By Samuel Vargo

The first and only sweep of the North Saskatchewan River on Sept. 3 resulted in the discovery of a body. The cadaver was found only 15 minutes into the search, and stretches of the river outside the Edmonton city limits were explored.

Conducted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), along with firefighters and park rangers, the search wasn’t launched to find anyone in particular. It was just a way for these officials to test the water, riversides and islets for human remains. Late summer was a good time to conduct this expedition — with the water level of the river low. The North Saskatchewan River’s shoreline, along with sand bars, gravel bars, and any place where a floating body could come to a rest were perused and investigated.

The victim’s name and any other pertinent information regarding the discovery of this corpse in the river was not disclosed by Canadian law enforcement officials. The case remains under investigation, according to reports.

Welcome to the horror show: Canada has become a country of innumerable ugly fatal horrors – real The Silence of the Lambs sort of stuff – with around 1,200 missing and murdered indigenous women reported and/or discovered during the span of the past few decades. And all this has resulted into a game of political football for the country’s national political leaders.

What happens when the Prime Minister of a country is a Pontius Pilate, washing his hands of the blood from a whole cross-section of his country’s populace? And what happens when the police are allegedly and believed to be raping and killing defenseless and powerless aboriginal women? And what if this RCMP is actually a malevolent police organization, serving as the nation’s elite police force?

Yes, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are Canada’s premiere police outfit – but under Stephen Harper, Canada’s Conservative Party Prime Minister – the RCMP has reportedly been acting, and reacting, more like an army of thugs – as far as many indigenous people are concerned.

According to APTN National News: “The RCMP has been blasted by a human rights organization for failing to protect Indigenous women in northern British Columbia, including the victims of the Highway of Tears, where dozens have been murdered or gone missing.” (See:http://aptn.ca/news/2013/02/13/report-alleges-rcmp-officers-gang-raped-b-c-woman-calls-for-action/)

[The Highway of Tears murders is a series of unsolved murders and disappearances of young women along the 800 km (500 mi) section of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada from 1969 until 2011. Police list the number of victims at 18, but estimates by aboriginal organizations range into the 40s, largely because they include women who disappeared a greater distance from the highway. (See:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_of_Tears_murders )]

“‘I feel so dirty. They threatened that if I told anybody they would take me out to the mountains and kill me, and make it look like an accident,’ according to one woman, who told Human Rights Watch that in July 2012, four police officers took her to a remote location and raped her. She said it wasn’t the first time; and that police officers had raped her before and threatened to kill her if she said anything.” (See ibid: http://aptn.ca/news/2013/02/13/report-alleges-rcmp-officers-gang-raped-b-c-woman-calls-for-action/))

Results of interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch with 50 Indian women last summer raises some daunting questions about the integrity of the RCMP. This leading advocacy group for human rights did their homework, alright. And it was an in-depth and comprehensive report – hardly vague, cursory, or sketchy. “Human Rights Watch conducted an additional 37 interviews with families of murdered and missing women, indigenous leaders, community service providers, and others across 10 communities.” (See: http://aptn.ca/news/2013/02/13/report-alleges-rcmp-officers-gang-raped-b-c-woman-calls-for-action/)

“The report also claims Mounties have sexually assaulted Aboriginal women. Human Rights Watch issued an 89-page report filled with details and first-hand accounts from women who allege they’ve been raped by Mounties, victims of excessive force and other abusive treatment. (See ibid: http://aptn.ca/news/2013/02/13/report-alleges-rcmp-officers-gang-raped-b-c-woman-calls-for-action/)

According to Indigenous Nationhood, “The most disturbing of all reports is the 2013 report entitled Those Who Take Us Away: Abusive Policing and Failures in Protection of Indigenous Women and Girls in Northern British Colombia, prepared by Human Rights Watch. This report concluded that Indigenous women and girls are not only “under-protected” by the RCMP, but are, in fact, the objects of RCMP abuse. They highlighted the many allegations of RCMP officers sexually exploiting and abusing young Indigenous girls. There are reports of confinement, rape, and sexual assault on Indigenous girls, and some have led to lawsuits. They also reported on a class-action lawsuit against the RCMP by its own female officers – for sexual harassment and gender discrimination.” (See: click here )

“The threat of domestic and random violence on one side, and mistreatment by RCMP officers on the other, leaves indigenous women in a constant state of insecurity,” said Meghan Rhoad, women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Where can they turn for help when the police are known to be unresponsive and, in some cases, abusive.” reads another article, “Canada: Abusive Policing, Neglect Along ‘Highway of Tears’” (See: click here)

But there’s evidence there are other dynamics at play with these disappearances and murders, and the RCMP cannot take on all the blame. But with such blatant evidence being exposed by Human Rights Watch, the RCMP cannot be seen as a scapegoat, either.

Case in point: On Tuesday, Sept. 16, Canada’s youngest serial killer, Cody Legebokoff, was sentenced for the murders of Jill Stuchenko, 35, Cynthia Maas, 35, Natasha Montgomery, 23, and 15 year old Loren Leslie. Justice Glen Parrett handed down the sentence in a Prince George court room, after jurors deliberated for nearly a full day, coming to their guilty verdict. Legebokoff killed the four young women around the Prince George area within a 14-month span in 2009 and it wasn’t until November 2010 when the first murder charge was laid against him. In October 2011, three more charges were laid against him, and at the time, he was only 21 years old. (See: click here)

The courtroom was packed for Legebokoff’s sentencing, as the Crown asked the serial killer to be placed on the National Sex Offender Registry. During sentencing, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Glen Parrett said the “faint hope clause” would be applied to Legebokoff, which could allow him to apply for parole after serving 15 years in prison. The provision was repealed in 2011 for multiple murders, but the murders in this case were committed before the law was changed. (See: click here)

“I just bit my lip, as you can see,” was the reaction to the comments about parole from Doug Leslie, the father of 15-year-old Loren Leslie. (See: click here )

A movement, “Am I Next?’ has been launched in the world of social media by Canadian aboriginal women. Begun by Holly Jarrett of Hamilton, Ontario, Jarret’s impetus for beginning this online movement was that her cousin falls into the Canadian missing and murdered indigenous woman class. Jarrett is a cousin of Loretta Saunders, who was, at the time of her murder, a graduate student at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Loretta Saunders was allegedly murdered earlier this year by her tenants, when she went to collect rent. But there are some mysterious circumstances surrounding her disappearance, including the fact that the 26-year-old, pregnant Saunders had been researching the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada for her thesis when she went missing herself. (For more, see:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/09/09/am-i-next-indigenous-women-canada-ask-social-media-156814 )

“Our family is Inuit, and Loretta has now become one of the over 1,186 missing or murdered Aboriginal women she was fighting for,” wrote Jarrett on Change.org. “It is time for our government to address this epidemic of violence against Aboriginal women. Our family is gathering strength and we will not let her death be in vain. We will fight to complete Loretta’s unfinished work.” (See ibid: click here)

And what’s Stephen Harper doing about this problem? Well, evidently, the Prime Minister doesn’t even consider it a problem, if his actions are indicative of the way he feels about this horrific and nefarious monster unleashed on the poor Indian women of Canada.

Canada’s political leaders are also vilifying P.M. Harper for his insensitivity, callousness, and utter disregard for human life. “This is not acceptable in a country like Canada. It is time for a full public inquiry into the root causes of so many deaths and disappearances of aboriginal women and girls. It is time for a national action plan to confront this issue,” David Langtry, acting chief commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, said in a statement issued on Aug. 19.

But insensitive and bull-headed Harper wants nothing to do with such a proposal. The Conservative government refused this much-needed national inquiry, despite pressure from Canada’s aboriginal leaders, its provinces’ government leaders and other federal officials. Harper said during the third full week of August that Fontaine’s death was a crime and should not be viewed as a “sociological phenomenon.”

“We should view it as crime. It is crime against innocent people, and it needs to be addressed as such,” Harper said.

Stephen Harper, along with other federal Conservative Party leaders, have stated that they want to address the missing and murdered aboriginal women issue through aboriginal justice programs and through the national DNA missing person index. Leaving the investigations into what some estimate to be more than 1,200 missing and murdered aboriginal women to a police organization that many feel has a culpability in some of this criminal activity, indicates that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is covering for the RCMP. Harper’s solution? It’s the let the fox watch the henhouse mentality – which is disgusting, nauseating, and absolutely unacceptable!

“As Canadians, I believe we want to look after each other, and I think we want to protect the most vulnerable, especially missing and murdered aboriginal women from being victimized,” said Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger. “It’s an issue that affects communities all across Canada.”

“For Stephen Harper to say that there’s not a systemic aspect to this, I think is just — I think it’s outrageous quite frankly,” said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne on Aug. 22,

A heartbreaking discovery on Aug. 8: finding 15-year-old Tina Fontaine’s corpse in the Red River in Winnipeg. Fontaine’s little body was stuffed in a bag.

Fontaine, who was originally from the Sagkeeng First Nation, had only been in Winnipeg less than a month. She ran away from foster care, something she’d done several times over the past year, but until the time her body was discovered, the girl had always been returned safely back to the living facility which housed her. Ms. Fontaine’s case is being considered a homicide and authorities have not disclosed whether the child was sexually assaulted.

The grisly discovery of Fontaine’s remains has spurred Canadian political leaders to consider conducting an inquiry into the country’s missing aboriginal women. But leave it to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to be a political butcher to this very important matter. According to CNC News Calgary: “Despite Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders endorsing calls for a public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday (Aug. 21) that the issue should not be viewed as a sociological phenomenon, but rather as crime.” (See: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/stephen-harper-s-refusal-of-national-inquiry-shows-canada-s-shame-metis-leader-1.2744889 )

“Tina must not disappear into the oblivion of statistics: almost 1,200 missing and murdered aboriginal women over the past three decades,” Langtry said in the recent Human Rights Watch statement.

With emotions still running high three weeks after Fontaine’s body was discovered and feeling relief that there had been hints of a national roundtable being planned to discuss issues and concerns around Canada’s missing and murdered aboriginal women, a peaceful protest camp was set up in Winnipeg’s Memorial Park. The weekend camp quickly grew from a modest four tents to more than 50 tents.

“I’m pretty emotional about it,” said Chelsea Cardinal, who was crafting moose-head medicine bags at the camp. Cardinal, who is a mother and a social worker, admitted that the federal government’s plan to initiate a roundtable discussion on this salient issue – facing all aboriginal Canadian women – could be seen as a partial victory in a war that has claimed so many of the lives of her sisters. (See: click here )

“It’s the shame of Canada now that people realize what’s happening in this beautiful country,” said Muriel Stanley Venne, a human rights activist and Metis leader in Edmonton. “This is my country and I’m ashamed of the fact that there’s so many of our women that are murdered on a kind of regular basis.” (See ibid: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/stephen-harper-s-refusal-of-national-inquiry-shows-canada-s-shame-metis-leader-1.2744889 )

In this writer’s opinion, Stephen Harper should answer to issues like the missing and murdered aboriginal women in cold, hard, factual political and humanitarian terms. Much more action is needed besides a roundtable of national leaders discussing missing and murdered Indian women. It should be made a top issue of Harper’s government, not sloughed off, like this irresponsible and arrogant buffoon has shown in his words and actions.

And I laughed very bitterly when I heard that a B’nai Brith executive said he plans to nominate Harper for the Nobel Peace Prize. I thought to myself, Why doesn’t Frank Dimant nominate some ISIS leader to receive the Nobel? To me, a mixed-blood Indian and a supporter of Idle No More and the American Indian Movement, it makes just as much sense.

Meantime, it’s business as usual for Harper and his Conservative Party. As long as there’s another large virgin forest to destroy so dirty crude can be sucked out of the soil around the trees’ roots, he’s one very happy camper. Anyone who is so intent on destroying God’s creation certainly has put no value on human life, and being the kind of nasty bully Prime Minister Harper has shown himself to be — in many areas of the Canadian body politic — it’s apropos that this egregious maniac pick on such a poor, defenseless, and almost voiceless subsection of Canada’s population — aboriginal women, along with young Indian girls.