Five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair received a massive beating on the cold basement floor of her family's home. Phoenix’s step-brother was there to witness that traumatizing sight of her being abused, abandoned, and malnourished, and forced to eat her own vomit. (The Canadian Press) Ultimately she was shot with a gun. Phoenix’s body was concealed in a dumping ground. Her death went undiscovered for nine months. (Palmater) The question here is how could the Canadian government’s foster care system allow this to happen? In brief, this case is not an anomaly. This is not abnormal. Indigenous women and girls like Phoenix Sinclair, who enter foster care face wretched situations. Broken Canadian systems such as foster care, policing and the justice system are all factors that are increasing the chances that Indigenous women and girls go missing and murdered - destroying the relationship between Canada and its Indigenous girls and women.

Foster care is a primary source of child abuse that leads to an increase of human trafficking (often leading to death), and further decimates the relationship between Indigenous women and girls and the rest of Canada. According to Pam Palmeter, a lawyer, professor, activist and politician from Mi’kma’ki, Phoenix Sinclair and Tina Fontaine (a first nations teenager who went missing then died) are “just a handful of the hundreds that have died in foster care in the last decade. For the more than 10,000 Indigenous children in Manitoba, foster care has become the new residential school with all its attending abuses (Palmeter paragraph 3). Moreover Tamara Malcolm, an Indigenous woman who was removed from her family at 5 years old, was put in a foster care home. Malcolm’s mother was able to gain guardianship of her again; however, Malcolm will always remember what she’s been through while she was in the foster care home. She said, “I was treated like an outsider, I was an outcast. We are like a black sheep” (Ctv, Winnipeg). Overall, this proves that foster care has definitely fragmented the relationship between Indigneous women and girls and the rest of Canada.

This system’s malfunction and mistreatment acts as evidence in Sinclair’s case. Foster care is full of incompetent and careless employees who aren’t performing their jobs as they should. A few months before Sinclair died, Kematch, Phoenix’s foster mother received a visit from social workers. Although the social workers didn’t exactly see Phoenix, they assumed that things went well. (The Canadian Press). This is where the social workers are negligent. Why didn’t they demand to see the child? Why did they assume that things were going well? Because they decided not to see Phoenix, they weren’t exposed to the firestorm of violence surrounding her. Mckay, Sinclair’s foster mother’s boyfriend, had a huge record for domestic violence outlined in the province’s family services central database.(The Canadian Press). How could the social workers miss this important detail? The social workers didn’t even know that Mckay had entered Phoenix’s life. The abuse was still going on behind the social workers’ backs.

The foster care system also failed Tina Fontaine. Fontaine was raised by her great aunt, because her biological father was murdered and her mother was in Winnipeg. Tina was allowed to spend some time with her mother for a week after winning a deal with her aunt; however, after a few days, Tina’s mother was so subdued by her addiction to drugs, that she kicked out the helpless 15-year-old. As a result Tina was next taken to a foster care hotel, where she refused to stay and decided to leave and social workers did not stop her (Tina Fontaine: The tragic story). The social worker who let Tina leave proved that social workers were as useless as a gun without a trigger. After nine days of running away from the foster care hotel, Tina’s body was pulled up from the Red River wrapped in a duvet cover. Indigenous women and girls who are placed in foster care end up open to all kinds of abuse and neglect. Instead of taking advantage of them and making them feel like they are outsiders, why not help them find a place to belong? Clearly, foster care is key to child abuse, and a haven for sneaky predators who are just looking for the rewards resulting in destroyed relationships between Indigenous women and girls and Canada.

Additionally, police failures and brutality have deteriorated the relationship between Ingidenous women and girls and the rest of Canada. It is not acceptable how police are not trying as hard as they should to provide a sense of security for everyone, not just for some. Robert Pickton was a serial killer who murdered women. After five years, Pickton was arrested due to his name poping up on the suspect list of the sex workers disappearances. (The Canadian Press). Incompetence and neglect are also responsible in the Pickton case: “The case was the focus of a high-profile public inquiry last year that identified a long list of failures and concluded that, had the victims not been poor, drug-addicted sex workers, the police would have done more to investigate what happened to them” (The Canadian Press). This is stating that the police have not been trying hard enough to bring these women justice, but if it had been women with more privilege, then they would have put in the extra effort. Wally Oppal, a Canadian lawyer, former judge and provincial politician and head of the inquiry into the Pickton killings says such an important and emotional quote that shines light upon the truth of how Indigenous women and girls are feeling: “I ask you to imagine how you would feel, put yourself in the shoes of one of the missing and murdered women and think how it would feel if you were dismissed, considered unworthy of attention by the majority of the people in your city. What if you were made to feel invisible, unworthy?” (Keller). As a result of this indifference, Indigenous women don’t trust police due to a number of reasons, such as lack of response, aid, and humiliation. Because of these reasons, Indigenous women and girls refuse to call for help, and so they often end up missing or dead. Police are behaving in a way that is toxic, and that's increasing the number of deaths and is shattering the relationship between Indigenous women and girls and Canada.

An unforgettable case of police brutality is the Chantel Moore case. Chantel Moore was an Indigenous woman who was shot multiple times by an officer in New Brunswick. According to the officer, Moore hurried out of her apartment to her platform holding a knife. When threatening the officer, she was shot, not once but five times according to what the family of Moore was told. (Magee) How could the officer shoot her instead of trying to reason with her? Why shoot her five times? This is both intolerable and enraging. Even if Moore was in the wrong, there’s no reason to kill her on the spot. The officer could have handled the situation in a number of ways, but he came to the conclusion of killing her. With the way police treat Indigenous Women and girls, it is no wonder that they do not trust but rather fear them. Police failures and brutality have splintered the relationship between Ingidenous women and girls and Canada as a country.

Indigenous women and girls face unfortunate circumstances in the justice system as well, resulting in the relationship between Indigenous women and girls and Canada to go fragmented. A mother of three, 36- year -old Indigenous woman and sex worker, Cindy Gladue was found bleeding to death from her vagina in a hotel bathtub. The prosecutors said Gladue was treated like a piece of property by Bradely that could be thrown away and replaced. (Russell and Snowdon). The case went to court and the criminal justice system came to the conclusion of manslaughter. How is such a judgment possible? Gladue was clearly raped using some form of sharp object. Why didn’t the jury include rape charges? Did the jury have second thoughts when learning of Gladue’s past sexual involvements? Gladue was humiliated even after death, by having her private parts displayed as evidence in the courtroom ( Canoe). Imagine how her family, her children must have felt. The anger burning inside them. The judges should put in a lot more effort to look past the flaws of Indigenous victims and battle the stereotypes placed on them. Just because Glaudue was a sex worker does not mean that she should be disrespected and have her privacy violated by having her private part shown in front of everyone present. The judges should have been more respectful and understanding of the whole situation Glaude was placed in. There should be a level of faith so on the off chance that Indigenous young ladies are planning to report something, they would feel shielded from danger; however, they are not feeling safe, (Radio CBC) . Ingidenous women and girls feel less important and also feel as though they are not being heard and their presence is not being acknowledged, which upsets them (Patterson). The justice system has deeply torn the relationship between Indigenous women and girls and Canada. This system is treating young Indigenous women poorly.

Overall, it is obvious that ruptured Canadian systems such as foster care, policing and the justice system are all variables that are causing Indigenous young women and girls to go lost and killed - crushing the relationship between Canada as a country and its Indigenous people. Something needs to change so that there's progress made in which Indigenous women and young ladies are receiving the regard they deserve and their voices heard.

Works Cited

The Canadian Press. “Phoenix Sinclair inquiry hears 5-year-old girl beaten, shot.” CBC, 22 April 2013, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/phoenix-sinclair-inquiry-hears-5-year-old-girl-beaten-shot-1.1328816. Accessed 20 December 2022.

The Canadian Press. “Top cop tells inquiry why it took so long to catch Pickton.” CTV News, 7 November 2011, https://www.ctvnews.ca/top-cop-tells-inquiry-why-it-took-so-long-to-catch-pickton-1.722663. Accessed 20 December 2022.

The Canadian Press. “Vancouver police, RCMP defend actions in Pickton case.” CBC, 7 October 2013, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-police-rcmp-defend-actions-in-pickton-case-1.1929076. Accessed 20 December 2022.

Canoe, Christa Big. “Cindy Gladue suffered her last indignity at murder trial.” CBC, 2 April 2015, https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/cindy-gladue-suffered-her-last-indignity-at-murder-trial-1.3019500. Accessed 20 December 2022.

CTV Winnipeg. “Former foster child plans to walk from Winnipeg to Ottawa.” CTV News Winnipeg, 1 August 2009, https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/former-foster-child-plans-to-walk-from-winnipeg-to-ottawa-1.421861. Accessed 20 December 2022.

“How Tina Fontaine's death forced a community to take action.” CBC, 11 March 2019, https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1456190019804. Accessed 20 December 2022.

Keller, James. “Bias against Pickton's victims led to police failures, indifference.” Macleans.ca, 17 December 2012, https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/bias-against-picktons-victims-led-to-police-failures-indifference-inquiry/. Accessed 20 December 2022.

Magee, Shane. “Investigation of shooting death of Chantel Moore could take months.” CBC, 6 June 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chantel-moore-police-shooting-investigation-1.5599715. Accessed 20 December 2022.

Palmater, Pamela. “Foster care system one of the paths to murdered and missing Indigenous women.” CBC, 27 February 2018, https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/opinion-foster-care-system-path-to-mmiwg-1.4552407. Accessed 20 December 2022.

Patterson, Brent. “Barlow signs message of support for Anishnabe and Cree women in Val d'Or.” The Council of Canadians, 24 November 2016, https://canadians.org/analysis/barlow-signs-message-support-anishnabe-and-cree-women-val-dor/. Accessed 20 December 2022.

Russell, Jennie, and Wallis Snowdon. “Bradley Barton found guilty of manslaughter in death of Cindy Gladue.” CBC, 20 February 2021, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/bradley-barton-guilty-1.5921392. Accessed 20 December 2022.

Termonti, Anna-Maria. “MMIW: Trust a barrier with Indigenous girls and RCMP, says advocate.” CBC, 18 October 2016, https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-october-17-2016-prince-george-public-forum-1.3805280/mmiw-trust-a-barrier-with-indigenous-girls-and-rcmp-says-advocate-1.3805732. Accessed 20 December 2022.