Lawyers for a Saskatchewan woman want the abduction and other charges against her to be stayed, citing alleged human rights violations including unnecessary strip searches and denial of medical care.
In a court application, they list alleged individual violations against Dawn Walker, but say these cannot be separated from systemic violations against Indigenous women in the justice system.
“This Indigenous woman and mother’s experience is an extreme example of how the police and justice system in Saskatchewan criminalize and incarcerate the same Indigenous women and children that they have failed to protect from violence in the first place,” states the application.
University of Dalhousie law professor Elaine Craig said the individual details of Walker’s case are one thing, but the research on systemic discrimination is clear — Indigenous women are generally not treated the same as other Canadians in the justice system. She said she’s glad to see Walker’s team raising these issues so prominently.
“Frankly, that’s the way in which change actually happens, is when we start to understand this not as an individualized issue, but one that is systemic, one that is connected to the legacy of colonialism, one that is, you know, related to the intergenerational harm caused by residential schools,” Craig said.
Walker is accused of kidnapping her child and faking their deaths. Following a multi-day search for the pair in the Saskatoon area and beyond last summer, they were found by U.S. authorities in Oregon.
Full Story: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/lawyers-want-abduction-charges-stayed-dawn-walker-1.6803818
