What’s Current: Cabinet ministers hold consultations in Thunder Bay; learn of Indigenous women disappearing on ships on Lake Superior

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett and Minister of Status of Women Patty Hajdu took part in consultations with families of missing and murdered indigenous women in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Wednesday. (Photo: Jody Porter/CBC)
Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett and Minister of Status of Women Patty Hajdu took part in consultations with families of missing and murdered indigenous women in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Wednesday. (Photo: Jody Porter/CBC)

Families of missing and murdered Indigenous women brief Indigenous Affairs Minister, Carolyn Bennett, and Status of Women Minister, Patty Hajdu, on women going missing after being sold into prostitution on Lake Superior ships:

“We learned the importance of listening to voices of people who are not just a family member of someone who is missing or murdered, but who have had a near miss themselves in terms of extreme violence that they survived,” Hajdu said.

Calgarian student, Quinn Nelson, argues for a third option —  male, female, and other — on the returning long-census form.

Roughly 1000 young men descend on Cologne city centre, Germany, sexually assaulting at least 80 women. Katja L. describes her experience:

“I was groped everywhere. It was a nightmare. Although we shouted and beat them, the men did not stop. I was desperate and I think I was touched around 100 times in the 200 metres.”

Is the fact that women gestate merely an “accident of biology?” Men’s Rights Activists and trans activist, CN Lester, say yes. Glosswitch disagrees.

Amidst a community’s enormous sense of loss, we forget that the Port Lincoln deaths (where a father murdered two children) is also a crime and an extreme act of domestic violence — one that clearly has a perpetrator.

Jess Martin

Jess Martin is a public relations professional, an aspiring writer, and an assistant editor at Feminist Current. She prefers to write about feminist topics, disability, or environmental issues, but could be persuaded to broaden her horizons in exchange for payment and/or food. In her spare time Jess can be found knitting, gardening, or lying in the fetal position, mulling over political theory that no one in their right mind cares about.