017 and a final report by 1 November 2018.Criticisms of the Inquiry-There have been some critiques of the commission from various Indigenous groups, who say it lacks transparency, communication and inclusivity. In December 2016, the Native Women’s Association of Canada    stated that the commission failed to keep families informed of its progress. In February 2017, the inquiry fired its communications director, Michael Hutchinson (of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network), causing concern that the hearing of testimony might be further delayed. While Hutchinson’s interim replacement, Sue Montgomery (of the Montreal Gazette) has said that this would not delay the inquiry, the families of the missing and murdered continued to press the commissioners for more clarity and better communication.Some activists have also criticized the commission for failing to include missing and murdered Indigenous men, boys, trans and two-spirited people in the inquiry. In February 2017, Susan Vella, the commission’s lead counsel, said that while the inquiry is open to hearing testimony from Indigenous men and boys, its focus will remain on Indigenous women and girls. The commission also indicated that its inquiry will include groups such as two-spirited and trans people.Prevailing Attitudes toward Indigenous Women-During an opening address at an international conference on MMIWG, writer Maria Campbell stated that “patriarchy and misogyny are so ingrained in our society that they are normal, and our silence makes them normal.” Other Indigenous    women activists have referred to the lack of awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women as a “deafening silence.” The following examples demonstrate the ways stereotypes that may lead to violence against Indigenous women and girls are perpetuated and accepted within different venues throughout society. In the two cases below, Indigenous women spoke out to raise awareness about such violence.In 2012, Mi’kmaq lawyer, activist and professor Pamela Palmater spoke out against offensive names of menu items at the Holy Chuck Restaurant. The “Half-Breed” and “Dirty Drunken Half-Breed” were the names of two hamburgers on the menu. These terms are racial slurs that have been used to perpetuate violence against Indigenous peoples.In July 2015, two paintings appeared on a storefront window — including one depicting bound and gagged Indigenous women — during the Hospitality Days cultural festival in Bathurst, New Brunswick. Patty Musgrave, Aboriginal advisor for New Brunswick Community College, wrote to city council, expressing her outrage at the painting, which trivialized, and perhaps even glorified, violence against Indigenous women and the history of colonialism. Musgrave stated that “the building that housed these art pieces was a building in which two human beings were murdered. One a woman. These murders were never solved and … it is quite offensive that you would allow paintings to be hung in the windows of this building while still-grieving families must see this as part of your ‘Hospitality Days.’”Activists and the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women continue to persevere against these prevailing attitudes, seeking justice, accountability, reconciliation and better public education (See also Indigenous Peoples: Political Organization and Activism).Support and Awareness-In recent years, with the launch of the national public inquiry and more awareness about MMIWG, there has been a tremendous amount of support for Indigenous families and communities. Indigenous associations have provided political, emotional and legal support and have also been instrumental in pushing for an inquiry. Annual marches, vigils, the making of documentaries, and other awareness campaigns have brought people together with a common goal of seeking justice. The annual Women’s Memorial March, also called Their Spirits Live Within Us, has taken place every 14 February since the early 1990s. The first one was held in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, in unceded Coast Salish territories (see Indigenous Territory). The Memorial March now takes place in cities across Canada to raise awareness, promote empathy and compassion, and bring healing to families that have lost a loved one.In 2017, the Government of Manitoba officially recognized 4 October as a day to honour MMIWG. The fourth of October is also marked by Sisters in Spirit vigils that bring awareness and honour the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Events that take place on this day are supported through the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and take place in cities across Canada. Other grassroots initiatives to raise awareness include the Walking with Our Sisters Campaign and the REDress Campaign (two separate art installation projects) and the Faceless Dolls Project (an initiative of the NWAC).Support has also come from non-Indigenous allies who have participated in vigils and awareness campaigns, as well as mainstream media, which has begun documenting and providing public education about violence against Indigenous women and girls, such as the CBC. In June 2016, it was announced that actress Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy) was working on a documentary called “Gone Missing” to help raise awareness about MMIWG.The National Inquiry’s Final Report-On 3 June 2019, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released its Final Report titled Reclaiming Power and Place. After more than two years of testimony from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, experts, and 1,484 survivors and family members of the missing and murdered, in addition to cross-Canada public hearings and evidence-gathering from many Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups and individuals, the Final Report was unveiled at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec. Chief Commissioner Marion Buller, Commissioners Michèle Audette, Qajaq Robinson, and Brian Eyolfson, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, family and friends of the missing and murdered, as well as national and provincial Indigenous leaders gathered to release the findings of the National Inquiry to the public.The two-volume report spanned more than 1,000 pages and contained 231 individual “Calls for Justice.” These were “legal imperatives,” not merely “recommendations,” to immediate action on behalf of Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments, institutions, social service providers, industries, and individual Canadians of all walks of life. Chief Commissioner Marion Buller declared that “Despite their different circumstances and backgrounds, all of the missing and murdered are connected by economic, social and political marginalization, racism, and misogyny woven into the fabric of Canadian society.”In unequivocal terms, Buller condemned Canadian society for its indifference and inaction in the face of the tragedy confronting Indigenous women and girls for the past several decades: “The hard truth is that we live in a country whose laws and institutions perpetuate violations of fundamental rights, amounting to a genocide against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA [two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual] people.”The Final Report declared that the violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people is “a national tragedy of epic proportion.” The commissioners called for a new era in relations between Indigenous women, girls, 2SLGBTQQIA, and the Canadian people, a relationship centred on the empowerment of Indigenous women and girls: “To put an end to this tragedy, the rightful power and place of women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people must be reinstated, which requires dismantling the structures of colonialism within Canadian society.”Despite hundreds of pages of heartbreaking testimonials and studies revealing thousands of lives lost and families destroyed, Commissioner Qajaq Robinson wrote in a spirit of hopefulness that “Ending this genocide and rebuilding Canada into a decolonized nation requires a new relationship and an equal partnership between all Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. I hope that the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls can be a tool to do just that.” This spirit of hopefulness was echoed by Jeremiah Bosse, widower of Daleen Bosse, a woman from Onion Lake Cree Nation murdered in May 2004: “Today I feel hopeful for the first time that as victims of violence our words will be heard. The words of our lost ones are spoken! We will be there to represent them; they may be lost, but they are not forgotten!”
National Inquiry Facts-2,386—Total number of participants in the Truth Gathering Process:
1,484 family members and survivors provided testimony
819 individuals shared through artistic expressions
83 experts, Knowledge Keepers and officials provided testimony
15 community hearings were held across Canada
9 Knowledge Keeper, expert and institutional hearings were held across Canada

PROSTITUTION.
A third example of prostitution of indigenous women is seen in a description of today’s globalized labor practices in Africa. Congo has been described, like women, as “too well endowed with natural resources” (Harden, 2001, authors’ italics).The colonist cannot be expected to resist the opportunity to rape the land or the women. The nations of people in what is now called Congo have been devastated by centuries of colonial assault primarily by Belgium and the United States, but recently joined in by Rwanda. (1) Coltran, a metal used for superconductor chips in cell phones and pagers, is found abundantly in Ituri peoples’ lands (eastern Congo). When the price of Coltran crashed (from $80. to $8. a kilo) as a result of environmentalists’protests, the prostitution that had been instituted to provide Coltran miners with “temporary wives” continued, even though the mines were closed down (Harden, 2001).Prostitution requires a devalued class of women (Barry, 1995) which Canada produced by means of the combined forces of the military, the state, the church, and market capitalism. During Canada’s first 100 years, the Hudson’s Bay Company prohibited European women from emigrating to Canada. British brothels were established around military bases and trading posts. Just as men today purchase “mail order brides” in servile marriage, British military officers in colonial Canada acquired “country brides” in marriage-like prostitution that provided men with exclusive sexual access to First Nations women. Children were often born from this prostitution, although European common law did not recognize these relationships. When European women were later permitted to emigrate to Canada, European men often abandoned their First Nations families (Bourgeault,1989).Prostitution is colonization of women, generally. It is also one specific legacy of colonization, although it is infrequently analyzed as such. (Lynne, 1998; Scully, 2001). Prostitution of Aboriginal women occurs globally, in epidemic numbers, with indigenous women at the bo ttom of a brutal race and class hierarchy in prostitution itself (in addition to being at the bottom of race and class hierarchies in other walks of life)(UNICEF, 2004). Scully described “universal racialized sexual hierarchies” in sex businesses, the most visible of which involved colonists supplying their indigenous, indentured laborers with sexual access to women of their own ethnicity. Thus one aspect of Canadian prostitution was colonists’ intention to keep European women off-limits to indigenous men. (Scully, 2001).Pimps and traffickers take advantage of the subordinate status of women and girls by exploiting sexist and racist stereotypes of women as servants and commodities. The economic dependence of countries on multinational corporations creates conditions for women to sell their own sexual exploitation at far better rates of pay than other forms of labor, thereby promoting prostitution and trafficking (Hernandez, 2001). Global economic policies seamlessly weave together sexism, racism, and colonialism via invasions of peoples’ lands, causing agricultural and community dislocation and environmental destruction.These events then result in poverty and rural-to-urban migration which produces a huge urban labor pool available for labor exploitation generally as well as for prostitution of women and children. Promoting prostitution as a reasonable job for poor women, the International Labor Organization euphemistically declared: “Mobile populations tend to have greater motivation and opportunities for commercial sex” (Lim, 1998, p 34).On the other hand, Yakama Elder Russell Jim described prostitution as “self-cannibalization” (Jim, 1997). Jim’s characterization suggests the demolition of the self that occurs in prostitution, which paradoxically appears to be a result of the victim’s own choices. One woman in the Netherlands described prostitution as "volunteer slavery," articulating both the appearance of choice and the overwhelming coercion behind that choice (Vanwesenbeeck, 1994, page 149).Most people in prostitution entered prostitution as adolescents. Nadon and colleagues (1998) found that 89% of her interviewees had begun prostitution before the age of 16. In Canada, as elsewhere, the average age of entry into prostitution is adolescence (cited as between thirteen and nineteen in Lowman, 1993). (3) Children enter prostitution because of abusive treatment by caregivers (Lowman, 1993 p 72) and because they run away from dangerous home environments (Federal/Provincial Territorial Working Group on Prostitution, 1998). Boyer and colleagues (1993) interviewed 60 women prostituting in escort, street, strip club, phone sex, and massage parlors in Seattle. All began prostituting between the ages of 12 and 14. Fifty two percent of 183 Vancouver women turned their first trick when they were younger than age 16, and 70% turned the first trick before age 18 (Cunningham & Christensen, 2001).The vast majority of those in prostitution have been sexually abused as children, usually by several predators. Currie (1994) reported a 73% incidence of childhood sexual abuse of women who were prostituting in Vancouver. One girl prostituting in Seattle said:We’ve all been molested. Over and over, and raped. We were all molested and sexually abused as children, don’t you know that? We ran to get away. They didn’t want us in the house anymore. We were thrown out, thrown away. We’ve been on the street since we were 12, 13, 14. (Boyer, Chapman & Marshall, 1993) Cunningham & Christensen (2001) found that 68% of women prostituting in the Downtown Eastside had been recently raped, and 72% had been kidnapped. 89% of the women interviewed by Cunningham & Christensen reported that customers refused condoms in the previous year, another type of violence.First Nations gay men, like First Nations women, are in double jeopardy. Comparing Canadian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal gay men, researchers found that the Aboriginal gay men were significantly more likely to be poor, unstably housed, more depressed, to have been sexually abused as children, to have had nonconsensual sex, and to have been prostituted (Heath et al, 1999).In order to find out about women's experiences in prostitution, what preceded their entry into prostitution, and what their current needs were, we interviewed women prostituting in Vancouver, Canada. This was a part of a multi-country study of prostitution (Farley et al., 2003). We knew that First Nations women were overrepresented in prostitution, with an especially high number of Canadian youth in prostitution from First Nations. Estimates of First Nations prostituted youth range from 14% -60% across various regions in Canada (Assistant Deputy Minister’s Committee, 2001, p 26).

Method
Brief structured interviews of 100 prostituting women and children were conducted in Vancouver, B.C. We contacted agencies working with prostitutes and set up collaborative efforts where possible. The second author was a board member of a Vancouver agency that provided services to prostitutes and was familiar with locations where prostitution commonly occurred in Vancouver. She was known to some of our interviewees in her capacity as a social worker. Interviewers, two of whom were First Nations and one of whom was white European-American, were screened for the ability to establish an easygoing rapport on the street and in occasionally dangerous locations.The women we interviewed were from the Downtown Eastside, Franklin, and Broadway/Fraser prostitution strolls in Vancouver, B.C. We attempted to contact any woman known to be prostituting, whether indoor or outdoors. Using a snowball recruitment technique, we asked women to let their friends who were prostituting elsewhere (e.g. in other areas or indoors) know that we would return to a specific location at a specific time the next day.Informed consent included a summary of research goals and participants’ rights. Respondents’ copies of the consent form included names and phone numbers of local agencies that could be contacted for support and assistance and included the authors’ phone numbers and email addresses. In all cases we offered to read the items to respondents. Most were able to complete the questionnaire without assistance; however, a few were illiterate.If respondents indicated that they were prostituting we asked them to fill out the questionnaire. We paid a small stipend ($10 Canadian) to those who responded. The Prostitution Questionnaire (PQ), used in similar research in South Africa, Thailand,Turkey, USA, and Zambia, Germany, Colombia, and Mexico consists of 32 items asking about physical and sexual assault in prostitution, lifetime history of physical and sexual violence, and the use of or making of pornography during prostitution (Farley et al., 2003). It takes about 15 minutes to complete. The questionnaire asked whether respondents wished to leave prostitution and what they needed in order to leave. We asked if they had been homeless, if they had physical health problems, and if they used drugs or alcohol or both. Because of item heterogeneity, psychometrics on the PQ are not available. Sample items include:2. Since you’ve been in prostitution, have you been physically assaulted? 14a. When you were a child, were you ever hit or beaten by a parent or caregiver until you had bruises on your body or were injured in some other way by them? 16. Did you ever have pictures taken of you while you were working in prostitution? 19. Have you ever been homeless? (4) Results 52% of our interviewees were women from Canada’s First Nations, a significant overrepresentation of this group of people, compared to their representation in Vancouver generally (1.7-7%). 52% were First Nations, 38% were white European-Canadian, 5% were African Canadian, and 5% left the question blank. In response to “race/ethnic group,” the majority of the 52 First Nations women described themselves as Native. Next most often, they described themselves as Metis, a French word that translates to English as "mixed blood" and is used by those we interviewed to describe themselves as having both First Nations and European ancestries. Historically, the two major colonizers of First Nations of Canada were the British and the French,therefore the majority of those called Metis were First Nations/French or First Nations/British. The First Nations women also described themselves as Native Indian, Cree, Cree Native, First Nations, Cree Metis, Ojibwa, Blackfoot/Cree, Aboriginal, and Interior Salish. Unfortunately, fewer than 10 women identified themselves by specific tribal ancestry, so we were unable to compare tribes in our analyses.82% of our respondents reported a history of childhood sexual abuse, by an average of 4 perpetrators. This statistic (those assaulted by an average of four perpetrators) did not include those who responded to the question “If there was unwanted sexual touching or sexual contact between you and an adult, how many people in all?” with “tons” or “I can’t count that high” or “I was too young to remember.” 72% reported that as children, they had been hit or beaten by a caregiver until they had bruises or were injured.90% of these women had been physically assaulted in prostitution. Of those who had been physically assaulted, 82% had been assaulted by customers. 78% of these respondents had been raped in prostitution.67% of our interviewees reported that pornography was made of them in prostitution; and 64% had been upset by an attempt to force them to perform an act that customers had seen in pornography.75% of the women we interviewed in Vancouver reported physical injuries from violence in prostitution. Many reported stabbings and beatings, concussions and broken bones (broken jaws, ribs, collar bones, fingers, spinal injuries, and a fractured skull), as well as cuts, black eyes, and “fat lips.” (5) 50% of these women suffered head injuries as a result of violent assaults with, for example, baseball bats, crowbars, and having their heads slammed against walls and against car dashboards. Women were regularly subjected to extreme violence when they refused to perform a specific sex act.Verbal abuse in prostitution tends to be socially invisible just as other sexual harassment in prostitution is normalized and invisible. Yet it is pervasive. 88% of our respondents described verbal abuse as intrinsic to prostitution. One woman in Vancouver commented: “Lots of johns are super-nice at first. Then when the sex act starts, they get real verbally abusive.”Johns’ verbal assaults in all types of prostitution are likely to cause acute and long-term psychological symptoms. One woman said that over time, “It is internally damaging. You become in your own mind what these people do and say with you. You wonder how could you let yourself do this and why do these people want to do this to you?” (Farley, 03b).We compared First Nations women with European -Canadian women in a number of analyses. Childhood sexual abuse was reported significantly more often by interviewees identifying as First Nations than by those describing themselves as European-Canadian. Significantly more First Nations women than European-Canadian women reported childhood physical abuse.We asked all participants what their current needs were. 95% of these respondents stated that they wanted to leave prostitution. 82% expressed a need for drug or alcohol addiction treatment. They also told us that they needed job training (67%), a home or safe place (66%), individual counseling (58%), self-defense training (49%), health care (41%), and peer support (41%). 33% needed legal assistance and 32% wanted legalized prostitution, and 12% needed childcare.There were also ethnic differences in response to the needs assessment. First Nations women indicated a significantly greater need for self defense training, a greater need for peer support, a greater need for job training, and for individual counseling.Discussion and Recommendations-Prostitution is intimately associated with sex inequality, poverty, racism and colonialism. Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside,one of the poorest areas in North America, is referred to as the “urban reserve” by its First Nations residents. Life expectancy is short: a neighborhood center in the Downtown Eastside categorizes anyone over age 40 as a senior. The women we interviewed were survivors of conditions that many do not survive. Many were hungry, drug-sick, and almost all had a palpable look of fear in their eyes. Violence seemed to be in the very air they breathed. Our findings document this horrific level of physical and sexual violence.One woman told us that she was continually raped in prostitution, explaining: “what rape is to others, is normal to us.”Another woman, 36 years old, described a rape as the “defining experience” of her life. At age sixteen, she was raped at knifepoint, after which the rapist gave her a gold hain, in effect, paying her for the rape, and defining her as a prostitute. A fear of men was pervasive among these women, one of whom told us that being hit and bruised was “just your common aggressiveness from men.”The violence against these women while in prostitution was one aspect of a lifetime continuum of violence. The normalcy of living with violence began, for many, in childhood. 82% of the women we interviewed had been sexually abused as children.Previous research has linked childhood sexual abuse with prostitution. One young woman told Silbert & Pines (1982, p 488), “I started turning tricks to show my father what he made me.” Dworkin (1997) described sexual abuse of children as “boot camp”for prostitution. (6) West et al (2000) found that women were most likely to prostitute if they had experienced sexual abuse as children and were later revictimized by rape in adulthood. Our respondents were in a state of almost constant revictimization.In Canada the triple force of race, class and sex discrimination disparately impact First Nations women. With 52% of our respondents being First Nations women, their overrepresentation in prostitution reflects their poverty and their marginalized status within Canada (7). Although almost all of our respondents (including non-First Nations women) had migrated, given the brutal poverty that has been documented on Canadian reserves, migration is often critical for First Nations women’s economic survival. Many women told us that they urgently needed safe housing. Prostitution is intimately related to homelessness, with 86% of our respondents currently or previously homeless. First Nations youth who leave their home communities for urban areas are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation in that they are both homeless and in an unfamiliar cultural environment (Federal/Provincial Working Group, 1998 p. 14). One young woman commented “The prostitutes in [Canada] are very young and have no place to sleep. They sleep on the streets and this is when the men take advantage of them and rape them” (Youth Delegates of Out from the Shadows, 1998. P 6).A recent study in New Zealand found similar housing crises among the Maori. Maori in prostitution were significantly more likely than European-ancestry New Zealanders to have been homeless and to have entered prostitution as children (Farley,2003a). Similar findings with respect to high rates of childhood abuse and entry of Maori women into prostitution at a young age have been reported by others (Plumridge & Abel, 2000, Saphira & Herbert, 2004).Race, class and gender are multiplicative risk factors for prostitution. In order to understand prostitution, the effects of racism in addition to sexism and poverty must be addressed. Traumatic stress includes the historical trauma of colonization.Racism and cultural stereotyping can be understood as chronic, insidious trauma that wear away at peoples’ self esteem and well being (Root, 1996). In a series of studies, Kirmayer (1994, 2000) documented the pervasive negative effects of racism and cultural alienation among First Nations youth: high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide.Imposing a sexist and racist regime on First Nations women, colonization simultaneously elevated male power within the colonized community (Fiske, 2002). Freire described the colonial destruction of positive roles for men as resulting in “adhesion to the oppressor” (1994, p 27). Dworkin also discussed the harm inflicted on women by colonized men:The stigma of the prostitute allows the violent, the angry, the socially and politically impoverished male to nurse a grudge against all women, including prostituted women; this is aggressive bias, made rawer and more dangerous by the need to counter one’s own presumed inferiority. (Dworkin, 2000, p 325) A recent study in New Zealand found similar housing crises among the Maori. Maori in prostitution were significantly more likely than European-ancestry New Zealanders to have been homeless and to have entered prostitution as children (Farley,2003a). Similar findings with respect to high rates of childhood abuse and entry of Maori women into prostitution at a young age have been reported by others (Plumridge & Abel, 2000, Saphira & Herbert, 2004).Race, class and gender are multiplicative risk factors for prostitution. In order to understand prostitution, the effects of racism in addition to sexism and poverty must be addressed. Traumatic stress includes the historical trauma of colonization.Racism and cultural stereotyping can be understood as chronic, insidious trauma that wear away at peoples’ self esteem and well being (Root, 1996). In a series of studies, Kirmayer (1994, 2000) documented the pervasive negative effects of racism and cultural alienation among First Nations youth: high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide.Imposing a sexist and racist regime on First Nations women, colonization simultaneously elevated male power within the colonized community (Fiske, 2002). Freire described the colonial destruction of positive roles for men as resulting in “adhesion to the oppressor” (1994, p 27). Dworkin also discussed the harm inflicted on women by colonized men:The stigma of the prostitute allows the violent, the angry, the socially and politically impoverished male to nurse a grudge against all women, including prostituted women; this is aggressive bias, made rawer and more dangerous by the need to counter one’s own presumed inferiority. (Dworkin, 2000, p 325) The cultural destruction of positive roles for First Nations men and their subsequent identification with supremacist attitudes have had disastrous consequences for First Nations women, with astronomical rates of incest, rape, and husband violence. Nahanee wrote of "the almost total victimization of [Aboriginal] women and children” and noted that violence against Aboriginal women has reached epidemic proportions according to many studies. “This violence includes the victimization of women and their children, both of whom are seen as property of their men (husbands, lovers, fathers), or of the community in which they live" (Nahanee, 1993). 80% of Indian women seeking care at one U.S. clinic reported having been raped (Old Dog Cross, 1982).

 (8)-First Nations women in this study almost always reported childhood physical and sexual abuse. A Dene woman interviewed by the second author spoke of communities in which the entire female population had been sexually assaulted by men. She had been threatened with further violence if she attempted to speak out against this (Lynne, 1998, p 43).The number one issue we have to deal with is violence against women and children, because as long as we destroy ourselves from within, we don’t have to worry about anyone else. Sexual violence…. causes so much shame for survivors and communities… Nevertheless, because sexual violence has been one of the most successful avenues of colonization, Native communities cannot prosper until we find a way to eradicate sexual violence and heal from the shame and self-hatred it has instilled in us… (INCITE, 2001) In order to address the harm of prostitution it is necessary to use education, prevention and intervention strategies similar to those dedicated to other forms of gender-based abuse such as rape and intimate partner violence. This understanding of prostitution as violence against women must then become a part of public policy and it must be structurally implemented in public health care, mental health services, homeless shelters, rape crisis centers and battered women's shelters (Stark & Hodgson, 2003). Any intervention for those in prostitution must first acknowledge prostitution as a form of violence. As with battered women, physical safety is a critical concern.Culturally appropriate treatment for those escaping prostitution is also a necessity. The Royal Commission Report suggested that a general health strategy for First Nations should include 1) equitable access to health services, 2) holistic approaches to treatment, 3) Aboriginal control of services, and 4) diverse approaches which respond to cultural priorities and community needs (RCAP, 1996 p 110). These four basic strategies are applicable to the healing of those in prostitution.Western medical treatment must be combined with traditional healing practices for urban First Nations women who want to exit prostitution.An approach that addresses prostitution from a public health perspective only (how can we make sure she does not have STD/HIV so she does not transmit STD/HIV to the customer to take home to his wife/girlfriend) or from a legal perspective only (how can we keep prostitution out of my neighborhood) but that fails to address the psychological and spiritual damage to the person in prostitution - will not be effective.The Peguis First Nation community in Manitoba found that a combination of traditional and western healing approaches was especially effective for those who suffer from emotional problems, including those related to alcohol and drug abuse, violence, and suicide. (Cohen, cited in RCAP,1996, p 213). Strickland explained use of Maori philosophy to address the harm of prostitution:I am a Maori community worker addressing the problems of my people who are caught up in this colonised system that has uprooted them from their land, rivers, mountains, forests, their language, and their gods and beliefs. When a nation of people has been stripped of their heritage one can easily become a lost soul - vulnerable and open to manipulation and exploitation. In this instance our women and children have been forced into paid rape (prostitution). Healing from prostitution involves healing of the four cornerstones for my people: Tinana (body), Hinengaro (mind), Wairua (spirit), and Whanau (family).(Strickland, 2003) The health provider must become culturally competent regarding tribal differences in culture and language and also acquainted with community services and tribal anti-violence resources (Polacca, 2003, Walters, Simoni, & Evans-Campbell, 2002). In the United States there is the additional complexity of jurisdictional confusion. Tribal courts may lack the means or the will for prosecution of perpetrators of violence. Tribal jurisdiction sometimes conflicts with federal law enforcement, and perpetrators may be well aware that there are minimal consequences for violence against women (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2000, Polacca, 2003).The most relevant paradigm currently available for understanding and treating the immediate harm of prostitution is that of domestic violence. Physical coercion, rape, and violence by husband/partner/pimp and john are perpetrated against women in prostitution (Currie, 1994; Lowman, 199; Lowman & Fraser, 1995; Miller, 1995; Stark & Hodgson, 2003). Of 854 people in prostitution, 73% reported that they had been physically assaulted in prostitution (Farley et al., 2003). Prostitution can be lethal (Potterat et al., 2004). A Canadian commission found that the death rate of women in prostitution was 40 times higher than that of the general population (Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution, 1985). A study of Vancouver prostitution reported a 36% incidence of attempted murder (Cler-Cunningham & Christenson, 2001). In most instances, women in prostitution are battered women. Giobbe (1993) compared pimps and batterers and found similarities in their use of minimization and denial,attitude of ownership, enforced social isolation, threats, intimidation, verbal and sexual abuse, and extreme physical violence to control women.Alcohol and drug abuse claim the lives of countless First Nations women and men. Traumatic events have been recognized as powerful contributors to drug and alcohol addictions. Substance abuse is commonly used as a means to numb the physical and emotional pain of prostitution. Observing that addictions among First Nations originate from cultural assaults and poverty,Summit leader Bill Wilson stated:When you look at the conditions that [First Nations people] are in, it would be a surprise to me if they did quit drugs and alcohol and stopped committing suicide. We are not dealing with the core problem in all of this. If we had healthy communities that were thriving and had an economy, in all probability, we wouldn't be as interested in doing drugs and alcohol. (Rees, 2001) And yet a colonizing attitude regarding drug prescription continues. In 2001, one in three First Nations women over age 40 was prescribed benzodiazepines (e.g. Valium, Xanax, Ativan), drugs that are highly addictive. Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, described this practice as tantamount to "sedating poverty." (Rees, 2001). Wayne Christian, director of the First Nations Round Lake Treatment Centre in Armstrong noted that most of his clients used drugs and alcohol to deaden the pain of emotional and physical trauma. "Up to 95% of clients at Round Lake reported a history of some kind of trauma, personal trauma,whether it was residential school, sexual abuse, physical violence, abandonment -- those types of issues…" (Rees, 2001).82% of the women we interviewed voiced an urgent need for treatment of drug and alcohol addiction. Like combat veterans, women in prostitution self-medicate for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with drugs and alcohol. An integrated approach to treating substance abuse and PTSD has proven more effective than treatment that addresses only substance abuse and fails to treat PTSD. (Epstein et al., 1998, Najavits, 1998, Ouimette et al., 2000). In order to treat addiction, one must also address the reasons for relapse. These include childhood sexual and physical abuse, prostitution, and generally, the harms of colonialism mentioned above.Women in prostitution need special groups that simultaneously address addiction, prostitution, and other sexual exploitation. Since men regularly proposition survivors of prostitution as soon as the women are known to have prostituted, a mixed-gender 12-step setting is not appropriate. Furthermore, confidentiality is a concern in small communities where everyone is either related or knows one another.First Nations women may need special supports in escaping prostitution and addictions. First Nations women in our study were finely attuned to the violence that surrounds them and expressed a need for self defense training as well as peer support,individual counseling and job training. Stating that “the Canadian sex trade is grim evidence of the ongoing struggles of Aboriginal peoples in Canada,” (Rabinovitch, 2003) PEERS, a Victoria BC agency serving women in prostitution, has recognized the unique challenges of serving Aboriginal youth and women in prostitution:An Indigenous Community Empowerment Vision workshop attempts to overcome resistance within the Aboriginal community to acknowledging the over-representation of Aboriginal women in the sex trade. The goals of the workshop are to generate a sense of awareness of and responsibility for community members in the sex trade.Workshop leaders Tallefer and Moore stated: ‘We owe it to our ancestors, Nations, children and selves to work together and reclaim our lost community members.’ (Tallefer & Moore, 2002, p 1) The needs assessment in our study points to possibilities for program development and public health policy. Programs for those in prostitution should include culturally relevant programming, job training, individual counseling, self-defense training,health care focused specifically on sequelae of chronic poverty and sexual and physical violence-related health concerns, and peer support (Rabinovitch, 2003; Hotaling, Burris et al., 2003).It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss what should be done to attempt to ameliorate the violence perpetrated by states (such as Canada) against nations (such as Ojibwa, Cree, Blackfoot, Salish). A lack of coexistence between nations and states is at the root of social and political crises and these ultimately impact First Nations women in prostitution (Ryser, 1995). Prostituted women are displaced women, in the most profound and pervasive meaning of what displacement is – they are displaced physically,emotionally, socially, and spiritually. Trafficked from reserve to city, the internally displaced in North America are poor, rural, and indigenous (Lynne, 1998, Cohen & Sanchez-Garzoli,01). This displacement makes them extremely vulnerable to the sexual exploitation and violence intrinsic to all types of prostitution.

Prostitution is a sexually exploitative, often violent economic option most often entered into by those with a lengthy history of sexual, racial and economic victimization. Prostitution is only now beginning to be understood as violence against women and girls. Prostitution has rarely been included in discussions of sexual violence against First Nations. Just as wife beating was historically viewed as having been provoked by the victim, prostitution is still viewed by some as a job choice to which the victim “consents.”Ninety-five percent of our interviewees said that they wanted to escape prostitution, while also telling us that they did not feel that they had other options for survival. Another Canadian study found that a comparable 90% of women in prostitution wanted to leave prostitution but could not (Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto, 1987). If consent implies a range of options to choose from then these women in Vancouver certainly did not consent as most of us understand that term. There was no suggestion from these women that they desired to continue in prostitution. Many expressed a resigned hopelessness regarding the possibility of escape from prostitution.In March 2005, Canadian legislators considered decriminalizing prostitution in Canada. While some well-intentioned people might assume that decriminalization will reduce the harm of prostitution by not arresting women – in fact, decriminalization removes legal sanctions against pimps and tricks as well, thereby normalizing prostitution as equivalent to any other sale of a product (Sullivan & Jeffreys, 2001). Despite some descriptions of prostitution as a reasonable job for poor women, the realities of prostitution,including the findings reported in this paper, better describe multiple violations of human rights (MacKinnon, 1993, Leidholdt,1993). Decriminalization of prostitution mainstreams and expands prostitution, and it would have devastating effects on the lives of First Nations women (Farley, 2004). Once prostitution is socially and legally considered a job like any other, it is possible that welfare offices might recommend prostitution as an employment option. Recent reports indicated that women in Germany (which has legalized prostitution) felt threatened with loss of welfare benefits if they refused to consider work in prostitution (Hall, 2005).Decriminalized or legalized prostitution would solidify the human rights abuses in these women’s lives while at the same time doing nothing to provide them what they told us they most needed: treatment for addictions, vocational training (for jobs outside the sex industry), and stable housing.Harm reduction strategies however, must address men’s demand for prostitution as well as the supply. Viewing prostitution as a social phenomenon that should be abolished, the Swedish government in 1999 criminalized the buying of sex acts but not the selling of sex acts. Understanding that without the demand for purchased sexual access to women and children, prostitution and trafficking would not flourish; the Swedish law criminalized the customer of prostitution, the pimp, the procurer, and the trafficker,but not the prostituted person. The Swedish law recognized that “in the majority of cases… [the woman in prostitution] is a weaker partner who is exploited” and allocated funding for social services to “motivate prostitutes to seek help to leave their way of life”(Ministry of Labour, 1998). The effects of the law thus far seem beneficial. Two years after the law’s passage, a Stockholm taskforce reported that there was a 50% decrease in women prostituting and a 75% decrease in men buying sex. Since the law was implemented, trafficking of women into Sweden has decreased as well, with pimps and traffickers apparently transporting women to nearby states that tolerate or legalize prostitution, such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Estonia (Ekberg, 2001, 2004).We hope to see prostitution prevention programs for First Nations and non-First Nations women – programs that address the root causes of prostitution: sex inequality, colonialism, and poverty. We hope to see programs for healing those who have escaped prostitution and other sexual violence, including programs that are culturally relevant for those to whom services are offered.Notes-
1. The World Health Organization estimated that 2001’s monthly toll of avoidable deaths in Congo was 72,800 (Harden, 2001).
2. Similar health consequences of colonialism on Aboriginal people are seen in health data from the United States. American Indians and Alaska Natives have the second highest infant mortality rate in USA, and the suicide rate of American Indians is 50% higher than the national rate. (US Dept of Health and Human Services, 2001 p82; US Dept of Health and Human Services 2001a p 17).
3. Victoria and British Colombia surveys found the average age of entry into prostitution to be 14-15.5 years, and a Vancouversurvey found average age of entry into prostitution to be 16.3 for girls and 15.6 for boys. (Lowman and Fraser, 1989).
4. The Prostitution Questionnaire may be obtained from the first author.
5. Other descriptions of violence included:
a)“[I have a] long history of physical abuse. I was beaten by my mother’s boyfriend, ran away from home to a pimp who beat
me, I left him for a man who beat me up, and so on….”
b) A 13 year-old told us she had: “disaligment in my neck, cuts, and scratches, bruises caused by bad dates. Also deafness.”
c)“A stalker hit me with his car on purpose.”
d)“Date tried to assault me with steel-toed boots because I wouldn’t do something he wanted.”
e)“A bad date hit my head on a wall.”
f)“I was beaten with stones by a couple of women.”
g) A pimp locked her in a room and beat her 30 times with baseball bat.
h)“My boyfriend pushed me downstairs and broke my arm, [I’ve had] multiple beatings by various boyfriends, broken kneecaps,broken limbs. I’m scared of men.”
i)“Two years ago, I was beat and raped for 45 minutes.
6. Use of a child for sex by adults, with or without payment, is prostitution of the child. When a child is incestuously assaulted,the perpetrator’s objectification of the child, his rationalization and denial are the same as those of the john in prostitution. Incest and prostitution result in similar physical and psychological symptoms in the victim.