A lifetime of agony: families of missing, murdered Inuit women call for answers | 24CA News

OTTAWA — Every day on his approach to work in 2016, Veldon Coburn drove previous Bordeleau Park, by the sting of the Rideau River close to downtown Ottawa.

On a September day that yr, whereas he drove previous the park, Coburn heard on the radio {that a} physique had been discovered within the river.

Days later, he realized that the individual discovered within the river was Annie Pootoogook, a famend Inuk artist who received the celebrated Sobey Art Award in 2006 and whose work has been proven all over the world.

She was additionally the organic mom of Coburn’s adopted daughter, Napachie, who was 4 years previous on the time.

Despite her success, Pootoogook struggled with homelessness whereas in Ottawa. Police investigated her loss of life as suspicious, however no prices had been ever laid.

This yr, Sept. 19 marked the sixth anniversary of Pootoogook’s loss of life. Napachie turned 10 years previous the identical month. Coburn stated that at every anniversary, he wonders if he ought to be doing extra to search out solutions for his daughter about what occurred to her organic mom.

“There’s so many questions left unanswered. What if Napachie starts asking in 10 years, ‘Why didn’t you ask more questions?”’ he stated.

This anniversary was particularly heavy, he stated, as a result of it got here simply days after a 22-year-old Inuk lady was discovered lifeless in Ottawa.

Police say Savanna Pikuyak moved to town in early September and responded to an advert on Facebook to lease a room in a three-bedroom townhouse close to Algonquin College, the place she had simply began learning. She was killed Sept. 14.

Her roommate, Nikolas Ibey, 33, has been charged with first-degree homicide.

Later in September, the stays of Mary Papatsie had been discovered at a building web site within the metropolis’s Vanier neighbourhood. Her household had declared the 39-year-old lacking in 2017.

In a press release, her niece Tracy Sarazin stated the household is now searching for “answers and justice,” and they’re demanding an intensive investigation into what occurred to Papatsie.

All three ladies moved to Ottawa from the North in quest of higher alternatives.

The Ottawa-Gatineau area has the third-largest Inuit inhabitants amongst main Canadian cities. According to the 2021 census knowledge, the inhabitants elevated by 35 per cent over 5 years to 1,730.

Coburn is a professor on the University of Ottawa, the place he teaches and researches Indigenous politics. He stated that the Inuit are farther behind in socio-economic improvement than First Nations or Metis.

“There has been deliberate colonial economic under-developments or -investments in them as people,” stated Coburn.

Natan Obed, president of the nationwide representational group Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, stated it’s unacceptable that Inuit and Indigenous ladies and women are nonetheless dealing with disproportionate charges of violence.

“There’s the sobering reality, the systems that are in place have a disproportionate risk for women and girls, just by their very nature,” stated Obed.

Inuit communities in Nunavut are secluded, one thing Obed stated not many individuals within the southern a part of the nation perceive.

The distinction goes past “living in a small town,” he stated. In distant communities, the price of residing is excessive and housing is tough to search out. Access to providers and alternatives, together with well being care and schooling, is restricted. That lack of assets has pushed many Inuit ladies like Pikuyak and Papatsie to go away.

But the street to raised alternatives can be a pathway to potential violence. Obed stated many people who find themselves focused discover themselves in situations the place they don’t have the assets to have the ability to return dwelling and lack social helps in southern cities. Some face homelessness or dependancy, and isolation from family members.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada is engaged on upgrading a program referred to as “Safe Passage,” which it has used to trace instances of lacking and murdered Indigenous ladies and women and to warn others about areas to keep away from.

Judy Whiteduck, the group’s vice-president of coverage, advocacy and engagement, has been spearheading the venture. She stated placing the 231 suggestions made by the 2019 National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls into motion should be a precedence.

She stated the challenges that Indigenous folks face are “forcing them to live in unsafe places.”

“Concrete supports are needed,” she stated. “We will start to see the kinds of changes that need to happen.”

One of the inquiry’s suggestions is offering initiatives and programming to deal with the foundation causes of violence in opposition to Indigenous ladies and women. Others embrace addressing disproportionate poverty charges and bettering entry to protected housing.

Obed stated his group is working to safe funding for 5 shelters. He stated he’s additionally in common communication with RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki to make sure that it will get satisfactory knowledge from police.

“We need to do more to ensure their safety, provide medical care closer to home, if not in home communities,” Obed stated. He added that the remainder of Canada must develop into conscious of the dire want for higher infrastructure within the North.

For the primary few years after Pootoogook’s loss of life, Coburn continued to ask Ottawa police for updates, however he stated it has been years since he’s heard something.

“One of these days, somebody’s got to reopen the case or just take a new look,” he stated.

Coburn and his daughter have maintained sturdy relationships together with her organic household in Kinngait, Nunavut. He stated she’s going to at all times be a Pootoogook, and he worries concerning the toll her organic mom’s loss of life might need on her as she grows up.

“There’ll be a lifetime of, perhaps, psychic agony for Napachie of not knowing, because it feels like the cops have not done much.”