Michael Den Tandt: Why Canada should abolish the Indian Act and reserve system – National Post

April 13, 2015

Should a national public inquiry be convened to shine a klieg light on the plight of missing and murdered indigenous women? Absolutely. But let there be no flinching from the result, wherever it may lead — even if that is a final indictment of the parlous reserve system itself, and a concerted push to abolish the Indian Act, appalling racist relic that it is, once and for all.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson caused a stir Friday with the release of a letter, addressed to Grand Chief Bernice Martial of the Treaty No. 6 Nations, in which he confirmed the obvious: The majority of convicted murderers of aboriginal women, 70 per cent, are aboriginal men. Similar statistics gathered from among the non-aboriginal population, or any population, will reveal a similar ratio. That’s because violence against women and children is typically perpetrated by spouses and parents. As with child sexual abuse, the bugaboo of the stranger assailant is most often a construct. The far greater risk statistically is of an assault by a family member.

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