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Marleen Bird: Secondary Victim

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Marleen bird was a 50-year-old aboriginal woman from a northern reserve in Saskatchewan. Bird suffered from substance abuse issues and homelessness. In 2014 Bird was viciously attacked and set on fire in a parking lot in Prince Albert Saskatchewan. As a result of the attack Bird lost both of her legs and much of her eyesight (Canadian Press, 2017). Bird suffered from years of victimization due to the injuries she suffered from the attack, the constant news articles reporting on the attack and the subsequent trials. There were also many people who suffered from secondary victimization as well Bird suffered secondary victimization throughout the trail of her attacker. Victim Profile/Background Marlene Bird was born on the Montreal Lake Cree …show more content…

Bird was brutally sexually assaulted and then set on fire in a dark parking lot. She then woke up in a hospital in Edmonton, Alberta after having to be flown there due to the extent of her injuries (McCue, 2017). Bird woke up in a hospital have lost much of the vision in her eyes and woke up to realize that both of her legs had been amputated due to the severity of the burns. The impact of the assault committed against Bird lasted for years. She had to re-learn how to do many things in her life now without the use of her legs, and hardly any vision in her eyes (McCue, 2017). Not only was bird sexually assaulted, but she had the free will to do simple tasks like walking and doing basic human needs as a result of the attack. Bird woke up every single morning realizing the effects of the attack and the victimization that it caused her. Not only that, but the psychological trauma she would have suffered from because of the attack at the tasks she was no longer able to complete by herself (McCue, …show more content…

The public came roaring in to show their support for Bird. Raising her lot of money and even getting a motorized wheelchair donated for her to use (McCue, 2017). She also received lots of support from the community in ways of kind thoughts and showing of support for her (McCue, 2017). The problem was both Bird and Lavallee were basically homeless before the attack and there were no wheelchair friendly rental properties that either of them could afford so they ended up having to move to Timber Bay 124 kilometers north of Prince Albert (McCue, 2017). With that there was almost no access to support like rehabilitation, counselling or any other basic need Bird would need after being victimized in such a serious way. The root cause to the lack of support for her lies in the socio-economic issues that many first nations communities suffer from within

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