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2 Wednesday December 2 2015 JUSTICE HOMICIDE NEWS BRIEFS McMurray Mtis manager joins McKennas environment staff McMurrayMtisgeneralmanagerKyleHarriethahasbeen appointed director of parliamentary affairs to Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna in Ottawa. McMurray Mtis will announce its new general manager in January. Harrietha who ran for the Liberals in Fort McMurray-Cold Lake will be responsible for sup- portingtheministerinimplementinglegislativemandates whilesheinformsParliamentonpoliciesanddirections. I will truly miss living in Fort McMurray an amazing com- munity with amazing people that has become my home over the past eight years he said in a note to Fort McMur- rayLiberals.Itwillbeabusytimeimplementingtheman- date for real change outlined by Prime Minister Trudeau and I look forward to working with the ministers team. Blasting starts at new Stanton site Christmas in Yellowknife is going to be a blast. Blasting at the site of the new Stanton Territorial Hospital will start on Nov.30andcontinuefor14weeksaccordingtotheGNWT. Residents will hear up to 20 blasts between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. every day of the week except Wednesday and Sunday. There will be blasting on Dec. 2. Flaggers will be stationed on all roadways passing within 100 feet of the blast area to stop all trafc during blasting operations for a minute or less. Parking on Byrne Road will also be prohibited begin- ningNov.30.VehiclesparkedonByrneRoadwillbeticketed and towed. For more information on the Stanton Renewal Project visit www.stantonrenewal.ca. Arrest in gas station hold-up One person has been arrested after an Esso gas station in Yellowknife was robbed at knifepoint at about 345 a.m. Nov. 25. A lone male suspect allegedly stole 70 but police arrested him less than 24 hours later. Charges are pending. Ann Lepine s Annual Children s Christmas Party Saturday December 5 from 100PM 300PM in the Fort Smith Rec. Centre Gym. This is a party for children ages infant to 10 years old who do not belong to the Mtis Nation Salt River First Nation or Smith Landing First Nation. Bring your camera as you will be able to take pictures with Santa No registration needed. Ann LepineAnn Lepine Please leave a message at 872-5543 for details. WESCLEAN NORTHERN SALES LTD. Ph 867 875-5100 Fax 867 875-5155 Avalon Cat Hair - long Size - medium Gender - female Avalon is a very loving and beautiful cat. She is spayed and is up-to-date with all her shots.If you think you have a home for a Avalon please call the shelter at 872-5543. Please leave a message at 872-5543 for details. WESCLEAN NORTHERN SALES LTD. Ph 867 875-5100 Fax 867 875-5155 E-mail infowescleannwt.com web www.wescleannwt.com Avalon Cat Hair - long Size - medium Gender - female Avalon is a very loving and beautiful cat. She is spayed and is up-to-date with all her shots.If you think you have a home for a Avalon please call the shelter at 872-5543. Please leave a message at 872-5543 for details. WESCLEAN NORTHERN SALES LTD. Ph 867 875-5100 Fax 867 875-5155 E-mail infowescleannwt.com web www.wescleannwt.com Avalon Cat Hair - long Size - medium Gender - female Avalon is a very loving and beautiful cat. She is spayed and is up-to-date with all her shots.If you think you have a home for a Avalon please call the shelter at 872-5543. SpayedNeutered Up-to-datewithroutineshots House trained KitkatMaleAdult Brown tabby Looking for a new home Kitkat is soft and friendly and needs a new home. So give him a break for goodness sake. Please stop by and make Kitkat your new pet. By CRAIG GILBERT Nationalhomicide ratesre- leased by Statistics Canada last week included unprece- dented clarity on data from the Aboriginal population. Forthersttimethehomi- cide statistics sourced from Canadian police services have complete information on the Aboriginal identity of victims and people accused of homicide. As well police- reported data on the Aborigi- nal identity of female homi- cide victims is now available from 1980 to 2013. Information from 2014 showed Aboriginal people accounted for 23 per cent of homicide victims in 2014 117 of 516 despite represent- ing less than ve per cent of the population. They repre- sented about one-third of the 431 people accused of homi- cide as well. Aboriginal people were killed at a rate six times that of the general population or 7.2 per 100000 people compared to 1.13 victims per 100000non-Aboriginalpeo- ple. Aboriginal males were seventimesmorelikelytobea Aboriginal men most likely homicide targets in Canada victim of homicide than non- Aboriginal males and three times more likely to be killed thanAboriginalfemales.That saidAboriginalfemaleswere still six times more likely to fall victim to homicide than non-Aboriginalwomenkilled at a rate of 3.64 per 100000 in 2014. The data is consistent with research conducted by Dr. Adam Jones proled in the Journal last week. Jones ad- vocates for a gender-inclusive inquiryintomissingandmur- deredindigenouspeoplemen and women because StatCan data shows more than twice asmanyindigenousmenhave been killed or reported miss- ing than women since 1980. The homicide rate for Ab- original people was high- est in Manitoba 13.29 per 100000 which had the highest overall murder rate in Canada in 2014 despite a 15 per cent drop from 2013 3.43 per 100000 in Al- berta 11.55 per 100000 and in all three territories. This marks the eighth year in a row Manitoba has held that dubious distinction. Ab- originalpeoplewerealsomost overrepresented among ho- micide victims in Manitoba. In other words Manitoba featured the biggest differ- ence between the homicide rate among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people Ab- original people were killed at a rate nine times that of non- Aboriginals. Following Mani- toba were Nova Scotia On- tario and Alberta where the rates were six times higher and Saskatchewan where the rate was ve times higher. The lowest homicide rates forAboriginalpeoplewerere- ported by Quebec 2.24 and Nova Scotia 2.56. From 1980 to 2014 police services across Canada re- ported 6849 homicides in- volving female victims. For that same period Aborigi- nal female victims accounted for 16 per cent 1073 of all female victims of homicide. Since1991howeverthenum- ber of non-Aboriginal female homicide victims has been shrinking driving the pro- portion of Aboriginal female homicide victims up from 14 per cent in that year to 21 per cent in 2014. Overall Alberta saw the largestincreaseinthenumber of homicides with 22 more than in 2013. In the NWT there were four homicides in 2014 up one from 2013 ac- cording to the RCMP there have been ve homicides so far in 2015 including that of May Elanik found outdoors in Aklavik Nov. 11. Most Aboriginal homicides solved In 2014 a higher propor- tion of homicides of Aborigi- nalvictimsweresolvedbypo- lice compared with non-Ab- original victims 85 per cent compared to 71 per cent. As with non-Aboriginal victims the majority of solved Aborig- inal homicides were perpe- trated by someone known to them 81 per cent and 87 per cent respectively according to Statistics Canada. Spousalhomicidewasmore common among non-Aborig- inalfemalevictimsthantheir Aboriginalcounterparts.While 45percentofnon-Aboriginal female victims were killed by a current or previous spouse including common-law the same was true for one-third of Aboriginal female victims. The incidence of homicide byotherfamilymemberswas morecommonamongAborigi- nal female victims compared with non-Aboriginal victims. Acquaintance homicide was more common among non- Aboriginalfemalevictimsthan Aboriginalfemalevictims14 per cent versus 8 per cent while stranger homicide was similar between the two ve percentversusfourpercent. The extent of spousal ho- micide for Aboriginal male victims was higher than for non-Aboriginal male victims 9 per cent versus 1 per cent. Unfortunately not surprising The numbers were not sur- prisingtotheCongressofAb- originalPeoplesformerlythe Native Council of Canada. We urge the federal gov- ernment to work together with indigenous peoples to get to the root cause of this violence National Chief Dwight Dorey said. We need to address the inequalities facing our people includ- ing affordable housing un- employment and the lack of access to quality education. By addressing these needs we will be able to move for- ward and achieve our vision of violence-free Indigenous homes and communities. He said the sobering sta- tistics were further proof a national inquiry is required. We need to work towards a future Canada where all In- digenous people feel safe and are treated with respect and honour. We urge the federal government to work together with indigenous peoples to get to the root cause of this violence. Dwight Dorey Congress of Aboriginal Peoples