I vaguely remember a study that was done roughly 7-10 years ago about missing/murdered First Nation women, but I can't find the report. Searches repeatedly bring up more recent requests for another study. My understanding is that there are several reasons that First Nation women are victimized, some of which are high risk lifestyle, and community/family violence. In a country like Canada, which is a mosaic of global nationalities and races, it's difficult to believe that murderers specifically seek out First Nation (race Asian;
link) women. There are so many women of other nationalities that could easily be confused - in terms of physical characteristics - as First Nation, and there are so many First Nation women who are only 1/8 North American Indian; who do not have physical characteristics that easily communicate race. How can it be said that a murderer can easily identify and specifically target First Nation women when they are not, in my opinion, an easily identifiable group? There has to be another reason that the ratio of First Nation women who are murdered/missing is 2.5 times higher than women of all other race and nationality.
What I'm wondering at this time is not whether First Nation women are specifically targeted (which doesn't really make sense), but whether the response to a missing/murdered First Nation woman is handled differently by investigators. Too often, police reports are made too late, if at all - as we saw with the murder of Victoria Crowshoe. Victoria was not reported missing. Instead, two days after her body was found and more than two weeks after she was last seen, the family provided her name to police. That unintentionally, and incorrectly, communicates that family and friends don't really care enough about the person to notice that something is wrong.
Do police look at her murder as most likely committed by someone she knew - perhaps a result of alcohol abuse and high risk lifestyle, or do they take a broader perspective and question whether a serial murderer is at work targeting vulnerable women? If the latter, that requires the belief that more First Nation women, than non-First Nation women, have a lifestyle that makes them more vulnerable (like the pig farmer who targeted prostitutes because they were vulnerable and not likely to be noticed missing for some time).
I think the Canadian government has recognized that the problem is a social/societal problem, and that change must begin from within the First Nation community. Many programs and studies have been financed (billions of dollars) by the Canadian government to create change from within. I can understand the government's position in stating that another study will not produce a different result. That is, another study will most likely produce the same result: that the problems start in the First Nation Community and the solution has to start in the First Nation community.
Getting back to the topic of the murder of Victoria Crowshoe, if her murder was committed by someone from the First Nation community, it will probably remain unsolved for a long time. Another known factor is that First Nation communities do not trust police, so when one of their community is murdered, no one wants to provide information. If Victoria was murdered by a random murderer, then I would hope that those who were last with her have provided a full accounting of where she was, who she was with, and that they are able to look past their distrust of police to ensure that a serial murderer is not allowed to continue victimizing vulnerable women.