EDMONTON — The head of the RCMP says 70 per cent of aboriginal females killed in Canada — in cases solved by police — died at the hands of other aboriginals.
Commissioner Bob Paulson released the statistic in a letter obtained by The Canadian Press.
The letter is addressed to Chief Bernice Martial of Cold Lake First Nation in Alberta, who is also grand chief of Treaty No. 6.
She had asked Paulson to verify the number, questioning whether the figure, earlier released by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt, was accurate.
Paulson writes that most female homicides, across all races, are linked to family and spousal violence.
He says police focus their crime analysis and prevention efforts on the relationships between victims and offenders, not their race.
