What was a 16-year-old doing hanging out on the streets of dangerous downtown Winnipeg after midnight? Where were her parents? Why would she go for a stroll with two strange young men along a deserted river?
I refer, of course, to Rinelle Harper, the native teen who was brutally attacked and left for dead a few days ago. A border at a Winnipeg student dorm, she signed herself out a week ago to the care of her parents who had recently moved to Winnipeg. But she didn't show up at her parents and instead went on a very perilous excursion. What I want to know is, if she had signed herself out to parental custody, were they notified? They must have been, "ass-covering" being what it is in these situations. And if the parents had been notified, why did they do nothing and not look for her all evening and night? A passerby found her near death the next morning and dealt with her care.
Of course, the parents and band members called a press conference to......wait for it.......blame "the system". How is any of this "the system's" responsibility? Purporting to be concerned for their daughter, the parents nonetheless seemed oblivious to their responsibility in all this. Why was Rinelle so unaware of the dangers of what she chose to do? As Susan Martinuk said in her Herald column today (google it), "Some crimes could be avoided if people simply stayed away from areas and people where there is a heightened risk of violence."
As a teen, I had curfews up the ying-yang and was fully-aware of which areas of Ottawa were off-limits. Parents phoned each other to make sure all was what we had told them. We were picked up after a certain hour, so as not to have to take the bus home. It was all so logical and reasonable. But in the case of this poor young woman, "the system" should have taken care of her. It's ludicrous.
We don't need a national inquiry about these problems among natives. Statistics show most murdered natives are killed by other natives. The numbers also show that native crimes are solved as often, and in as timely a fashion, as in the rest of the population. Look it all up before you believe native leaders at a shameless and self-serving press conference.
Let's get real here.
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Great Article - well written as always. having said that, I believe the World today is totally different than it was when you or I were teenagers. Everything you state is fact. always enjoy your well written articles. thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou know what, the world is basically the same. We were warned about sexually-aggressive teen boys and "dirty old men" because they were everywhere. My mother always gave me "mad money", so I could get home on my own steam if things went awry. "Never get into a car with a strange man," was her other mantra.
ReplyDeleteI think natives live within a culture of making others responsible for everything within their lives -- from the raising of their own children to...whatever. It's our fault because we fostered this attitude and behaviour.