Native Women Call Out Canadian Government for Inaction on Missing and Murdered Inquiry

Canada’s indigenous women are calling out the Canadian government for their lack of action on tackling the reported genocide of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. The report, released last year, concluded that the violence stems from colonialism, racism, and indifference from the Canadian government. 

The Native Women’s Association of Canada gave the government a failing grade on the one year anniversary of the release of the report on the violence against indigenous women and girls. The areas in which they criticized the government include culture, health, security, and the right to justice.

The government says the coronavirus pandemic has caused delays in a plan of action, but the President of NWAC Lorraine Whitman called that excuse a “double slap in the face” to the indigenous women who are living in fear from greater violence due to being isolated during the pandemic.

NWAC conducted an online survey that found 18% of indigenous women and 25% of Two Spirits reported experiencing violence within the past three months of the stay at home orders. 

In response to the report, the NWAC is requesting the government create a national task force with independent investigators to review unresolved files of missing and murdered women and girls, develop a national database of cases, appoint an independent mechanism to report to Parliament annually on the implementation of recommendations and establish a national campaign to prevent racism and sexualized stereotypes.

According to the 1,200-page report, indigenous women are 12 times more likely to die from violence or go missing than non-indigenous women.

For more on this story, go to CBC.com