Thoughts

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. 

 


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The Story of Pamela George

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. 
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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.                    ...
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