Another Dark Side of the Oil and Gas Industry: Sexual Violence Against Indigenous Women

[This post contains content relating to sexual violence. Please be conscious about this content warning before reading!]

This week, thousands of people are converging in Minnesota for the Treaty People Gathering. This gathering is a non-violent protest against the construction of the Line 3 pipeline, a tar sands pipeline owned by the Canadian oil company Enbridge. If completed, the pipeline would run from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin – straight through Anishinaabe land.

It is no secret that there are a host of environmental and environmental health consequences caused by the construction and maintenance of pipelines. These consequences are especially heeded by Indigenous communities. But a severe problem that gets less attention is the sexual violence Indigenous women face as a result of pipeline construction.

Violence against Indigenous Women

American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.5 times as likely to experience violent crimes – and at least 2 times more likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes – compared to all other races  (Perry 2004) . A majority of this violence against both Indigenous men and women is committed by non-Native offenders (National Institute of Justice, 2016). 

Due to the inadequate recording, these number are likely an undercount. Of the 5700 cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) reported in 2016, only 116 were logged in the Department of Justice database. The disparities between the amount of cases reported and the number of cases investigated is another account of this country’s failure to protect Indigenous communities.

Man Camps and Pipeline Construction

Man Camps house transient workers that are working on a pipeline. Hundreds to thousands of workers stay at these camps during pipeline construction.

The non-native composition of these man camps is significant. Federal laws make it difficult to prosecute non-Native offenders when they are on Native land. 

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s Environmental Impact Statement of  Line 3 even says “the addition of a temporary, cash-rich workforce increases the likelihood that sex trafficking or sexual abuse will occur. Additionally, rural areas often do not have the resources necessary to detect and prevent these activities.” 

There is a strong connection between extractive industries and human trafficking– both labor and sex. Areas where extraction activities occur are typically quite remote which provides a unique opportunity for traffickers or johns (buyers of sex) to operate with impunity. 

Two Line 3 workers have already been indicted in a sex-trafficking sting and a local crisis center has already received more than 40 allegations of assault from Indigenous women (The Guardian). 

Stop Line 3 - How You Can Help

We need to not only recognize the holistic impacts of pipeline construction and the extractive industries at large, but also take action to support grassroots activists working on-the-ground to prevent the systematic exploitation of land and people.

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