Background – In June 2019, the Government of Canada’s Commissioners released their final report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which reveals that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual (2SLGBTQQIA) people. The two-volume report based on more than 2380 survivors of violence, family members of victims and survivors, and experts calls for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across the country. The Business and Professional Women of Canada are aware of the injustices against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA in Canada and support the truths within the report and the 231 individual calls for justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries, and all Canadians (Reclaiming Power and Place the Executive Summary, 2019).
As documented in the Final Report, testimony from thousands of survivors of violence and family members of victims and survivors demonstrated the surrounding context of multigenerational and intergenerational trauma as well as marginalization in the form of poverty, insecure housing or homelessness, and barriers to education, employment, healthcare and cultural support. Experts and Knowledge Keepers referenced specific colonial and patriarchal policies that displaced women from their traditional roles in communities and governance and diminished their status in society, leaving them vulnerable to violence (Reclaiming Power and Place the Executive Summary, 2019).
BPW Ontario policies are in alignment with the Commission’s recommendations addressing the systemic causes of all forms of violence against indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA. BPW Ontario has discussed these issues at many national meetings and made four resolutions that recognized the issues:
2010 – Reaffirmation of the Resolution on Funding for Sisters in Spirit Initiative of the Native Women’s Association of Canada; and resources (police personnel and funds) to find the missing and murdered women in Canada, and in particular the Aboriginal women as identified by the Sisters in Spirit in their research.
2014 – Resolution on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women: To adopt and implement the recommendations as outlined in the Amnesty International 2004 report: Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada: A Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns, and to engage the expertise of Native leaders and Native women’s organizations in order to establish effective mechanisms to combat violence against aboriginal women.
2015 – Resolution on Adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People: Adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples so that it can start integrating the rights of indigenous peoples into its agendas, policies, and programs at all levels.
2017 – Resolution on Violence Against Women: Violence Against Indigenous Women: to support and give Royal Assent to Bill S-215, and to prepare a study for public release on the effects of Bill S-215 and whether there is a decrease in violent crimes against Aboriginal women.
