US, Canada commemorate missing and murdered Indigenous women

US, Canada commemorate missing and murdered Indigenous women

Indigenous women and girls face disproportionate rates of violence in both countries and advocates say action is needed.


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Red dresses symbolise Indigenous women that have gone missing or been murdered in Canada and the US over the past decades [File: Amy Romer/Reuters]
By Al Jazeera Staff
Published On 5 May 20225 May 2022

Indigenous rights advocates in Canada and the United States have renewed longstanding calls for concrete action to stem disproportionate rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls in both countries. Thursday marks Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day in the US, while it is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), otherwise known as Red Dress Day, in Canada.

“The Federal Government has an obligation to ensure that cases of missing or murdered persons are met with swift and effective action,” US President Joe Biden said in a proclamation recognising the day. “My Administration is fully committed to investigating and resolving these cases through a coordinated law enforcement response, as well as intervention and prevention efforts. We are also dedicated to researching the underlying causes of this violence and to working with Native communities to address them,” Biden said.


Indigenous communities have sounded the alarm for years over the disproportionately high number of women, girls and two-spirit people who have been killed or disappeared in the US and Canada. Two-spirit is a term used by some Indigenous people to describe their gender and spiritual identity. Advocates also have denounced systemic inaction on the part of government and law enforcement agencies to address the issue. In 2014, the federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reported that nearly 1,200 Indigenous women had been murdered or gone missing in Canada between 1980 and 2012 – but advocates say the real number was likely much higher.

A National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2019 concluded that the violence “amounts to a race-based genocide of Indigenous Peoples” that especially targets women, girls and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community. “This genocide has been empowered by colonial structures … leading directly to the current increased rates of violence, death, and suicide in Indigenous populations,” it said. But Indigenous community advocates say too little has been done to address the problem.
“Almost three years after the National Inquiry into #MMIWG released their Final Report, we are still waiting on the concrete actions that must be taken outlined in the Calls for Justice,” Lynne Groulx, CEO of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), said on Twitter on Thursday.


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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/5/us-canada-commemorate-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women