Pregnant woman's slaying seen as 'wake up' call to Six Nations

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21636827.post-28195574722445333892008-07-07T21:55:00.000-07:002008-07-07T22:02:57.593-07:00Pregnant woman's slaying seen as 'wake up' call to Six NationsTears flow for Tashina Posted By BY SUSAN GAMBLE, EXPOSITOR STAFF July 7, 2008 Tears flowed freely during a memorial ceremony Saturday to remember Tashina General, who was found slain after she went missing from Six Nations in January. Family, friends and supporters came together from four directions in a symbolic gathering in Veteran's Park in Ohsweken to honour General and remember many other victims of violence. What the Expositor says. See Opinion, Page A8. "Be aware of what's going on in your own community," Nancy Porter, one of General's good friends, said as the crowd dispersed. "We're not supposed to go through life fearing things but we do have to be aware." Porter says the community needs to be aware of the potential for violence against its young women. "It's cruel, but if this is what it took to wake up the community . . . well, something good's got to come of it." SHALLOW GRAVE Four months pregnant, the 21-year-old General was slain and buried in a shallow grave near a busy Six Nations intersection while police and the community spent months looking for her and appealing for her to contact her family. Two hundred of those at Saturday's ceremony wore General's smiling face on T-shirts designed for the occasion. The shirts were a way of saying thank you to the community that searched for the woman. In the photo, she is dressed for a Miss Six Nations pageant and the words "Beauty comes from within" is on the shirt, along with "Keep smiling" -- one of General's favourite sayings. Speakers praised the young woman's work ethic and sunny nature, comforted her family and warned the community about protecting each other and paying attention to local happenings. Later, as the crowd met at the community hall to share food and presentations, emotion pour out as people greeted and held each other. "Why is everybody crying?" asked a small girl. "They're remembering Tashina," explained the girl's mother, General's cousin, Bev Jacobs. For Jacobs, General's death hits far too close to home. Jacobs is president of the Native Women's Association of Canada where, for the past six years through the Sisters in Spirit program, she's worked with the families of missing and murdered native women. When General had been missing for two months, Jacobs helped host a media conference to raise awareness about her disappearance. But when General's body was discovered, it was like Jacobs's work and family collided. "This has been very difficult emotionally and it's been hard for me to get back into my work. I couldn't even go to a recent national gathering because this has affected me so personally." Jacobs's message is that native men need to take back their roles of respon- sibility and once again become the protectors of the community. Meanwhile, native women need to learn again to respect and honour themselves and each other. "That's our tradition and culture but people need to know how much violence there is in the community and that it's time to speak up and stop it." The Six Nations man charged in the second-degree murder of General remains in jail. EX-BOYFRIEND CHARGED Kent Owen Hill, 20, a former boyfriend and well-known lacrosse player, has been remanded in court several times. General was a person of peace and forgiveness, said Porter. While the community has been rocked by the crime and there's anger, those who loved General try to remember how she would want them to react. "Tashina would say, 'Do you want to go around being bitter?'" said Porter. "She didn't know how to hate and she couldn't hold a grudge." At the park, people lined up to greet, hug and comfort General's grandmother, Norma General. Before her death, General was helping her grandmother raise some of her grandchildren. "She worked really hard at the pizza shop and had a job with the tourism department," Norma General said. "She learned sign language to help me with one of my grandchildren and often travelled with me when I would go to make presentations in other communities." Norma General reported her granddaughter missing on Jan. 23 but, when police had reports of the young woman being spotted around the reserve, a full search was never mounted. Finally, her grandmother insisted something was wrong and police began searching for General toward the end of March. After several air and ground searches, General's body was found buried on property owned by Kent Owen Hill's father. She had died by strangulation. General's family helped plan a quiet memorial corner in Veteran's Park where a bench, new trees and ornamental bushes were planted to help remember General. Pink roses were placed at the base of each of the trees. Article ID# 1102698 http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1102698 NATIVE WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF CANADA http://www.nwac-hq.org/ It's time to take notice July 7, 2008 If there is any good to come from the death of a young woman, it can only be knowledge that will help prevent future tragedies. Sadly, Canadians and First Nations people cannot deny awareness of the crisis involving missing and murdered aboriginal women, only a shameful lack of interest and action. Hundreds turned out this weekend to remember Tashina General, 21, whose body was discovered in April in a shallow grave on Six Nations, three months after the pregnant woman went missing. Her former boyfriend, Kent Owen Hill, has been charged with second-degree murder. The memorial walk was part of the Sisters in Spirit initiative by the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), which seeks to address "the impact of racialized, sexualized violence against Aboriginal women often leading to their disappearance and death." For three agonizing months, General was one of those missing women, though she did not fit the stereotype of the high-risk lifestyle connected with many of the disappearances, especially in Western Canada. It did, however, hit home with NWAC president Beverley Jacobs, a cousin of General's who spoke to those gathered this weekend. However, few can deny general awareness of the reality that native women in Canada face a higher risk of violence than the average Canadian woman. According to the 2004 General Social Survey, which documents self-reported information, aboriginal people were three times more likely to experience violence like assault, sexual assault and robbery. Violence against aboriginals was more likely to be committed by an acquaintance (56 per cent of the time), than violence against non-aboriginals (41 per cent), according to the same survey. Over the five years prior to the survey, 21 per cent of aboriginals reported physical or sexual violence by a spouse, compared to six per cent of non-aboriginals. The survey also noted a homicide rate from 1997 to 2000 that was seven times higher for aboriginals. If people can continue to ignore statistics as stark and obvious as these, maybe they will have a harder time dealing with the shame and sorrow of an individual tragedy like the death of Tashina General. http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1102683 NATIVE WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF CANADA http://www.nwac-hq.org/<div class="blogger-post-footer"><form Method="POST" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?AddNewUserDirect"> Enter your Email <input name="EMAIL" maxlength="255" type="text" size="30" value=""> <input name="FEEDID" type="hidden" value="96039"> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!"> Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></form></div>renegade98http://www.blogger.com/profile/13499287630161566388wayne.leng@gmail.com