[Viva] Fwd: [Wamvan] Fwd: News Alert - Community Groups Sidelined by Funding Decision in Missing Women Inquiry

Thu Aug 11 11:33:02 PDT 2011

Shame on the government!! Poor women, aboriginal women, sex trade workers,
all disposable in their eyes.
Margarite

On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 12:50 PM, Tami Starlight <tamistarlight at gmail.com>wrote:

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> West Coast LEAF
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> News Alert
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> August 10, 2011
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> West Coast LEAF small logo
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> West Coast LEAF and EVA BC withdraw from Missing Women Inquiry
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> The Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC ) and  West Coast LEAF  (the
> Coalition) have withdrawn from the Missing Women Inquiry , citing the
> government's failure to provide funding for counsel for community groups
> (full letter below).
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> Inquiry Commissioner Wally Oppal granted standing to 13 community groups
> and recommended that these groups receive funding commensurate with their
> differing levels of participation.  Commissioner Oppal found that the
> participation of these groups was necessary to the work of the Commission
> and that they required counsel in order to participate.
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> However, on July 22, Deputy Attorney General David Loukidelis confirmed the
> government's decision not to fund any of the 13 groups.
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> "The failure to fund counsel for Aboriginal, sex worker and front line
> women's organizations essentially shuts these groups out of the Inquiry,"
> says EVA BC Executive Director Tracy Porteous. "We will not participate in
> an Inquiry that will not listen to the voices of those who were closest to
> the missing and murdered women and their communities."
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> "Contrary to Premier Clarke's recent statements on the importance of
> Aboriginal women's safety, the government's decision on funding indicates
> that they don't take seriously the safety of Aboriginal women, sex workers
> and women living in poverty," says Kasari Govender of West Coast LEAF.  "The
> failure to provide adequate resources at this early stage does not bode well
> for the government's commitment to implementing the Commissioner's final
> recommendations."
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> The Attorney General of BC's decision to only fund the victims' families
> means that one lawyer would represent all non-police Inquiry participants.
> By comparison, last year's Cohen Inquiry into missing salmon stocks provided
> funding for in excess of 26 lawyers to be involved representing various
> perspectives.
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> Letter to commission:
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> Dear Commissioner Oppal,
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> Re: Withdrawal of participation
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> We are writing to withdraw our participation in the Missing Women Inquiry.
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> Ending Violence Association of BC and West Coast LEAF were deeply
> disappointed to read Deputy Attorney General Mr. Loukidelis' letter of July
> 22, 2011 confirming the government's decision to deny funding to the 13
> groups to whom you granted standing.  Without funding for counsel, these
> groups are essentially shut out of the Inquiry process. While we very much
> support the Families' interests in uncovering the truth of what happened to
> their daughters, our coalition cannot participate in an Inquiry into the
> deaths of so many marginalized women when the Inquiry lacks the essential
> participation of Aboriginal groups, sex worker groups, and front line
> women's organizations.
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> The Commission's announcement on August 2, 2011 that it would be hiring
> counsel to "present the perspectives" of Aboriginal women and the Downtown
> Eastside community is insufficient to meet our concerns about the
> community's lack of voice in this process.  These broad categories of
> community voices do not do justice to the long and nuanced histories that
> each of the different participant groups speak from.  The diversity of the
> community participants will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to
> represent as amicus counsel.  The problems in the justice system that give
> rise to the Commission's mandate were born of women being silenced; without
> the ability to instruct counsel and have counsel directly represent their
> (diverse) views, the voices of marginalized women are again being co-opted
> and silenced.
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> We are extremely concerned that the government's failure to commit the
> necessary resources to this Commission is an indication that the government
> is failing to take women's safety seriously, particularly the safety of
> Aboriginal women, sex workers and women living in poverty.  The failure to
> provide adequate resources at this early stage does not bode well for the
> government's commitment to implementing the recommendations of the
> Commission in your final report.  While we appreciate your efforts to
> persuade the government to decide otherwise, the denial of funding and the
> silencing of community voices undermines the credibility of the work of the
> Commission.  The truth cannot be obtained without the participation of those
> who were closest to the victims and their communities, and we cannot move
> forward without uncovering the truth of what happened in the past.
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> From the perspective of this coalition, this Inquiry is significant because
> it could be a in a position to uncover and remedy the systemic reasons for
> the police failures to properly investigate the cases of these missing and
> murdered women.  It is no secret that the groups that have essentially been
> shut out of this process would have drawn your attention to the many layers
> of discrimination and disadvantage that these women and their communities
> suffered, and drawn the clear connections between this inequality and the
> justice system's failure to protect them from sexual and violent predators
> such as Mr. Pickton.  It is no secret that the groups that have essentially
> been shut out of this process would have been critical of police and
> government conduct during the years in question in regard to these
> particular women in these particular communities.  It is deeply unfortunate
> that the government's decision not to fund these groups may act to insulate
> the justice system from this vitally necessary critique.
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> Despite government claims to the contrary, the Inquiry will be responsible
> for presiding over adversarial issues of considerable controversy for which
> counsel is required to represent the participants' various interests.   The
> government's failure to fund community participants, while public funds are
> being used to finance representation of police and government counsel, will
> result in a lopsided and inaccurate account of these highly charged issues.
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> On this basis and with regret, West Coast LEAF and Ending Violence
> Association of BC will no longer be participating in this Inquiry.
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> About West Coast LEAF
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> West Coast LEAF's mission is to achieve equality by changing historic
> patterns of discrimination against women through BC based equality rights
> litigation, law reform and public legal education.
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> This email was sent to education at westcoastleaf.org by
> communications at westcoastleaf.org |
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> --
> Meegwetch/Thank you/Merci
> *Tami M. Starlight*
> Vancouver, Canada
> tamistarlight at gmail.com
> www.facebook.com/tamistarlight (facebook)
> tami_starlight (twitter)
> cosmictami (skype)
> 604-200-2445home
> 604-790-9943cell
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