Canada. Military Commander Charged for Murders of Two Women: Just the Tip of the Iceberg

Belleville is a small city in southern Ontario with a high rate of unemployment. Young women go to Belleville to sell their bodies just as women desperate for livelihood have done for centuries during hard times. It's the only way they see to survive. The market for prostitutes in Belleville is huge with the Trenton Air Base just 20 minutes away.
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When we first heard about 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd gone missing in Belleville (Canada), we suspected she was dead. We further speculated that it was a soldier at Trenton who killed her. Someone replied that we were just saying that cause we're so against the military. We objected that our speculation is not based on blanket hostility toward military people but on analysis and observation of the military mentality.

Belleville is a small city in southern Ontario with a high rate of unemployment. Young women go to Belleville to sell their bodies just as women desperate for livelihood have done for centuries during hard times. It's the only way they see to survive. The market for prostitutes in Belleville is huge with the Trenton Air Base just 20 minutes away.

Soldiers living away from home and family have "needs". They also have some income to pay for such luxuries and indulgences.

It doesn't stop there.

Soldiers are trained to develop a dehumanizing attitude and to have contempt for women who are viewed as weak and inferior. The military is a fertile breeding ground for a chauvinistic outlook that glorifies self and despises others. War is anti woman and anti life. It is dehumanizing to the soldiers themselves.

On February 9, 2010, the commander at Trenton, 46-year-old Russell Williams was arrested and charged for two murders, the missing Jessica Lloyd whose body was found at Tweed, north of Trenton and another 36 year old woman who herself was a soldier at Trenton. He was charged in two more cases of sexual assault involving home invasion. In the news coverage, Williams was not shown shamed and in shackles but chatting with Defence Minister Peter MacKay who himself looks like a perv. That's just our opinion but as eagle-eyed grandmothers we read people like open books. You can bet that Williams will get kid glove treatment by his peers.

How did this man think he could get away with such horrific antisocial behaviour? The simple fact is: rape, sexual assault and abuse of women by military men goes on all the time. It is only when women are reported missing and dead bodies start turning up that police and media become involved.

This case is just the tip of the iceberg. How many of Williams' subordinates admire him and emulate him? What kind of sexist and racist jokes do they constantly utter, endorsing this dehumanizing brutality toward women? What goes on at various parties and bars where alcohol brings out the beast?

Police themselves also feel they can act with impunity in committing crimes against women. Statistics indicate that both demographics of military and police commit more domestic violence than the average. While some foolish women find the uniform "romantic", those in uniform hide behind its authority. Who can a woman turn to for help under such circumstances?

Now, with more and more Canadian military people going to war theatres, this cynical and cruel mentality is becoming ever more widespread. It's the proverbial chickens coming home to roost.

These men are sick and unfit for normal society and family life. They consider themselves to be better than everyone else. The matter is hidden from public view yet it is a growing stinking cancer in society that cannot remain hidden.

There are solutions. It is extremely urgent that we speak out to stop the growing militarization of society. Too many people are not even paying attention. The expansion of the Trenton air base now underway, will double the military population there. What will it take for people to see what is happening? What magnitude of scale must be reached before people wake up?

Southern Ontario is on its way to becoming a militarized zone where only the military have jobs. Kingston, east of Trenton is an historical military city with another base and the same scenario of prostitution, strippers and careless young women being victimized.

We are NOT saying that Jessica Lloyd was a hooker. We don't know anything about her except that she is dead and someone is mourning her now.

The other long overdue solution is the legalization of the sex trade workers into safe houses. Known as the "oldest profession", prostitution is not going away, even in times of permissive sexual mores where favours are given away. Why not dignify the job and make it safer for the women and even the young men who choose this line of work?

Kingston is also the site of several prisons where Indigenous people are released to the streets with nowhere to go. Indigenous women under the double stigma of gender and race, are especially vulnerable and at risk. We have to take care of our own. We have to teach our daughters the truth about the dangers of careless sexual conduct. We must also teach our sons to respect women.
We need better opportunities for education and livelihood for our children.

The military life is not the answer.

The Eagle Watch

Comment on this article!





Bullcrap

By bill mac on February 11,2010
This the worst piece of shit I have ever laid eyes on. First off, Belleville is a beautiful town. For you even to insinuate that miss Lloyd was a prostitue is just disgusting. Any town has its problems, however, Belleville, is not lousy with prostitution, as you would like to have readers believe. My guess is you have never been to Belleville



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