Ottawa releases action plan to fight the scourge of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

Thestar.com
June 4, 2021
Tonda MacCharles and Stephanie Levitz

A long-delayed action plan to address the scourge of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls pledges to reopen unsolved cases, create a nationwide emergency phone number, more housing and shelters, and more healing programs for victims and their families, along with training, data collection and justice reforms.

The federal government’s response to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was released Thursday in a week where the country was already shaken by the brutal legacy of the residential school system -- and the realization that thousands of Indigenous children effectively disappeared from the schools without a trace -- following the discovery of 215 bodies in unmarked graves at the site of a former school in Kamloops, B.C.

Finding burial sites like those across the country formed part of the calls to action issued by the landmark Truth and Reconciliation Commission six years ago, and the confirmation that hundreds of children went missing in Kamloops spurred renewed focus on why the Liberals haven’t done more to truly fulfil those original recommendations and other calls for change.

So even as the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared at a virtual event to launch the plan for women and girls, calling it “a step forward together to make the transformative change necessary to end this national tragedy,” three Indigenous leaders were challenging his government’s claim on how far or fast it is moving to make real change possible.

Appearing at an “emergency” sitting of a parliamentary committee, retired senator and judge Murray Sinclair, who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said documents that are key to finding unmarked graves are still being withheld, very few healing resource programs are funded and available to survivors of the residential schools, and an RCMP investigation that was launched into the Kamloops burial site is already proceeding in a “typical heavy handed and ham-handed police way.”

“They are simply intimidating people rather than helping them,” said Sinclair, adding he told one of the key grave researchers to get independent legal advice on dealing with the RCMP.

Sinclair called for an independent investigation of the broader question of unmarked burial sites across the country, and demanded it not be conducted under the auspices of the federal government.

“It should be overseen by a parliamentary committee that will ensure that it is done in a proper way, as opposed to having anyone within the Justice Department or the Department of Indigenous Affairs controlling that process.”

Marie Wilson, Sinclair’s colleague on the TRC, said while she was grateful for the new sense of “urgency,” what is really needed is a “continued and sustained non-partisan response and prioritization of resources needed to do this work.”

The Liberal government insists it is charting an Indigenous-led path forward, including in its response to the separate inquiry that reported in 2019 on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Yet Marion Buller, the lead commissioner of that national inquiry, expressed frustration at the slow pace of action, pointing to the report’s lack of timelines and lack of budgeting.

Buller told CBC that Ottawa could have moved immediately two years ago to create offices like a deputy commissioner for Indigenous Corrections or a deputy corrections commissioner for Indigenous or an Indigenous Ombudsperson to oversee rights violations.

Others echoed that feeling of disappointment.

“As grateful as I am for being here today, I know I’m not alone in my frustration,” said Louisa Housty-Jones of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations women’s council, one of several organizations that participated in the unveiling of the report Thursday.

“We have not seen swifter implementations of the calls for justice. This is a national tragedy, genocide, an ongoing violation of our human rights as Indigenous people.”

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls concluded nearly two years ago with upwards of 200 calls to justice, and the plan released Thursday lays out numerous short- and long-term actions to fulfil them, work that will be done by the federal and provincial governments, as well as Indigenous communities, social service organizations and institutions.

But the pledges aren’t individually costed. Among them is a call for a guaranteed basic “livable” income, more housing, a 24-hour help line and more targeted support for victims.

The Liberals pledged $2.2 billion over five years to fulfil those goals and pointed as well to billions in other funding contained in previous or current budgets as other sources of financial support.

Assembly of First Nations national chief Perry Bellegarde said Trudeau’s pledge “is progress, but progress doesn’t mean parity.”

Bellegarde said Ottawa has still a lot to do to address “the intergenerational trauma of residential schools” and the “colonization and oppression of the Indian Act,” which saw Indigenous children swept from their communities into foster care and resulted in a youth suicide rate five to seven times the national average.

The MMIWG inquiry found that 16 per cent of all women murdered in Canada between 1980 and 2012 were Indigenous, even though they make up just four per cent of the female population.

The report says it seeks to end systemic racism and violence against “Indigenous women, girls, and two spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual persons.” The + is intended to represent its inclusive nature.

Carolyn Bennett, minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, called it an “evergreen document” that is intended to grow as the federal government works with survivors and provinces and territories, and one that can be used to measure progress.

The report says a key priority must be to recognize “Indigenous self-determination and inherent jurisdiction over child welfare, and support enhancements for child and family services” -- which the federal government been criticized for failing to do.

It also pledges a number of oversight bodies, such as “Indigenous Ombudsperson, Human Rights Tribunal, or civilian police oversight bodies” to represent the interests of families, survivors and communities by investigating and addressing complaints of “maladministration or violation of rights.”

And it sets out a range of justice measures, including the creation of a deputy commissioner for Indigenous Corrections, and better disaggregated data collection.

Beyond the funding, some of the government’s main promises also hinge on buy-in from the provinces and territories, including a pledge to review old case files, as many are under provincial or territorial jurisdiction.

The Yukon’s Jeanie McLean, the minister responsible for the women’s directorate, appeared at the event on behalf of all provinces and territories, and did not directly reference that promise.

McLean said she and other provincial leaders will work with Indigenous communities, governments and organizations, but also the broader Canadian public.

“As the provincial and territorial ministers, we commit to collaborating and encouraging all Canadians to be part of a future where Indigenous women, girls and two spirit LGBTQQIA+ people live free of violence and discrimination,” she said.

The action plan was released on the second anniversary of the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and a day after the sixth anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report.