Standing Committee on the Status of Women

Comité permanent de la condition féminine

For immediate release

Ottawa, December 14, 2022 -

The House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women (the Committee) tabled its report entitled "Responding to the Calls for Justice: Addressing Violence against Indigenous Women and Girls in the Context of Resource Development Projects" today.

Resource development projects have direct impacts on communities located nearby. Part of the 2019 final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls focussed on the relation between resource development projects and violence against Indigenous women and girls. It concluded that resource development projects can exacerbate this violence and issued several recommendations named “Calls for Justice.”

To ensure that resource development projects in Canada are conducted in environments that are free from violence and to respond to Calls for Justice 13.1 to 13.5, the Committee undertook a study on resource development and violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit individuals.

The Committee’s report focusses on:

• ensuring that resource development in Canada respects the rights of Indigenous peoples;
• increasing corporate responsibility in the resource development sector; and
• guaranteeing Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit individuals’ access to wraparound services.

In its report, the Committee put forward 15 recommendations and one observation to improve Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit individuals’ safety and security in the context of resource development. The Committee calls on the Government of Canada to implement them rapidly.

The report can be consulted on the Committee’s web page on the Parliament of Canada website.