Evidence Network

Indigenous

Exclusion of Indigenous voices in U.S.-Canada water agreement

Salmon used to swim all the way up the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean near Astoria, Oregon to the Canadian Rocky Mountains at the river’s headwaters in Canal Flats, British Columbia.  It was an astounding journey of 2,000 km upstream that cut through a landscape of lush forest, dry desert and high peaks. But […]

Let’s not “whitewash” Cindy Gladue’s death

Missing and murdered Indigenous women not on trial   This week, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the most important case in a generation regarding the Canadian legal system’s response to murdered and missing Indigenous women. Thursday’s hearing was the culmination of a case that was set in motion on the morning of June 22, […]

Time to end mandatory minimum-sentences for murder

Indigenous women vastly overrepresented among those sentenced to life   What’s wrong with mandatory minimum sentences?  Plenty. Especially when it comes to murder. High profile serial murderers come to mind when Canadians think of murder convictions: Bernardo, Olson, Pickton. Few turn their minds to the 18-year-old Indigenous teen who kills her abusive drug dealer. Such a […]

Five things to know about bilingual Indigenous education

Research tells us that bilingual education is the best possible education, but Canadian census results, and parents’ experiences, suggest that some Indigenous children educated in an Indigenous language are struggling. For example, education in Inuktut is a right that some Inuit parents, and governments, are giving up, and I understand. We want children to succeed […]

Staggering number of Indigenous people in jail

Not long ago, First Nations people “caught” leaving their reserve would be arrested and thrown in jail. Even more recently, Indigenous children were stolen from their parents by the Canadian government, to attend Residential Schools, in what has been described as cultural genocide. A justice system which targets Indigenous peoples with impunity is nothing new […]

Too many indigenous women in prison

Judges need more flexibility in sentencing There is no justice for Indigenous women in the current Canadian justice system. Indigenous women are violently victimized at almost three times the rate of their non-Indigenous counterparts.  Indigenous women are also more likely to commit criminal offences — but nine times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be […]

Aging out of foster care with no number to call — an interview with Dylan Cohen

Dylan Cohen shares a personal story of life in and out of government care. He is an Indigenous former youth in care and campaigner for Fostering Change in British Columbia and a Contributor with EvidenceNetwork.ca.  Dylan seeks to create opportunities for youth in/from care across the country through advocacy and public policy justice. Interview by […]

Canada needs a national agency to review all domestic homicides and create an integrated domestic violence safety system

Bill C-75 reforms too little, too late to respond to domestic violence    A woman is killed by her current or former partner every six days in Canada. Indigenous women are killed by their intimate partners at a rate eight times higher. In Peel (Toronto) alone, five women were killed in January 2018 — the […]

Drawing on rich traditions to nourish our children

Indigenous peoples are “Inuwak,” Peoples of the Land. We have a spiritual relationship with our mother earth; our food is from the land and is intrinsically related to our cultural and spiritual way of life. Food not only nourishes us physically, it impacts our mental attitude and is an essential part of many of our […]

Seeing Red on World AIDS Day

On World AIDS Day, we are seeing red. The red ribbon has long been a potent symbol of HIV/AIDS activism, signifying anger at the bureaucratic red tape that, in the 1980s, delayed release of life-saving treatments to people living with HIV/AIDS. Treatment access and effectiveness have since improved for some living with HIV/AIDS (at least […]