Thursday, July 22, 2010

Canada: Funding For Missing Women in Limbo

From the Province:
After announcing in March that it would spend $10 million on the issue of murdered and missing aboriginal women in Canada, the federal government has sat on its hands, doing nothing, federal Liberals charged Wednesday.

Speaking in Winnipeg at the site of the three-day Assembly of First Nations national meeting, Liberal MP Anita Neville called the Conservative government's response since its announcement "tepid."

"Nothing has been forthcoming and we're waiting," she said.

It's believed that 580 aboriginal girls and women have been murdered or gone missing in Canada since 1970, more than half of them since 2000.

"It is, in our view, sexualized, racialized violence, and it requires a comprehensive strategy," said Neville, speaking at a news conference along with federal Liberal aboriginal affairs critic Todd Russell.

Neville said Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has promised a public inquiry into the matter.

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