February 9, 2010 Features

Inaccess to information

Jumping through hoops for answers

by Laura Beeston

oved by the Vigil for Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women last October, the search for solid answers was prompted after repeatedly hearing that no one really knows or counts how many women have suffered or died from a systematic and racist violence that targets First Nations women in this country.

I’m not a fan of mystery. So, with a naïve belief that specific and reliable information about this sexist, nation-wide pandemic should be available and that the Aboriginal women must be accounted for somewhere, I decided to file an Access to Information and Privacy request. I did this because, I thought, surely the government knew more than they were letting on about these issues.

Following the application procedure to a tee, I sent my request with the standard, five-dollar cheque in mid-September and waited for a response.

On Sept. 25, 2009, I received a letter stating that Indian and Northern Affairs Canada had received my ATIP inquiry. One month later, on Nov. 26, I was asked to make my search more specific.

During this time, the provincial government of Manitoba was putting together a team, called the Manitoba Integrated Task Force for Missing and Murdered Women, to deal with the growing numbers of Aboriginal women and teens who were being killed around Winnipeg and to re-examine a few decades worth of unsolved cases.

Having already narrowed down my request, I now asked to see internal reports, recommendations and correspondence letters between the Manitoba and federal governments. I also requested any additional information regarding any statistics and figures on exactly how many women have gone missing.

Suspecting these figures might not exist, I also requested any accounting recommendations that had been made on the federal or provincial government’s part.

About a month later, on Dec. 16, I received a bill of $86.70 in “searching costs,” as well as a letter informing me that an extension of 260 days beyond the statutory 30-day time limit was necessary for the processing of this request, due to the volume of records involved, the necessity to consult with other governmental departments and the interference to government operations resulting thereof.

So I mailed them another cheque and I am still waiting, more than four months after my initial request and with another eight months to go before I’ll see any documents.
I really wonder what type of information my $91.70 will reveal and if I will ever actually get what I’m looking for.

Though I acknowledge that waiting for government documents can’t compare to families’ search for answers after a daughter, sister, mother, aunt or friend is killed or goes missing, the bureaucratic hoops one must jump through renders even a basic search for information virtually impossible.
So, the initial question “Where are our women?” remains unanswered. And with it, I still wonder, where is the information?