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, girls, LGBTQ and two-spirit people.

• The National Inquiry has recognized that commemoration is an important 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 the development of a National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.
 

Indigenous women account for 16% of all murdered Women between 1980 and 2014 despite making up only 4% of women. In 2018, the homicide rate for Indigenous women was nearly seven times higher than that of 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: establish a MMIWG Commemoration Fund of $10M through the Department for Women and Gender Equality; increasing health supports and victim services; and 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, 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, LGBTQ and two-spirit people. The Minister for Women and Gender Equality has been mandated to support the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations to continue to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Calls for Justice in partnership with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples.

None