Ashton wants aboriginal affairs minister to back up statement with data – Thompson Citizen

April 7, 2015

NDP Aboriginal Affairs critic and Churchill MP Niki Ashton says Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt should provide the data about who is responsible for the deaths of murdered indigenous women if such data exists.

The Globe and Mail reported March 31 that it had obtained a transcript of remarks Valcourt made during a meeting with chiefs in Calgary March 20, which included the statement, “I will tell you ‘cause there is no media in the room that the RCMP report states that up to 70 per cent of the murdered and missing indigenous women issue stems from their own communities.”

Ashton asked the government to share the information it had in the House of Commons on March 25.

“Will the minister stand in the House and release the data on which he based his claim, or will he get up and tell us that he made this number up to suit the Conservatives’ discriminatory agenda?” said Ashton.

Read More:  http://www.thompsoncitizen.net/news/thompson/ashton-wants-aboriginal-affairs-minister-to-back-up-statement-with-data-1.1816140