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MMIWG Final Report

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Reclaiming Power and Place

The National Inquiry's Final Report 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 2SLGBTQQIA people. The two volume report calls for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across the country.
The Final Report is comprised of the truths of more than 2,380 family members, survivors of violence, experts and Knowledge Keepers shared over two years of cross-country public hearings and evidence gathering. It delivers 231 individual Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians.
As documented in the Final Report, testimony from family members and survivors of violence spoke about a surrounding context marked by multigenerational and intergenerational trauma and marginalization in the form of poverty, insecure housing or homelessness and barriers to education, employment, health care and cultural support. Experts and Knowledge Keepers spoke to 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.

Supplementary report: Quebec

The National Inquiry is simultaneously releasing a report specific to Quebec in order to give particular attention to the issue of violence against Indigenous women and girls in that province. The report outlines specific issues such as language barriers, health and social services provide by religious congregations and interaction with Indigenous and provincial police forces.

Download PDF

Section 1 of the report, made up of Chapters 1-4, sets up the overall context that will be helpful for readers in approaching the information presented in the later sections of the report. In Section 1, we talk about the role of relationships, human and Indigenous rights, the history of colonization, and how each of these contexts can inform our understanding of the issue of violence against First Nations, Inuit, and Métis women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
Chapter 1: Centring Relationships to End Violence
Chapter 2: Indigenous Recognitions of Power and Place
Chapter 3: Emphasizing Accountability through Human Rights Tools
Chapter 4: Colonization as Gendered Oppression

Overwhelmingly, the families who testified before the National Inquiry were seeking answers to perceived flaws in the investigations into the loss of their loved ones.

They discussed many ways in which they felt that police services had failed in their duty to properly investigate the crimes committed against them or their loved ones, leading ultimately to a failure to obtain closure and justice within the existing system. In response, the National Inquiry established the Forensic Document Review Project (FDRP), consisting of two teams conducting a review of police and other related institutional files. One team examined files of the Province of Quebec; the second group examined police files in all other provinces and territories throughout the rest of Canada. In this summary, when we refer to the FDRP, we are referring specifically to this second group. Information and recommendations of the Quebec FDRP are located in the Supplementary Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls devoted to Quebec. The purpose of the FDRP was to identify potential systemic barriers or problems and areas of weakness relating to the protection of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and to make recommendations to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls about the systemic causes of their disappearances and deaths.

During the course of the project, the Forensic Document Review Project (FDRP), which was tasked with examining files outside of Quebec, obtained and reviewed 174 files and 35 previous reports and studies on policing related to Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and analyzed publicly available information related to those files.

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The National Inquiry's Final Report 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 2SLGBTQQIA people. The two volume report calls for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across the country.

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This link will take you directly to the calls to justice

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United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

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United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

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Native Women's Association of Canada Fact Sheet on MMIWG

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Native Women's Association of Canada Fact Sheet on MMIWG

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Alberta has the second highest number of missing indigenous women and girls in Turtle Island

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MMIWG2S Infographic to help guide conversation

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MMIWG2S Infographic to help guide conversation

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Section 15.4 and Section 15.5 of MMIWG2S Calls to Justice, ask us all to find one person in our life who we can share information and conversation about MMIWG

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Our Sisters In Spirit (MMIWG Documentary)

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There are two sets of sirens. One siren, sharp and constant, is punctuated by the other, which is harsh and honking and sounds like goose calls. It's an ambulance and a fire truck, probably police. It sounds like danger. I'm listening from a hotel window, looking down from the 17th floor onto the dark, cold, desolate streets of downtown Winnipeg, and wondering how the people whose job it is to sound those sirens could have so totally failed 15-year-old Tina Fontaine. By the time her 72-pound body was pulled from the Red River five years ago, wrapped in a duvet and weighed down by rocks, the Anishinaabe girl had been dead for days. There was no need for sirens by that point, because the danger had already passed for Tina-or rather, it had been allowed to pass. The police officers, social workers, nurses and doctors who had interacted with her in her last days hadn't made a peep.

Tina's fate is disturbingly normal for Indigenous people in Canada, especially women, girls and Two-Spirit people. We are told that schools, hospitals, social services and police are there to help us, so we ask for their help. Instead of help, we're often met with indifference at best, outright hostility and racism at worst.

Ultimately, callousness and violence are two sides of the same genocidal coin. Both are why Tina is gone. Both are why I can't forget her, more than five years later.

Last June, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) released its final report, after nearly three years of research, hearings and community consultations. Titled Reclaiming Power and Place, it was over 1,000 pages long and covered topics including health, culture and justice. The report argued that the "process of colonization has, in fact, created the conditions for the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people" (the latter an acronym encompassing people marginalized because of their sexuality or gender). It ended with 231 recommendations. The most important was to create and implement a national action plan across all levels of government. Others ranged from the need for a universal basic income to calls to assess-and address-the relationship between resource extraction and gendered violence.

Unfortunately, many Canadian news outlets ignored the majority of the report and instead chose to focus on the use of one word: genocide. Debate swirled around whether the historical and ongoing culture of death facing Indigenous women and girls really constituted genocide, as the inquiry commissioners argued. Legacy media, including the National Post, Toronto Star and Toronto Sun, were quick to disagree, rapidly publishing columns and editorials that avoided the report's actual legal arguments.

Just the month before, the Canadian Journal of Economics had published a study on the mortality rates of Status First Nations people (those legally identified as "Indian" under the Indian Act). It found that Status Indian women and girls between the ages of 10 and 44 have mortality rates that are three to four times higher than those of females in the general population. Status girls aged 15 to 19 are five times more likely to die than non-Status Canadians.

Reclaiming Power and Place was full of similar statistics. It cited 100 other reports, from other inquiries-Manitoba's 1991 Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to name just three. Inquiry members wrote that they couldn't calculate the number of Indigenous women and girls who have been killed or gone missing since 1980, but estimated it was more than 1,181, the oft-cited number from a 2014 RCMP report. The three Indigenous women and one Indigenous man who wrote Reclaiming Power and Place built on decades of research and evidence to outline exactly what genocide means in the Indigenous context in Canada.

The mainstream response to this painstaking work was to paint the authors as overreacting.

The backlash against the report played out in my own life. I was writing regularly for the Globe and Mail then, which published an editorial outright dismissing the claim of genocide (it called the idea "absurd"). The editorial came out three days after the report, suggesting that the writer was so eager to refute it that they couldn't waste time actually reading all of it. The editorial ran without a byline, which I understood as meaning that it was the official position of the paper.

I read the whole report: It took me five more-or-less full workdays, and it was hard. The numbers in such reports aren't just statistics to me. They're a reminder of a reality that, as a Haudenosaunee woman whose family is from Six Nations of the Grand River territory, I struggle to forget so that I can function day to day. But when you're trying to convince people you're human-that what happened to your people and is still happening to your people is, in fact, genocide-you can't afford to forget these sorts of statistics.

My attempt at this convincing is through my writing. And as a writer, I've always believed that good writing and strong logic could change people's hearts. I've employed Aristotle's modes of persuasion-logos, ethos and pathos-in all my pieces, trying to stress to non-Indigenous Canadians how traumatic it is to move through the world bombarded by constant evidence that the nation you live in wants you dead. I've tried to expose how many modern injustices are just continuations of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and other policies and practices Canadians today apologize for, insisting they would never let them happen again. I've thrown all the evidence I can at readers, hoping and hoping that if I spill enough blood, it would convince Canadians that I was human, too.

I did all of this in the pages of the Globe and Mail. And the editors I worked with directly saw great value in my work. But that unbylined editorial suggested that the editors in charge of the paper saw very little value in me as a person. Despite the serious financial consequences, I decided to stop writing for the Globe that day.

I thought of asking who exactly had written the editorial, asking how they could publish something so careless. But it felt like there was no point. The best statistics, historical information and research I could use to refute the editorial were in the report itself. If the writer had, indeed, read the full thing and still come to the conclusion that Canada's treatment of Indigenous women absolutely could not constitute genocide, there was no way to compromise. To my mind, my disagreement with the Globe comes down to the fact that while they appeared to have found a way to monetize my thoughts as an Indigenous woman, they couldn't figure out how to monetize my humanity. So they reverted to a tried-and-true Canadian practice: monetizing Indigenous women's dehumanization and disregard.

How can you meet in the middle with people who seem incapable of listening? Who believe Canada is inherently good, have built their lives around that belief and refuse to see how a "good" country might also be carrying out something as awful and unforgivable as genocide? You can't. So I didn't. I left.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights opened in Winnipeg in 2014. Initially, the museum stated that it would not use the term genocide when referring to state crimes against Indigenous people in this country-except when discussing our peoples' attempts to "gain recognition of these violations as genocide." Instead, former president and CEO Stuart Murray said in 2013, it would present historical facts to visitors to "help them reach their own conclusions." That decision was reversed last year, thankfully. On my visit to Winnipeg a few months ago, I thought maybe I'd stop by. Then a friend told me the museum was built right on The Forks, where the Assiniboine River meets the Red River, the river where Tina's body was found. I knew immediately I didn't want to go. I thought about how long Tina had been down there, whether the river held her little body reverently, like a dropped pearl, or whether that idea was me projecting my emotions onto the environment.

I've felt shifts in what I can only describe as energy in certain spaces. The last time was touring the grounds of the former Mohawk Institute, Canada's oldest residential school, in Brantford, Ont., where I live. As soon as I stepped inside the boiler room in the basement, my chest became heavy, as though someone were standing on it. Breathing suddenly felt like a herculean task. The Mohawk Institute survivor who was giving the tour told us that many, many children were abused there. The teachers used the sound of the boilers to cover their screams. I felt light-headed and left the room.

I know it's irrational-more precisely, I know others want me to think it's irrational-but I feel the Red River, like that boiler room, holds spiritual and emotional traces of the violence that took Tina and so many others. If I looked at that river, if I smelled it, I was sure I'd get sick. Best to not look. Best to pretend everything was fine, like the rest of Canada has done for centuries.

But I don't have that luxury. The reality of that basement, that school, that state-sponsored violence, has filtered through generations in my community. Everything is not fine, and I see that in the faces of my friends and family. I feel it working its way through my brain, convincing me that I'm worthless, or better off dead, or both.

I hear it in the words of the white people around me. One day, at that hotel in Winnipeg, I was waiting for an elevator alongside three white men. An Indigenous man came up to ask them if he could bum a smoke. They looked at one another with expressions of shared understanding, and then said no. The man left, the elevator arrived and my body tensed as I waited for what I knew was coming.

"I definitely wasn't going to give that guy a cigarette."

"Oh, no way."

"You know what would be funny? If someone soaked a cigarette in gasoline, gave it to one of those guys and watched what happened."

I quickly processed what this sentence meant. First, this white man was pretending that he didn't know what would happen if someone lit a cigarette soaked in gasoline. Second, this white man thought that possibly killing "one of those guys"-presumably an Indigenous man-would be "funny." Third, this white man thought that possibly killing an Indigenous man would be funny if "someone" did it, but very strategically did not say who. Fourth, and perhaps most telling, this white man thought that, because I have white skin, he could say this in front of me with no ramifications, expecting that any white woman would appreciate a joke about killing Indians.

I turned, disgust plain on my face as I surveyed all three white men, and said the only words I could think of at the time: "That's so messed up." Then I walked away.

Back in my room, my body shook for over an hour, scared for my brown and Black Indigenous kin, who cannot hide who they are and always pay for their visibility. Even in one of the most Indigenous cities in Canada, it isn't safe. In Canada, for Indigenous people, it's almost never safe.

The Liberal government has yet to meaningfully respond to Reclaiming Power and Place. By December, Carolyn Bennett, minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, had only promised to have a national action plan in place by June 2020. In mid-May, the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) put out a press release, stating that it had learned that the plan wouldn't be ready by June 3, and that it was "disappointed," as well as "frustrated that so little had been done over the past 12 months."

"There really isn't much to talk about because they haven't done much," the inquiry's chief commissioner, Marion Buller, told APTN.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian news was dominated by stories about the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs, and their objection to a natural gas pipeline proposed by Coastal GasLink. The company wants to build the pipeline through Wet'suwet'en territory out west, and has strategically used provincial courts to be able to do so. In February, an injunction against interfering with pipeline construction led to arrests of Wet'suwet'en people on their own territory, sparking months of solidarity actions, including rail-line blockades. As RCMP officers moved in, they walked past displays of red dresses meant to represent the land defenders' missing and murdered family and friends-a moment of heartbreaking, almost perverse symbolism.

Nine pages of Reclaiming Power and Place explore the relationship between the camps of largely male workers brought in for projects such as the Coastal GasLink pipeline and violence against Indigenous women. Using both first-person testimony and academic research data, it documents the high rates of sexual assault, harassment, sexually transmitted infections and addiction in and around what some call "man camps." Later, the recommendations aimed at resource development executives suggest that planning for such projects incorporate the potential impact on Indigenous women and girls.

The same consideration is asked of the governments that approve such projects. When and if the national action plan does come, I'll be noting whether or not Bennett, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister of Indigenous Services Marc Miller and their colleagues honestly address this issue.

Before Tina Fontaine was born, her mother was also a child in care. Three years before Tina was killed, her father also died tragically, but social services never provided the counselling her aunt requested. I sometimes think about what Tina's life would have been like if her family wasn't a textbook example of the trauma Canada visits on Indigenous families. I imagine a world where Tina's great-aunt Thelma Favel never had to testify against Raymond Cormier, the man accused of killing her, then see him declared innocent of all charges; a world where Tina realized her dream of becoming a social worker, and fundamentally changed the system that had so fundamentally affected her.

But that's not how it went. Among the endless reports documenting genocide is one from March 2019, about Tina's life and death. In it, Daphne Penrose, Manitoba's advocate for children and youth, revealed that Tina had asked for help from social services organizations multiple times in the weeks before she died, and at least once was told that there were no beds available. Homeless at 15, she went where she was told to go, asked who she was told to ask and was still left to fend for herself. Then she was killed.

It has been a year since the release of Reclaiming Power and Place. This was not the piece I wanted to write to commemorate it. I wanted to be positive, to emphasize how powerful Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people are and highlight their leadership despite nearly impossible odds.

But I don't want to pretend to be positive about their future when I'm not. I don't want to pretend to know how to convince people to care when I don't. I don't want to pretend that words are enough when we need actions, now.

I don't want you, dear reader, to read this, think it's sad, then move on with your life as though it's out of your hands. It isn't. After all, Tina's death is largely what sparked non-Indigenous support for a MMIWG inquiry in the first place, and that support is largely why the inquiry happened.

Every Valentine's Day since 1992, Indigenous women in Vancouver have organized a march to memorialize the lives of their murdered and missing daughters, sisters, relatives and friends. For years, police ignored their insistence that a serial killer was preying on women on the Downtown Eastside. That killer, Robert Pickton, wasn't arrested until 2002. He was convicted of six murders but has said he killed 49 women.

In 2005, NWAC initiated the Sisters in Spirit research project. Part of an ongoing effort to put a number to the problem, the goal was to create a database of missing women and girls. Funding was cut by the Harper government in 2010.

No one ever listens to Indigenous women when we advocate for ourselves. Then, at a 2014 press conference about Tina's death, homicide Sergeant John O'Donovan displayed obvious anger and grief. "She's a child," he said. "This is a child that's been murdered. . . . Society should be horrified." Spoken by a white man, those words seemed to finally break the spell. Non-Indigenous journalists began picking up the story; non-Indigenous Canadians started demanding action. Non-Indigenous Canadians' support turned the MMIWG inquiry from another ignored request into a Liberal election promise, and then a reality.

Right now it seems like the Canadian government will add Reclaiming Power and Place to the dozens of other inquiries and thousands of other recommendations that it has funded and then ignored. Imagine, though, if the energy that led to the inquiry was summoned to pressure politicians into actually implementing its recommendations. Imagine if non-Indigenous Canadians demanded action plans, timelines and regular updates-as well as answers about delays and failures.

It's a nice fantasy. But it could be real. It's what Tina deserves. We don't have to let her memory face the same indignity her person faced when she was alive.

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The MMIWG Report Took Three Years to Write. Canada Is Ignoring It.

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There are two sets of sirens. One siren, sharp and constant, is punctuated by the other, which is harsh and honking and sounds like goose calls. It's an ambulance and a fire truck, probably police. It sounds like danger.

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"The complex interplay of factors - many of which are part of the legacy of residential schools - needs to be examined, as does the lack of success of police forces in solving these crimes against Aboriginal women"

Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Final Report, December 2015

This MMIWG Information Hub on the KAIROS website is focused on providing information, resources and updates related to the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. The hope is to create a hub, where allies can come together to:

strengthen solidarity and support for victims and their families

be informed about the inquiry

learn about issues and concerns that have been raised by family members, federal, provincial and grassroots Indigenous groups

understand the history of the inquiry through a timeline

reach out to other groups working on this issues

find resources for advocacy and action

be inspired by the stories and testimonies of the courageous people involved in this work.

This section is a living document. It is by no means comprehensive or complete. We apologize if any information, news and voices have been missed. With that in mind, we invite your input and suggestions for other information, resources and groups to be included. If you have questions or input for the site, please contact MMIWG information hub at info@kairoscanada.org

We would like to acknowledge the work of Joanne Scofield who was integral to the creation of this info-hub.

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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls - KAIROS Canada

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"The complex interplay of factors - many of which are part of the legacy of residential schools - needs to be examined, as does the lack of success of police forces in solving these crimes against Aboriginal women" Truth and...

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The Truth Sharing Podcasts is a project inspired by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, that gives life to the truth and creates a living legacy of commemoration. This series of podcasts visited five Canadian communities to seek out and give voice to those who have experienced loss, examine the ways in which those affected are trying to heal, and shine a light on those trying to bring about positive change.⁣⁣(Original artwork by Monique Hurteau @moniquehurteau)⁣...Cette série de balados intitulée " Partage des vérités " est un projet émanant de l'Enquête nationale sur les femmes et les filles autochtones disparues et assassinées qui permet de donner vie à la vérité et de créer un héritage vibrant. L'équipe de production s'est rendue dans cinq communautés canadiennes afin de donner la parole aux personnes qui ont perdu un être cher, d'examiner les façons dont les elles se sont engagées sur le chemin de la guérison et de souligner les efforts de ceux et celles qui travaillent sans relâche pour faire changer les choses.(Oeuvre originale de Monique Hurteau @moniquehurteau)

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The Truth Sharing Podcasts (Partage des vérités)

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The Truth Sharing Podcasts is a project inspired by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, that gives life to the truth and creates a living legacy of commemoration. This series of podcasts visited five Canadian...

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Indigenous women’s group won’t work with government on MMIWG action plan, citing a ‘toxic, dysfunctional’ process

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Indigenous women’s group won’t work with government on MMIWG action plan, citing a ‘toxic, dysfunctional’ process

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A national Indigenous women's organization says it has lost confidence in the federal government and is walking away from the "toxic, dysfunctional" process to develop an action plan in response to the nearly two-year-old National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

The Native Women's Association of Canada announced Tuesday that rather than work with the Canadian government - whose process it called "fundamentally flawed" - it has created its own action plan to address the "Calls for Justice" outlined in the MMIWG inquiry's final report, which was released June 3, 2019.

The inquiry, which heard testimony and gathered evidence over a two-year period, concluded that Canada - by way of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and the Indian Act, among other colonial structures - committed a deliberate, race-based genocide against Indigenous people that left Indigenous women and girls particularly vulnerable to violence.

Today, Indigenous women in Canada are seven times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be murdered and three times more likely to be violently or sexually assaulted, according to data from Statistics Canada.

"The genocide has not ended," said Lorraine Whitman, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, in a virtual news conference Tuesday morning.

Whitman said that in the two years since the inquiry published its report, little has changed.

"We are no safer now than we were two years ago," she said. "So we are taking matters into our own hands."

The association's plan - "Our Calls, Our Actions" - includes 65 costed actions to address the inquiry's 231 "Calls for Justice." The association estimates the total costs will be about $30 million annually to implement.

The association said the core of its plan is the creation of "Resiliency Lodges" across the country that "will provide on-the-land holistic healing and navigation and Elder-led counselling services to Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people."

The lodges will also foster "economic self-sufficiency that will help lift Indigenous women and their families out of poverty," the association said.

Among the national inquiry's conclusions was that economic marginalization was a key factor in why Indigenous women were particularly vulnerable to violence.

The federal government had initially planned to release its action plan last year on the inquiry's first anniversary, but it said the work had been delayed by the pandemic.

In an emailed response to questions for this story, a spokesperson for Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett said the government's plan will be released Thursday.

Whitman said that part of the reason the association was no longer willing to work with the government is because it was shut out of certain decision-making committees and she, personally, was subject to "lateral violence and hostility."

Bennett's spokesperson, Ani Dergalstanian, admitted there had been "some difficult and challenging situations" in developing the action plan due in part to the government's "inclusive approach," which involved more than 100 partners.

Dergalstanian said the ministry is "greatly appreciative of NWAC's work" and will continue to try to work with them. "We are hopeful we can continue to work together as we put in place the concrete measures to stop this national tragedy and help families and survivors as they seek healing and justice."

The second anniversary of the MMIWG inquiry comes just days after the discovery of the remains of 215 children in an unmarked mass grave on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. The revelation of the undocumented deaths has been traumatic for Indigenous people, said Lynn Groulx, CEO of NWAC. But it also highlights the urgency of addressing the systemic problems identified by the MMIWG inquiry, she said.

"These situations are not separate. The inquiry was looking for the systemic causes (of violence against Indigenous women and girls) and residential schools definitely is one of the most horrific systemic causes.

"I think it's evidence - more evidence - of the genocide."

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Indigenous women's group won't work with government on MMIWG action plan, citing a 'toxic, dysfunctional' process

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A national Indigenous women's organization says it has lost confidence in the federal government and is walking away from the "toxic, dysfunctional" process to develop an action plan in response to the nearly two-year-old National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

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Native Women's Association of Canada Action Plan

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Native Women's Association of Canada Action Plan

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Our plan, our action

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Indigenous women and Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual Plus (2SLGBTQQIA+) people hold a sacred place and equally crucial roles, are valued, and are integral to Indigenous communities. ¹ They come from a place of strength in culture, values, and tradition as leaders, knowledge keepers, providers, custodians of culture, healers and/or caregivers. They are the voice pressing for a transformative process leading to change, advocating for prevention and the end to gender- and race-based violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. They have been demanding to be heard, to be respected, to be treated equitably, to be secure, and to be safe.

The 2021 National Action Plan responds to the many demands to end violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. It is meant to honour and respect Indigenous and 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples' values, philosophies, knowledge systems, and agencies through the prioritization of Indigenous-led solutions and services, developed in partnership and sustained through the adequate resourcing of this work. The National Action Plan is not meant to be frozen in time; it is evergreen, recognizing the urgency for immediate action, but also the importance of continuing to cultivate transformative change over time.

This section briefly outlines the work of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) ("National Inquiry"), and also discusses the Métis Perspectives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and LGBTQ2S+ People report prepared by Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak (LFMO).

Call for Justice 1.1 of the National Inquiry ² says:

1.1. We call upon federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous governments (hereinafter "all 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.

Governments should:

i. Table and implement a National Action Plan that is flexible and distinctions-based, and that includes regionally specific plans with devoted funding and timetables for implementation that are rooted in the local cultures and communities of diverse Indigenous identities, with measurable goals and necessary resources dedicated to capacity building, sustainability, and long-term solutions.

ii. Make publicly available on an annual basis reports of ongoing actions and developments in measurable goals related to the National Action Plan.

LFMO Call for Miskotahâ (the Michif word for change) 46 ³ says:

Action is required to develop an Implementation Committee to review the Calls for Justice in this report; the Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Committee and the Métis Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Final Report, Reclaiming Power and Place.

This section also describes the development of a Core Working Group and the approach used to develop the National Action Plan. Appendix A provides a list of acronyms and Appendix B defines key terms used throughout the Plan.

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people experience higher rates of violence and are overrepresented as victims of crime. Research has reported that violent victimization perpetrated against Indigenous women is almost triple that of non-Indigenous women. ⁴ Further, it has been found that Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or missing than non-Indigenous women, ⁵ a number that is even higher for Indigenous women in the North. ⁶ 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are often additionally targeted because of gender identity and/or sexual orientation, referred to as a "triple jeopardy" for various forms of interpersonal and institutional violence. ⁷ Similarly, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people with disabilities face significantly greater risks of violent victimization than non-Indigenous people. ⁸ However, the exact number of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Canada is unknown as thousands of these deaths or disappearances have been unreported or misreported over the decades and indeed over centuries. ⁹

After decades of advocacy from families, survivors, and grassroots organizations, including numerous calls for a national inquiry into the alarming number of disappearances and murders of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Canada, ¹⁰ in 2016 the federal government and the 13 provincial and territorial governments launched the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The National Inquiry was mandated to report on:

Systemic causes of all forms of violence - including sexual violence - against Indigenous women and girls in Canada, including underlying social, economic, cultural, institutional and historical causes contributing to the ongoing violence and particular vulnerabilities of Indigenous women and girls in Canada, and

Institutional policies and practices implemented in response to violence experienced by Indigenous women and girls in Canada, including the identification and examination of practices that have been effective in reducing violence and increasing safety. ¹¹

The National Inquiry's mandate focused "all forms of violence" against Indigenous women and girls, historic and ongoing, and was broadened to include issues such as family violence; institutional racism in health care, child welfare, policing, and the justice system; and other forms of violence that stem from the same structures of colonization such as those who died from negligence, accidents, or suicide, or those whose cause of death is unknown or disputed. ¹² It also examined the underlying root causes of the violence. The National Inquiry also chose to explicitly include First Nations, Métis, and Inuit and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. ¹³ It also expanded the notion of family to include "families of the heart", and witnesses who, although not biological family members, had familial relationships with those who are missing or murdered.

The National Inquiry began its work in September 2016, and for over two years gathered information and heard from families and survivors, Indigenous leaders, knowledge keepers, communities, experts, and institutions. On June 3, 2019, the Final Report of the National Inquiry, entitled " Reclaiming Power and Place", was released. The report focused on the underlying social economic, cultural, institutional, systemic, and historical causes, policies, and practices for the ongoing violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, as well as the contemporary manifestations and impacts of these practices. Based on the results of the Truth-Gathering Process, the National Inquiry concluded that violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people amounts to genocide. ¹⁴

The violence the National Inquiry heard about amounts to a race-based genocide of Indigenous Peoples, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis, which especially targets women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. This genocide has been empowered by colonial structures, evidenced notably by the Indian Act, the Sixties Scoop, residential schools and breaches of human and Indigenous rights, leading directly to the current increased rates of violence, death, and suicide in Indigenous populations.

United Nations spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani called for the Canadian government to take action to assess the serious claims raised in the National Inquiry, saying "The National Inquiry found reasons to believe that Canada's past and present policies, omissions and actions amount to genocide, under international law". ¹⁵

The National Inquiry's Final report also stated that violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are abuses and violations of Indigenous human rights that include inherent, Treaty, and Constitutional rights, and have resulted in the denial of safety, security, and human dignity. ¹⁶

Ultimately, and despite different circumstances and backgrounds, what connects all these deaths is colonial violence, racism and oppression
(National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls)

The National Inquiry identified 231 Calls for Justice under the following themes: culture, health and wellness, human security, and justice; as well as some Calls for Justice under the area of "human and Indigenous rights and governmental obligations". The report also includes specific Calls for Justice directed at confronting violence against Métis, Inuit and 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples. The Calls for Justice were directed at all levels of government, including federal, provincial/territorial, municipal, Indigenous; institutions; service providers, such as health care, child welfare, education, justice services, transportation; industries, such as hospitality, resource extraction and development; the media; and all Canadians. The National Inquiry also released a supplementary report focusing on specific issues facing Indigenous women and girls in Québec, which contained an additional 21 Calls for Justice. ¹⁷ It also published a supplementary report explaining its basis for the claim of genocide. ¹⁸

In 2019, LFMO also prepared a report specifically focusing on the issues facing Métis women, girls and gender diverse people and reflecting their unique histories and realities. The report identified 62 Calls for Miskotahâ (the Michif word for change) which focus on the lack of data specific to Métis women and girls, intergovernmental affairs, engagement, services, child welfare, jurisdiction, criminal justice, health, prevention, and awareness. ¹⁹

At the closing ceremony of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls on June 3, 2019, the Prime Minister committed to developing a National Action Plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people and turning the National Inquiry's Calls for Justice into real and meaningful Indigenous-led action:

"We will develop and implement a National Action Plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls, and LGBTQ and Two-Spirit people. We will work with Indigenous partners to determine next steps, and we will include the perspectives and full participation of Indigenous women and girls. We will also include the voices of LGBTQ and Two-Spirit people with lived experience, as well as the family members of victims, and survivors of violence. We will also continue to work with provinces, territories, and municipalities to encourage cooperation across all orders of government in responding to the report. Reducing the rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls, and Indigenous LGBTQ and Two-Spirit people, is a priority for the Government of Canada. Our government will turn the Inquiry's Calls for Justice into real, meaningful, Indigenous-led action" ²⁰

Provincial/territorial and Indigenous governments, as well as Indigenous organizations and leaders responded to the findings from the National Inquiry's report, highlighting the importance of including Indigenous organizations, survivors, and family members in the response to the Calls for Justice. For example:

"We are committed to developing a path forward to end violence against Indigenous women and girls that will be directly informed by survivors, family members and communities." (British Columbia Premier John Horgan) ²¹

"Be it resolved that Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami work with the Inuit regions, Pauktuutit and the National Inuit Youth Council to facilitate the full implementation of all Calls to Justice contained in the Final Report of the National Inquiry." (Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Resolution) ²²

"Safety for Inuit women is complex. If we are to deal with the root causes of violence, we must stop the cycle of discrimination and the cycles of physical and sexual abuse. To do that, we need the full commitment of governments and communities. If we don't work together to implement Inuit-led solutions, Inuit women and their children will continue to be in danger". (Rebecca Kudloo, President, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada) ²³

"We're relieved that the final report of the national inquiry has been tabled. Now, we can press forward with our work to advocate for systemic and the whole of government approaches to ending violence against all Métis women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people." (Melanie Omeniho, President of Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak) ²⁴

"[The Assembly of First Nations] call upon the Federal government to ensure that all engagement on a National Action Plan be carried out using the 'Families First' approach." (Assembly of First Nations Resolution) ²⁵

"We are here to honour the lost women and girls. We're hopeful that full implementation of the Calls to Justice would lead to greater safety, security and empowerment of our constituency." (National Chief Robert Bertrand, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples) ²⁶

"The process for developing and implementing the National Action Plan... must not only be dictated by governments alone. It must be distinctions-based, it must be First Nation women-led, and most of all, it has to reflect the voice of the survivors and family members of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls." (Ontario Regional Chief Rose Anne Archibald) ²⁷

"[Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak] will work to implement recommendations but I also call on all other levels of government to do what they can." (Grand Chief Garrison Settee, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc.) ²⁸

As will be described in the next section, the federal government created a Core Working Group to respond to the 231 Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry and the 62 Calls to Miskotahâ from the Métis Perspectives report released by LFMO.

This begins with recognizing the truth. For non-Indigenous Canadians, this means rethinking commonly held stereotypes, and confronting racism in every context. For Indigenous Peoples, this means using the truth to rebuild our lives, our families, our communities and Canada itself. And for governments, this means nothing less than a new and decolonized social order; it is an opportunity to transform and to rebuild in real partnership with Indigenous Peoples.
(National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls)

Developing a Core Working Group

The National Inquiry called for the federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous governments, in partnership with Indigenous people, to develop and implement a National Action Plan that responds to the 231 Calls for Justice. In addition, LFMO called for action to implement the 62 Calls to Miskotahâ which focus on Métis women, girls, and gender diverse people. To achieve this, governments (federal, provincial/territorial, municipal, Indigenous), Indigenous representative organizations, and Indigenous partners and communities from across the country are contributing to the National Action Plan to make the necessary changes to ensure that Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are safe wherever they are, ²⁹ now and in the future. It is recognized that gender- and race-based violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people happens within a broad social context shaped by systemic racism and colonialism and that transformative change is required across governments and institutions, and by all Canadians.

In response to the National Inquiry's Call for Justice 1.1, and LFMO's Call for Miskotahâ 46, the federal government created a Core Working Group in 2020 to lead the development of the National Action Plan. The following illustrates the structure utilized to develop the National Action Plan.

Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are at the centre of the National Action Plan, because they represent the focus and heart of the Plan. The inner circle represents survivors, families and the National Family and Survivors Circle who provide advice on development of the National Action Plan. The Core Working Group represents the third circle, responsible for leading the National Action Plan. Finally, the outer circle includes First Nations, Inuit, the Métis Nation, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Urban, 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, data, and federal Contributing Partners ³⁰, as well as provincial/territorial representatives, who have developed their own strategies or action plans. Other Indigenous partners and grassroots service organizations were, and continue to be, engaged.

The Core Working Group is co-chaired by:

Federal Co-Chair: Gina Wilson, Deputy Minister, Diversity and Inclusion and Youth and Senior Associate Deputy Minister, Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada

Provincial/Territorial Co-Chair: Valerie Royle, Deputy Minister, Women's Directorate; Deputy Minister, Tourism and Culture; Deputy Minister, French Languages Services Directorate, Government of Yukon

Members of the Core Working Group include:

Co-Chair of National Family and Survivors Circle: Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, Manager, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Liaison Unit, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak

Co-Chair of National Family and Survivors Circle: Denise Pictou-Maloney, Family Member

Rose Mary Cooper, Acting Executive Director, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

Co-Chair of Inuit Sub-Working Group: Tracy Sarazin, Manager, Health and Social Development, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

Chair of Métis Nation Sub-Working Group: Melanie Omeniho, President, Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak

Chair of First Nations Sub-Working Group: Chief Connie Big Eagle, Ocean Man First Nation, Assembly of First Nations' Women's Council

Chair of Urban Sub-Working Group: Diane Redsky, Executive Director, Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre

Chair of 2SLGBTQQIA+ Sub-Working Group: Sylvia Maracle, E xecutive Director, Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres

Co-Chair of Data Sub-Working Group: Karine Duhamel, Former Director of Research for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Co-Chair of Data Sub-Working Group: Carol Hopkins, Executive Director, Thunderbird Partnership Foundation

Chair of Sub-Working Group of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples: President and Chief Lisa Cooper, Native Council of Prince Edward Island

Co-Chair of Federal Sub-Working Group: Claudette Dumont-Smith, Special Advisor, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

Co-Chair of Federal Sub-Working Group: Mary-Luisa Kapelus, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

Provincial/Territorial Representative: Rachel Holmes, Executive Lead, Strategic Public Safety Initiatives, British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General

The established mandate of the Core Working Group is to develop a National Action Plan, including the following activities:

Leading the development of the framework and the common components of the National Action Plan, in particular the vision, guiding principles, common priorities, desired outcomes, and the accountability/results structure for implementation.

Collaborating with the National Family and Survivors Circle to advocate for family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people and survivors of gender- and race-based violence to be meaningfully included in the development and implementation of the National Action Plan.

Engaging with the Data Sub-Working Group to ensure that a data strategy is developed to support the monitoring and evaluation of the National Action Plan as it is implemented.

Liaising with the First Nations, Inuit, Métis Nation, and Congress of Aboriginal Peoples Contributing Partners to ensure that the National Action Plan reflects the distinct Indigenous Peoples of Canada.

Liaising with the Urban Contributing Partner to ensure urban issues are included in the development and implementation of the National Action Plan.

Liaising with the 2SLGBTQQIA+ Contributing Partner to ensure 2SLGBTQQIA+ people's issues are included in the development and implementation of the National Action Plan.

Liaising with the Federal Contributing Partner to ensure that the federal contribution is included in the development of the National Action Plan.

Liaising with provincial/territorial representatives on the development and implementation of the National Action Plan.

Liaising with key Indigenous advocates, frontline service workers, and leaders, as well as federal-provincial-territorial stakeholders, on the development and implementation of the National Action Plan, as needed.

Providing strategic direction to the Contributing Partners.

The Core Working Group has accomplished a significant portion of its mandate. However, the National Plan is an evergreen document, and the development of the desired outcomes and the accountability/results structure for implementation will be completed as part of the implementation plan. In addition, Contributing Partners will continue the work on their action plans.

The Core Working Group draws upon the lived experience, expertise, and agency of families and survivors and connects the work of the Contributing Partners to develop an overarching National Action Plan to end inequalities that contribute to the disproportionately high levels of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. It is important to share each other's strengths, respect diversity, and ground the work in Indigenous values and governance systems rooted in land, culture, spirituality, and relationships.

National Action Plan

The Core Working Group acknowledges and receives the findings and the 231 Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry, and the 62 Calls for Miskotahâ from LFMO's report. The Core Working Group, National Family and Survivors Circle, Contributing Partners, and provincial/territorial representatives reviewed and made decisions to incorporate specific Calls for Justice and Calls for Miskotahâ into their respective strategies or plans. This was also an opportunity to identify and address any gaps or priorities that have emerged since the 231 Calls for Justice and 62 Calls for Miskotahâ were identified.

To ensure Indigenous families, survivors, women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people's voices, perspectives, worldviews, and lived experiences are at the centre of the National Action Plan, over 100 Indigenous women, 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, and others contributed to the development of a National Action Plan.

Drawing upon the experience and expertise of family members and survivors, the National Action Plan is meant to be an overarching plan which identifies the necessary activities that must be taken by governments (federal, provincial/territorial, municipal, Indigenous), organizations, and communities across the country to address violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. Rooted in the unique needs, experiences, and cultural contexts of Indigenous people and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, the National Action Plan is a series of interlinked, interrelated plans which represent the distinct and unique interests, priorities, and circumstances of Indigenous people. Within this past year, the National Family and Survivors Circle, the Contributing Partners, and provinces/territories have been developing their strategies/action plans which together make up the National Action Plan.

Even though the National Action Plan has been co-developed, the distinct plans or strategies were developed by the National Family and Survivors Circle, individual Contributing Partners and the provinces/territories. The National Action Plan and the Contributing Partners plans are interconnected, but the National Action does not necessarily represent all aspects of each unique plan and/or strategy. Further, Core Working Group members may or may not concur with Contributing Partners' plans or strategies in part or in whole.

Importantly, the National Action Plan is meant to be a living document that lays a strong foundation but is evergreen and adaptable so that changing needs can be incorporated when developing and implementing the path forward. A comprehensive and complementary implementation plan for the National Action Plan, including Indigenous-led actions, will be developed with expected outcomes, activities, and timelines. Further, reporting and accountability mechanisms will be created, including regular updates to ensure the plan remains meaningful and effective and to track progress in a way that captures the impact of actions "on the ground".
Key sections of the 2021 National Action Plan include:

The Vision and Guiding Principles for the National Action Plan

The Goals of the National Action Plan

The common short-term priorities for the National Action Plan

Summaries of Action Plans/Strategies from the National Family and Survivors Circle, Contributing Partners, and provinces/territories

Discussion of immediate next steps and ideas for monitoring progress

Footnotes

1. Throughout this National Action Plan, the term "community" is utilized in the broadest sense, referring to Indigenous communities or groups with diverse characteristics who may be linked by social ties, share common perspectives, and/or engage in joint action in geographical locations or settings.

2. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Reclaiming power and place: Executive summary of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Available at: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Executive_Summary.pdf.

3. LFMO (2019). Métis perspectives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2S+ people. Available at: https://en2.metiswomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/LFMO-MMIWG-Report.pdf.

4. JUS (2019). Indigenous overrepresentation in the criminal justice system. Just Facts. Research and Statistics Division. Available at: https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/jf-pf/2019/docs/may01.pdf.

5. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Reclaiming power and place: The final report of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Volume 1a. Available at: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Final_Report_Vol_1a-1.pdf.

6. NWAC (2020). The Native Women's Association fact sheet: Violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in Canada. Available at: https://www.nwac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MMIWG-and-Violence-Fact-Sheet-Formatted-2021.pdf.

7. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Reclaiming power and place. Volume 1a.

8. Cotter, A. (2018). Violent victimization of women with disabilities, 2014. Juristat, Catalogue no. 85-002-X, ISSN 1209-6393. Available at: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/85-002-x/2018001/article/54910-eng.pdf?st=qDgD1TnY.

9. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Reclaiming power and place. Volume 1a.

10. For example, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Sisters in Spirit campaign.

11. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Reclaiming power and place. Volume 1a.

12. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Reclaiming power and place. Volume 1a.

13. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Reclaiming power and place. Volume 1a.

14. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). A legal analysis of Genocide. Supplementary Report. Available at: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Supplementary-Report_Genocide.pdf.

15. Stefanovich, O. (2019). UN Human Rights Office calls for examination of MMIWG inquiry's genocide claim. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stefanovich-un-national-inquirygenocide-response-1.5174855.

16. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Reclaiming power and place: Executive summary.

17. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Reclaiming power and place. Volume 2: A supplementary report of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls - Kepek - Quebec. Available at: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Final_Report_Vol_2_Quebec_Report-1.pdf.

18. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). A legal analysis of genocide.

19. LFMO (2019). Métis perspectives.

20. PMO (2019). Prime Minister welcomes final report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Available at: pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2019/06/03/prime-minister-welcomes-final-report-national-inquiry-missing-and.

21. Government of British Columbia (2019). Premier's statement on national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls final report. Available at: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019PREM0080-001132.

22. ITK (2019). Resolution B19-06-02. ITK Board of Directors, June 27th. Available at: https://www.itk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/B19-06-02-ITKBoD-MMIWG.pdf.

23. Pauktuutit (2019). Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada News release.

24. Henry (2019). MMIWG report a step in the right direction say local groups. Available at: https://www.lakelandtoday.ca/bonnyvillenews/mmiwg-report-a-step-in-the-right-direction-say-localgroups-1911201.

25. AFN (2019). Resolution 67/2019. AFN General Assembly, June 23- 25, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Available at: https://www.afn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2019-AGA-Resolutions.pdf.

26. CAP (2019). Press statement on final report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Available at: http://www.abo-peoples.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/June-3-Press-Statement.pdf.

27. Narine, S. (2019). Chiefs push for federal government response to MMIWG inquiry report. Available at: https://windspeaker.com/news/windspeaker-news/chiefs-push-federal-government-responsemmiwg-inquiry-report.

28. CTV Winnipeg (2019). Manitoba leaders react to the MMIWG inquiry's final report. Available at: https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba-leaders-react-to-the-mmiwg-inquiry-s-finalreport-1.4449656.

29. The term "wherever they are" is meant to be inclusive of wherever Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people may live, reside, or may be.

30. Contributing Partners is used throughout the National Action Plan and includes the First Nations Sub-Working Group, the Inuit Working Group, the Métis Nation Sub-Working Group, the Sub-Working Group of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, the Urban Sub-Working Group, the 2SLGBTQQIA+ Sub-Working Group, the Data Sub-Working Group, and the Federal Sub-Working Group.

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Indigenous women and Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual Plus (2SLGBTQQIA+) people hold a sacred place and equally crucial roles, are valued, and are integral to Indigenous communities. 1 They come from a place of strength in culture, values, and tradition as leaders, knowledge keepers, providers, custodians of culture, healers and/or caregivers.