A recent RCMP report on aboriginal women who have gone missing or have been found murdered leaves many questions which are still not answered according to Mikisew Cree First Nation chief and Grand Chief of Treaty 8 Steve Courtoreille. The report was unveiled in recent weeks and the review stated that 70% of the cases involved aboriginal offenders. Statements about this statistic were also made by Valcourt during a closed meeting that he had with the chiefs. Some of the questions that need to be answered include why the ethnic background of the offenders was released with cases that involved aboriginal women but not other ethnic groups, and why the numbers were not included in last years report from the RCMP.

The RCMP report from the middle of last May stated that over 90% of cases which involved the murder of an aboriginal woman the victim knew their killer. The report also concluded that women in this ethnic group were more likely to have a casual acquaintance kill them and less likely to be murdered by a spouse either past or current. According to Mikisew Cree First Nation chief Courtoreille“It’s not only First Nation communities that need to be addressed with cases of missing and murdered women. Valacourt’s total attitude was like he didn’t care. A person of that nature, saying it’s purely a First Nation problem, is part of the problem.” What no one disputes is that too many Aboriginal have gone missing or been murdered in the last decade though. Violence against this population must be addressed regardless of the ethnic background of the offender.