Pamela Palmater's Argument For Violence Against Indigenous Women

In this article, the author, Pamela Palmater, makes several arguments and some conclusions. Even her conclusions appear to contain smaller arguments. Either way, all the arguments center on one issue: crisis-level in Canada for violence against Indigenous women and girls. Palmater’s central argument is for an in-depth inquiry into the violence. She argues the inquiry must be both focused and general. It should be led by a group of Indigenous women. Palmater begins her article by discussing the issue of violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Then she argues for the inquiry and the reasons why. As well, she discusses about the successes and failures of the push for the inquiry. Furthermore, Palmater utilizes the stories and history of the Indigenous people to strengthen her arguments. Palmater opens with the argument that despite the evidence, very little is being done in Canada. For a while now, Canada has had an issue with social and institutional racism. This is most prominent in their justice system. According Palmater, the result has been over-imprisonment, countless deaths while in police custody and a national crisis concerning thousands of killed and missing Indigenous females. In order to find a solution, as she argues, you need to know the root causes. This is a huge component of the argument for an in-depth inquiry. One root cause which Palmater addresses extensively is the racism, abuse of power and sexism within Canada’s justice and legal system. Deep racism along with sexism endures in Canada with its laws, policies and institutions. There is one particular story of an Indigenous fifteen-year-old girl which is representative of this. In the hours proceeding her death, Winnipeg police discovered Tina in a vehicle with an older man. Evidently, the man was intoxicated. In spite of the alarming circumstances, the police sent her out alone in the early hours of the night. The time was 3:00 am. Paramedics found her unconscious later and took her to the hospital for treatment. Afterwards, Tina was put in the custody of Manitoba Child and Family Services (CFS). CFS put her in a hotel which housed foster children. Tina …show more content…
In addition, she concludes a few more things. The racism, exploitation and sexualized violence against Indigenous women and girls by the police and justice system is a symptom of normalized racism. The inability to tackle it has compounded, even presently, the crisis. These are some more of Palmater’s conclusions. She has also stated that numerous national inquiries, commissions, and investigations have all concluded that every level of justice system has failed Indigenous peoples. More recent inquiries have indicated racism against Indigenous people is especially problematic in Canadian police …show more content…
Not addressing the crisis in Canada has worsened the situation. For the Indigenous people, this has proven disastrous and has had deadly consequences. The impacts have been just as fatal. What is most appalling is how this deep-rooted racism and sexism has become the norm in Canadian justice? To me what happened to Tina is hardly justice. The Canadian officers had an opportunity to act and possibly prevent her death. They choose not to do so when the opportunity presented itself. Most likely, their negligence contributed to Tina’s death and tragedy. I would call this severe injustice. Something needs to be done to help the Indigenous people of