MMIW&G, Five Years On

                                                                       MMIWG2S artwork -- Connor Sarazin

 This is the fifth anniversary of the release of the report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls with its 231 recommendations. It is sobering that on this anniversary a trial is unfolding in Manitoba for a man who admits to the murders of four Indigenous women and disposing of their bodies in two landfills. And just a few days ago murderer Robert Pickton died. He killed more than 40 women, a number of them Indigenous. 

The United Church of Canada was supportive of this process as part of the denomination's commitment to reconciliation from 2016 until the release of the report in 2019 and beyond, including a call to search those landfills. Here is a portion of the news release by the United Church and then Moderator Richard Bott in 2019. 

Highlights of the Final Report

The final report focuses on the fundamental human rights of Indigenous women and girls. That the report is even available is because of the courage of families and survivors. Many Indigenous families, advocates, and allies spent years raising awareness for this to become a reality. We all have a role in ensuring that the Calls for Justice are implemented.

The final report finds genocide. The use of genocide in the report was the result of thousands of people submitting their testimony, as well as the Commissioners conducting their own legal research and analysis. The Commissioners created a supplementary report(opens in a new tab)  that explains why this finding is appropriate. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report also found cultural genocide.

We need to move forward with a comprehensive and coordinated National Action Plan led by Indigenous women and girls to make fundamental changes to Canada’s laws, policies, and practices that will end the genocide. The lives of Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people are still at risk. We must urgently implement a National Action Plan that involves federal, provincial, municipal, and Indigenous governments for this to work. The plan must be implemented within a human rights framework to ensure that the rights of Indigenous women and girls are upheld and respected.

“We call upon federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous governments, in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, to develop and implement a National Action Plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as recommended in our Interim Report and in support of existing recommendations by other bodies of inquiry and other reports. As part of the National Action Plan, we call upon all governments to ensure that equitable access to basic rights such as employment, housing, education, safety, and health care is recognized as a fundamental means of protecting Indigenous and human rights, resourced and supported as rights-based programs founded on substantive equality. All programs must be no-barrier, and must apply regardless of Status or location.”
—Call for Justice 1.1 to governments, excerpted from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Final Report: Call for Justice

 Let us honour the truth together and be part of the change needed to create a new reality where Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people are safe and live in dignity. Let this be the last inquiry.

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