National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls | |
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French: l’Enquête nationale sur les femmes et les filles autochtones disparues et assassinées | |
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Budget |
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Duration | September 1, 2016 – June 3, 2019 |
Website | http://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/ |
The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was a Canadian public inquiry from 2016 to 2019 that studied the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis. [1]
The study included reviews of law enforcement documents as well as community hearings and testimonies.
The final report of the inquiry concluded that the high level of violence directed at Indigenous women and girls in Canada (First Nations, Inuit, Métis or FNIM women and girls) is "caused by state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies." It also concluded that the crisis constituted an ongoing "race, identity and gender-based genocide."
At the beginning of the inquiry, the proceedings were called the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). By the time the report was published, the crisis was also being called Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR).
After the 2015 Canadian federal election, the Liberal Government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau upheld their campaign promise and announced the initiation of a national public inquiry on December 8, 2015. [2]
The inquiry was established as independent from the Government of Canada, and five commissioners were appointed to oversee the independent inquiry process: Marion Buller (chief commissioner), Michèle Audette, Qajaq Robinson, Marilyn Poitras, and Brian Eyolfson. [3]
From December 2015 through February 2016, the government held pre-inquiry meetings with a variety of people including families, front-line workers, representatives of the provinces and Indigenous organizations, in order to determine how to structure the inquiry.
The mandate and projected length of time of the inquiry were published on August 3, 2016. In addition to the inquiry's estimated cost of CA$53.8 million, the government announced $16.17 million over four years to create family information liaison units in each province and territory. [2]
In February 2017, the National Family Advisory Circle, which included family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls from across Canada, was formed to help guide the inquiry. [4]
An interim report was expected from the inquiry in November 2017. The initial conclusion date for the inquiry was set as December 31, 2018; however, on June 5, 2018, the federal government announced the extension of the National Inquiry by six months. [4] [5]
Statements for the inquiry were gathered from across Canada from May 2017 to December 2018. [4]
After a pre-formal public hearing (meant as a "truth-gathering" advisory meeting) in April 2017, complaints by observers began to arise about the inquiry's terms of reference, its composition and administration, and a perceived lack of transparency. [6]
Community hearings were the first part of the inquiry's "truth-gathering process" taking place from May 31, 2017, to April 8, 2018, in 15 locations across Canada. [4] Evidence was taken from 50 witnesses during the first hearings over three days in May 2017 at Whitehorse, Yukon. [6] [7]
In July 2017, the Assembly of First Nations asked the federal government to reset the inquiry, revisit its mandate, and extend its timeline to allow more data gathering. [8]
Throughout 2017, a number of key staffers left the inquiry. [9] [10] For instance, executive director Michèle Moreau announced in June that she would leave her position at the end of July. [11] Marilyn Poitras resigned as a commissioner in July as well, saying in her resignation letter to the Prime Minister: [12] [13]
It is clear to me that I am unable to perform my duties as a commissioner with the process designed in its current structure ... I believe this opportunity to engage community on the place and treatment of Indigenous women is extremely important and necessary. It is time for Canada to face this relationship and repair it.
On August 8, 2017, Waneek Horn-Miller, the inquiry's director of community relations, stepped down, [14] and on October 8 that year, CBC News reported that the Inquiry's lead lawyer and research director had also resigned. [15]
On November 1, 2017, the inquiry published its interim report, titled "Our Women and Girls are Sacred". In October 2018, the Inquiry announced the last of its public hearing dates, following which the commissioners would write a final report and submit recommendations to the Canadian government by April 30, 2019. [16]
Part | Period | Focus |
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1 | May 31, 2017 – April 8, 2018 | Community Hearings |
2a | August 2017 | Knowledge Keeper and Expert Hearing (Indigenous Law) |
2b | May–June 2018 | Knowledge Keeper and Expert Hearings (Human Rights; Racism), |
3 | May–June 2018 | Institutional Hearings (Government Services; Police Policies and Practices) |
4 | September–October 2018 | Hearings (Colonial Violence; Criminal Justice System, Family and Child Welfare; Sexual Exploitation) |
"Throughout this report, and as witnesses shared, we convey truths about state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies, built on the presumption of superiority, and utilized to maintain power and control over the land and the people by oppression and, in many cases, by eliminating them."
— Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, p. 54
The final report, entitled "Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls", which consists of volumes 1a [17] and 1b, [18] was released on June 3, 2019. In Volume 1a, Chief Commissioner of the Inquiry Marion Buller said that the high level of violence directed at FNIM women and girls is "caused by state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies." [19]
In preparation for the final report and to fulfill their mandate, the Commission held numerous gatherings and 24 hearings across Canada, collected statements from 750 people, held institutional visits in 8 correctional facilities, led four Guided Dialogues, and held 8 validation meetings. [17] : 4 In 15 community hearings, there were 468 family members and survivors of violence and, overall, 2,380 people participated. There were "147 private, or in-camera, sessions" where more than "270 family members and survivors shared their stories." There were 819 people whose creative artistic expressions "became part of the National Inquiry's Legacy Archive". The Inquiry also indicates that "84 Expert Witnesses, Elders and Knowledge Keepers, front-line workers, and officials provided testimony in nine Institutional and Expert and Knowledge Keeper Hearings." [17] : 49
The final report was altered without public notification after CBC identified certain factual errors. [20]
Families who gave testimonies to the National Inquiry expressed overwhelming concern that police investigations were "flawed" and that police services "had failed in their duty to properly investigate the crimes committed against them or their loved ones." In response, the Forensic Document Review Project (FDRP) was established to review "police and other related institutional files." [18] : 233 There were two FDRP teams: one for Quebec and one for the rest of Canada. The second team subpoenaed 28 police forces, issued 30 subpoenas, reviewed 35 reports, and obtained and analyzed 174 files consisting of 136,834 documents representing 593,921 pages. [18] : 233
The most significant findings identified by the FDRP were:
The final report issued 231 "Calls for Justice" to end violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The report stated that these recommendations were legal imperatives under international human rights law. The calls were directed variously at governments, institutions, industry, and all Canadians.
Section 2 ("Calls for Justice for All Governments: Culture") calls upon governments to: [18]
A number of the "Calls for Justice" relate specifically to children and youth.
Sections 12.5 to 12.10 of the "Call for Social Workers and Those Implicated in Child Welfare" introduce the themes of financial support, welfare services, access to their culture, and advocacy.
Section 15 calls for participation from all Canadians. Within the eight subsections, it establishes that these are actions that are taken by citizens and not the state. This includes places such as the home, the workplace, and the classroom. Some of the actions listed in Section 15 that can be carried out by Canadians include:
Chapter seven of The Final Report found that, "There is substantial evidence of a serious problem demonstrated in the correlation between resource extraction and violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Work camps, or 'man camps,' associated with the resource extraction industry are implicated in higher rates of violence against Indigenous women at the camps and in the neighbouring communities." The report also found that Indigenous women did not have equitable access to the economic benefits of resource extraction. [17]
"The truths shared in these National Inquiry hearings tell the story – or, more accurately, thousands of stories – of acts of genocide against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people."
— Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, p. 50
The National Inquiry commissioners said in the report and publicly that the MMIWG crisis is "a Canadian genocide." [22] [23] Moreover, the chief commissioner, Marion Buller, said there is an ongoing "deliberate, race, identity and gender-based genocide." [24]
The MMIWG inquiry report cited the work of Raphael Lemkin (1900–1959), who coined the term genocide and who considered colonization intrinsically genocidal. [25] [26] [27] [28] Lemkin had explained that genocide does not exclusively mean the "immediate destruction of a nation", but signifies "a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves." [29] [17] : 50–1
The MMIWG inquiry used a broader definition of genocide from the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act which encompasses "not only acts of commission, but 'omission' as well." [29] The inquiry described the traditional legal definition of genocide as "narrow" and based on the Holocaust. According to the inquiry, "colonial genocide does not conform with popular notions of genocide as a determinate, quantifiable event" and concluded that "these [genocidal] policies fluctuated in time and space, and in different incarnations, are still ongoing." [30]
A supplemental report of the "Canadian genocide of Indigenous Peoples according to the legal definition of 'genocide,' was announced in Reclaiming Power and Place by the National Inquiry because of its gravity. [17]
On June 3, 2019, Luis Almagro, secretary-general of Organization of American States (OAS), asked Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to support the creation of an independent probe into the MMIWG allegation of Canadian 'genocide' since Canada had previously supported "probes of atrocities in other countries" such as Nicaragua in 2018. [31] On June 4, in Vancouver, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that, "Earlier this morning, the national inquiry formally presented their final report, in which they found that the tragic violence that Indigenous women and girls have experienced amounts to genocide." [29]
On June 9, Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer attacked the use of the word genocide, saying, "I believe that the tragedy that has happened to this vulnerable section of our society is its own thing. I don't believe it falls into the category, to the definition of genocide." [32]
The Highway of Tears is a 719-kilometre (447 mi) corridor of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, Canada, which has been the location of crimes against many women, beginning in 1970 when the highway was completed. The phrase was coined during a vigil held in Terrace, British Columbia in 1998, by Florence Naziel, who was thinking of the victims' families crying over their loved ones. There are a disproportionately high number of Indigenous women on the list of victims, hence the association with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.
The Native Women's Association of Canada is a national Indigenous organization representing the political voice of Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people in Canada, inclusive of First Nations on and off reserve, status and non-status, disenfranchised, Métis, and Inuit. An aggregate of Indigenous women's organizations from across the country, NWAC was founded on the collective goal to enhance, promote, and foster the social, economic, cultural and political well-being of Indigenous women within their respective communities and Canadian societies.
The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry was a commission in British Columbia ordered by the Lieutenant Governor in Council on September 27, 2010, to evaluate the response of law enforcement to reports of missing and murdered women. The commission concluded its Inquiry in December 2012, and outlined 63 recommendations to the Provincial government and relevant law enforcement. The Inquiry itself received criticism from various civil society group and Indigenous communities, regarding its investigative structure, as well as, the lack of government action after the Inquiry to fulfill its recommendations.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
Native American feminism or Native feminism is, at its root, understanding how gender plays an important role in indigenous communities both historically and in modern-day. As well, Native American feminism deconstructs the racial and broader stereotypes of indigenous peoples, gender, sexuality, while also focusing on decolonization and breaking down the patriarchy and pro-capitalist ideology. As a branch of the broader Indigenous feminism, it similarly prioritizes decolonization, indigenous sovereignty, and the empowerment of indigenous women and girls in the context of Native American and First Nations cultural values and priorities, rather than white, mainstream ones. A central and urgent issue for Native feminists is the Missing and murdered Indigenous women crisis.
#AmINext is a social media campaign launched on September 5, 2014, by Inuit Canadian Holly Jarrett, to call attention to the high rate of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. It was one of many awareness campaigns initiated by activists since 2000.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are instances of violence against Indigenous women in Canada and the United States, notably those in the First Nations in Canada and Native American communities, but also amongst other Indigenous peoples such as in Australia and New Zealand, and the grassroots movement to raise awareness of MMIW through organizing marches; building databases of the missing; holding local community, city council, and tribal council meetings; and conducting domestic violence trainings and other informational sessions for police.
Tina Michelle Fontaine was a First Nations teenage girl who was reported missing and died in August 2014. Her case is considered among the high number of missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada, and her death renewed calls by activists for the government to conduct a national inquiry into the issue.
Michèle Taïna Audette is a Canadian politician and activist. She served as president of Femmes autochtones du Québec from 1998 to 2004 and again from 2010 to 2012. She was also the president of Native Women's Association of Canada from 2012 to 2014. From 2004 through 2008, she served as Associate Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Relations with Citizens and Immigration of the Quebec government, where she was in charge of the Secretariat for Women.
Marion R. Buller, is a First Nations jurist (retired), practising lawyer with Miller Titerle+Co. in British Columbia and current chancellor of the University of Victoria. Buller served as the Chief Commissioner for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls from 2016 to 2019.
Bridget Tolley is a Canada-based Algonquin community worker, activist for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), and the founder of the grassroots activist and support organization, Families of Sisters in Spirit (FSIS).
Robyn Bourgeois is a mixed-race Cree activist, academic, author, and educator. She currently resides in Haudenosaunee, Anishinabe, and Huron-Wendat territory in Canada.
Tanya Kappo (Cree) is an Indigenous rights activist. She is one of the four women who co-founded Idle No More and was briefly the manager of community relations for Canada's National Public Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Loretta Saunders was an Inuk woman who lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was a St. Mary's University criminology student writing an honors thesis on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada. Saunders was last seen on February 13, 2014. She was reported missing on February 17, and her body was found on February 26 near Salisbury, New Brunswick.
A red handprint, usually painted across the mouth, is a symbol that is used to indicate solidarity with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and girls in North America, in recognition of the fact that Native American women are up to 10 times more likely to be murdered or sexually assaulted.
Birth alerts are a practice in Canada, in which a social or health care worker notifies the staff of a hospital if they have concerns for the safety of an expected child based on their parents' history. This can include past instances of poverty, domestic violence, drug usage, and history with child welfare. Birth alerts are typically issued without the parents' consent, and often result in apprehension and placement of the child into foster care after birth.
Red Dress Day, or Red Dress Campaign, is an annual event held by the REDress Project in memory of the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls across Canada. This event was originally held on May 5, 2010, and continues annually. The event is sometimes held on other dates throughout the year to coincide with other days of action, such as National Indigenous Peoples Day. Associated names with this event include National Day of Awareness For Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women And Girls. Red Dress Day is one of several campaigns started by activists to call attention to disproportionate rates of violence against Indigenous women.
Jaime Black is a Canadian Red River Métis multidisciplinary artist and activist of Anishinaabe and Finnish descent with family scrip signed in the community of St. Andrews, Manitoba. Jaime lives and works on her home territory near the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers.
Diem Saunders was an Inuk writer and activist from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, who advocated for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
The Canadian genocide of Indigenous peoples is the genocide and systematic destruction of the Indigenous inhabitants of Canada from colonization to the present day. Throughout the history of Canada, the Canadian government and its colonial predecessors have been accused of what has variously been described as atrocities, crimes, ethnocide, and genocide, against the Indigenous peoples in Canada.
2SLGBTQIA+ refers to "Two-Spirited, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Asexual & Aromantic, Intersex, and beyond (2SLGBTQIA+) Community".
In a footnote, he added that genocide could equally be termed 'ethnocide', with the Greek ethno meaning 'nation'.
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