What Have We learned?

It took more than three years of complaints and cries for action from citizens and family members and then the media for the police in and around Vancouver to finally acknowledge that someone was murdering and "disappearing" native women prostitutes.

Ultimately, the result was the arrest and conviction of Robert Pickton.

How many women died while the police twiddled?

In Northern BC, we still have the Highway of Tears.

Now Manitoba is experiencing the identical phenomenon.

Native prostitutes are disappearing or being found murdered in creek beds.

At least count, there are 75 aboriginal women missing in Manitoba.

That's the same number of police officers assigned to the case of Peter Ladner's murdered sister.

There are 522 aboriginal women missing nation-wide.

Yesterday, the Manitoba provincial government announced the creation of a "task force." It will be in place in a month.

Do we have at least two systems of justice and at least two auto-responses from police forces in this country?

That is, one for white folk and one for natives?

Yes, we do.

In the Manitoba cases, the link seems to be about crack cocaine and the Vietnamese drug dealers in Winnipeg, although nothing has yet to be proved or even on the docket.

While we read our papers, real women are being killed.

In Canada.

Nomenclutter

Fifty years ago, an Olympic official proposed that in the case of black women, “the International Olympic Committee should create a special category of competition for them – the unfairly advantaged ‘hermaphrodites.' ”

The official's name?

Norman Cox.

You cannot write material like this.

Life. What a comic!

Pictured herein is Caster Semenya, who won the 800 metre final in the world competition last week. Her gender is being questioned.

Journalism & Community Values

DRUNKS BACK FREE BARS ON EVERY CORNER

Now, there's a headline.

Makes as much good sense as the real one:

Drug users back proposed needle exchange in Victoria