Question Period Note: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

How is the Government of Canada working to prevent and address Gender-based violence including responding to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls?

*The Government of Canada is working to end the ongoing tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

*The National Inquiry has recognized the importance of commemoration as a part of healing. In response, the Government of Canada established a $10M Commemoration Fund, to honour the lives and legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

*The Government of Canada committed to developing a National Action Plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls, LGBTQ and two-spirit people.

*Canada also committed to ensuring the perspectives of Indigenous women, LGBTQ and two-spirit people, family members, and survivors are included in our response.

Indigenous women account for 16% of all murdered females between 1980 and 2012 despite making up only 4% of the female population. In 2015, the homicide rate for Indigenous women was nearly six times higher than that for non-Indigenous women.

In June 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released 94 Calls to Action. In response to #41, the Government of Canada launched the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in 2016, with the mandate to inquire into and report on the underlying causes and systemic issues that contribute to the high levels of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

In June 2018, the Government responded to the MMIWG Interim Report by investing nearly $50M to increase health supports and victim services, establishing an MMIWG Commemoration Fund of $10M through Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), initiating a review of police practices and a new national investigative standards and practices unit at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

On June 3, 2019, the National Inquiry released its Final Report which included 231 Calls for Justice to be taken by federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments, institutions, social service providers, industry, and all Canadians – calling for transformative legal and social changes. The Final Report further calls for the decolonizing of Canadian society and reinstating the power and place of Indigenous women, girls, and LGBTQ and two-spirit people by indigenizing structures, institutions, legislation, and policies.

The Government of Canada committed to bring forward a national action plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ and two-spirit people.

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