Question Period Note: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, And Two-Spirit LGBTQQIA+ Peoples

What action is WAGE taking to address the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit (2S) LGBTQQIA+ people?

• Violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual (2SLGBTQQIA+) people in Canada is an ongoing national tragedy.

• In 2021, Indigenous women and girls accounted for about 5% of all women and girls in Canada, yet represented 23% of female victims of homicide. That means homicide rates are five times higher for Indigenous women and girls than non-Indigenous women and girls.

• The Government of Canada is continuing its efforts to help end this tragedy.

• In June 2021, the 2021 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan (MMWIG2S+ National Action Plan) was released.

• WAGE is a key partner in implementing the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, the Government of Canada’s contribution to the MMIWG2S+ National Action Plan.

• Budget 2021 provided WAGE with $55M over 5 years to bolster the capacity of Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ organizations to provide gender-based violence prevention programming aimed at addressing the root causes of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

• In January 2022, WAGE launched a call for proposals, which closed in March 2022; final selection and implementation of successful projects is anticipated in fall 2022.

Investment

• Since 2015, the Department has funded over 360 projects, providing approximately $152.8M to projects supporting Indigenous and Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and additional sexually and gender diverse people (2SLGBTQQIA+) communities representing 31% of all WAGE investments (data excludes COVID funding).

• In 2019, WAGE provided $13M to more than 100 commemoration projects to help honour the lives and legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.
• Budget 2021 provided $55M to WAGE over 5 years to bolster the capacity of Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ organizations to provide gender-based violence prevention programming aimed at addressing the root causes of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.

Results

• A WAGE Call for Proposals to implement the Budget 2021 investment of $55M over 5 years to bolster the capacity of Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ organizations to provide gender-based violence prevention programming closed in March 2022. Announcement and beginning of implementation of successful projects is anticipated in fall 2022. This initiative is a key deliverable under the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People.

Project examples

• The following are examples of other WAGE funded projects that address the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people:

Native Women’s Association of Canada: Developing Evidence-Based Training to Service Providers, Supporting LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit Indigenous Survivors of Gender-based Violence ($1M ended March 31, 2022)
o The project developed and tested training for service providers supporting LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit survivors of gender-based violence. Planned activities were completed and expected results achieved. The questionnaire, gatherings and training were distributed and held as planned.
o Training was delivered to over 50 service providers who indicated, through surveys, that they have “increased knowledge of Indigenous healing and resilience practices, and are better able to provide culturally safe and trauma-informed care and services to Indigenous 2SLGBTQI+ folks with lived experience of GBV” and “a better understanding of concepts such as cultural safety, decolonization and Two Spirit has resulted in an increased ability to provide safe spaces”.

Liard Aboriginal Women's Society (LAWS): Following Our Peoples Way: Building a Circle of Dignity and Justice ($1M ends June 19, 2024)
o This 60-month project will develop, implement and test a community-based and culturally-relevant advocacy model based on response-based practice to support, respond and restore dignity and safety of Indigenous GBV survivors in northern and remote Kaska communities in Yukon and Northern British Columbia.
o The organization will engage GBV survivor advocates to raise awareness on related issues in their communities and offer peer support and referrals to other GBV survivors in order to improve their access to appropriate response and support services.

Eagle Vision Inc.: Taken: The Podcast Series ($459,403, ended June 30, 2020)
o Developed a series of podcasts called “TAKEN”, which shares the stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, with the hope that it will bring forward new clues to help solve cases and raise awareness of the issues. The podcasts reached over 609,000 Canadians, who listened to the podcasts over 1.4 million times. The podcast, available in both Cree and English, has over 10 thousand subscribers.

Human trafficking-related projects:
Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC): Kewabadjmin: SEEing Ourselves ($400K ends March 31, 2024)
o This 36-month project with Native Women’s Association of Canada will develop, implement and test an intensive healing and empowering program intervention for Indigenous women and gender diverse people who identify as 2SLGBTQQIA+ and who are survivors of or at risk of sexual exploitation through human trafficking.
o The project will increase knowledge about identifying and addressing past and ongoing traumas, current risk factors of being trafficked, and barriers to self-sufficiency. This will be achieved by engaging survivors, Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Holders with experience in traditional healing and trauma to participate in a Living Experience Advisory Circle, developing and implementing a trauma healing program based on therapy and traditional healing, and identifying and addressing current risks factors for sexual exploitation through human trafficking.

Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of British Columbia: An Indigenous-Led Response to End Human Trafficking in British Columbia ($315,768, ends March 31, 2024)
o This 37-month project with Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of British Columbia will develop and implement Indigenous-led, community-based, culturally-rooted anti-human trafficking approaches, practices and materials to advance knowledge and enhance empowerment supports for at-risk Indigenous populations and survivors of human trafficking throughout British Columbia.
o This will be achieved by establishing Indigenous lived-experience youth panel, identifying high risk communities, engaging communities, organizing consultations and trainings, as well as developing materials to be used by anti-human trafficking service providers in Indigenous communities.
o At the end of the project, the organization will have engaged the communities, utilized Indigenous community-led approaches, conducted consultations to identify needs and solutions for building protection and prevention, determined further support, and developed anti-human trafficking materials for Indigenous communities. The project will include an external evaluation that will look at the success and scalability of the promising practices.

BACKGROUND:

• In June 2021, the 2021 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan (MMIWG2S+ National Action Plan) and the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People (Federal Pathway) were released.

• They were developed in close partnership with families and survivors, Indigenous partners, civil society, frontline service providers, municipalities, the private sector, and researchers. Experience and knowledge shared by Indigenous leaders, partners, and communities through that process have also informed WAGE's work on the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.

• The Federal addresses four interconnected thematic areas: culture, health and wellness, human safety and security, and justice and is the Government of Canada’s commitment through the MMIWG2S+ National Action Plan. The First Annual Progress Report for the Federal Pathway was released on June 3, 2022, to demonstrate progress on implementation.

• The Federal Pathway's Human Safety and Security theme includes initiatives to support safe communities during resource extraction projects, such as co-developing activities aimed at mitigating impacts of temporary work camps and worker influxes, exploring ways to improve the collection and analysis of gender-disaggregated data to develop targeted measures in support of safe resource worksites and communities, and supporting community-led planning through the Aboriginal Safety Planning initiative (Public Safety lead).

• Both the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence and the 2021 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan will require coordinated and collaborative actions from several jurisdictions. WAGE is working with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada to ensure the two national action plans are aligned and complementary.

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