Gendered Racial Violence and Spatialized Justice: The Murder of Pamela George

Prostitution is criminalized in Canada. This ignores the underlying factors that push people into the space. A lot of times, it is not a person's choice - they may be forced or coerced or groomed into sex work by trusted or threatening people, such as pimps. Sex workers may have been manipulated or groomed into it at a young age, or drugged and kidnapped and sold. The point is, criminalizing prostitution does nothing to stop the demand for it, nor does it stop women from at risk. Racism is prominent in today's society and was arguably worse in 1995. In Canada, racism towards Indigenous folk is prevalent in government, in perception and mainstream media. The last Residential school was still open at the time of Pamela's murder. History has swayed in the favour of the white man for centuries and we see this operating in the case of George v Kummerfield and Ternowetsky when the jury decided that this case was basically two university students making a drunken mistake and an Ab...

The crown and the defense argued that Pamela's role as a sex worked should be included in the case. This begs the question why. Razack makes several great points about this.  Labelling Pamela as a prostitute allows justification to the assailant's action, hence allowing them a lighter sentence and decreased responsibility for their actions. Why should there be any justification at all for this brutal crime?  As mentioned in a previous post. Pamela is in a particular unique sector of oppression - Aboriginal, a woman, single mother, sex worker - which places her at an already increased risk of oppression and systemic violence. People assume sex workers have no bodily autonomy or care what happens to their body, but this is never the case. It is rather a matter of using her profession against her - to demean and make her seem separate. This is the key thing regarding gendered racialized violence and spatialized justice.  Social and economic determinants are typically what fo...

I am a white woman. I grew up privileged.  Middle class, fortunate.  Vulnerable to gender violence. Not having to deal with racism or fear for my safety because of my skin colour. Pamela was not like me. I analyze. I sympathize. I learn. I try to do better. Be better. I can never understand her experience. Her pain. Her community's pain. Pamela is one of thousands Indigenous Canadians. Who go missing. Get murdered. Get judged and accused for simply existing.  But I can learn. Educate. Hope for justice.  This problem must be chipped away at with every newly discovered truth.   

  The defendants pleaded not guilty.  "The boys did pretty darn stupid things, but they did not commit murder."  22 months + 6.5 year prison sentence. Manslaughter. Early Parole.  Photo credits: CBC News Canada

Pamela George was not just a prostitute.  Calling her that diminishes a life and frankly, places blame upon the victim.  She was a mother. A part of a community. She had people who loved her. People she loved. Media refers to her as "prostitute." "Man who kills prostitute," I saw. Murderers referred to as "university students" or "young men."  Society gives endless breaks to white men.  "Boys will be boys" they say. Two kids motherless.

Steven Kummerfield and Alex Ternowetsky were university students who decided to get a prostitute one night. Unbeknownst to Pamela, one of the them was hiding in the trunk and jumped out to beat her. The two men only got sentenced to 6.5 years on the case of manslaughter. They beat an Aboriginal woman to death so badly that her body couldn't be displayed to loved ones for an open casket, and it wasn't even considered murder in the court of law.  Racism is prominent in court cases. The white defendants were given slack because of their inebriation at the time of the assault, however this is not a valid excuse for even beating someone, let alone leaving them to die. White privilege in Canadian law shines through in this case. Incarceration rates of Aboriginal individuals are much higher than Caucasians, even to this day.   Kummerfield got early parole less than 4 years after being convicted.                    ...

Pamela Jean George was an Aboriginal woman and a single mother of two kids living in the province of Saskatchewan. Pamela lived on the Sakimay Reservation outside of Regina. She was of the Saulteaux or Ojibway Nation. These few details are hardly enough to describe a life of a woman and mother.  Pamela was violently beaten and left to die by her assailants on April 17, 1995 in a secluded area outside the city of Regina. Major theme of this article is that Pamela was working as a prostitute and her attackers were two young white men in university. Because of her unconventional job and the stereotypes involved with it, the odds were stacked against her in court. The balance of justice was skewed by stereotypes and preconceived notion regarding race and prejudice against sex workers.  As a single mother, someone who was Aboriginal and a woman, she was particularly at risk of racism, sexism, and other judgments society puts on sex workers and single moms.