Indigenous women and girls in Canada are significantly more likely to become victims of violence and homicide, as well as to go missing. Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of Indigenous women and girls in Canada is an urgent issue, and there is overwhelming consensus in Canada it must be addressed urgently. This is a crisis that should transcend partisan politics.

After countless studies, the families of the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls are frustrated that there has been so little progress. They were calling for real action.  This committee was struck to bring justice to the thousands of Aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered in recent decades.  This justice can only be achieved through decisive actions taken to end the violence against Aboriginal women and girls.

On February 19, 2013, the Liberal Party tabled a motion in the House of Commons which sought to create a forum for all political parties to work together to find solutions to address this ongoing tragedy

It passed unanimously. There was hope that once and for all the families of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada would have a safe place to share their stories and educate Parliamentarians about an issue that had been ignored for far too long. They asked for justice, support and recommendations for action to end this tragedy so that no other families would have to go through what they had gone through.

Unfortunately from the very first meeting it was clear that the Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women (the “Committee”) would not be allowed the flexibility necessary in the design of its study, the way it heard from witnesses, to achieve meaningful results.  This was totally exacerbated by the ongoing partisanship of government members who have refused to exercise their Parliamentary duty to honour the testimony of the witnesses and as they acquiesced to the disappointing set of government-authored recommendations that refuse to answer the call for real action. The title of the report, Call for Action, is thereby doubly insulting.

Process

The broad mandate of the Committee provided members with the opportunity to design a study that was flexible and focussed on obtaining evidence in creative and culturally sensitive ways. Unfortunately this did not happen.

The Liberal Party made it clear at the outset of the process that, for the Committee to produce a meaningful report, the members needed to hear from the families and loved ones of the victims at the very beginning of the process. This would have provided members of the Committee with a helpful foundation and context to design the study and an appropriate lens through which to view subsequent evidence. Instead, the Committee only heard from victims’ families toward the end of the study. While their stories were powerful and profoundly impacted the members of the Committee, the fact that we did not have the benefit of the perspective that their stories provided when designing the study, or when hearing most of the other witnesses, severely undermined our work.

In addition, the Committee’s insistence on hearing from witnesses in rigid one hour panels of three, often with little coherence in how the panels were structured, further hampered the collection of useful evidence and failed to account for the cultural and emotional sensitivities of this issue.

The Liberal Party of Canada was also disappointed with the Committee’s failure to make use of the unique expertise of Indigenous women’s organizations. In particular, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has done extensive work on this issue over many years and it was the understanding of the Liberal Party of Canada that they would be engaged by the Committee in the design and implementation of the study as well as the drafting of recommendations. Instead, the Committee did not even hear testimony from NWAC until two months into the hearings.  The subsequent lack of proactive communication on the part of the Committee with NWAC led to their decision to withdraw from the process last fall.

Committee Report Recommendations and Budget 2014

The Liberal Party of Canada believes the recommendations in the Committee Report should focus on proposing real action to confront the disproportionate levels of violence, homicide and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls. The Committee heard from countless witnesses and there was consensus in their recommendations on actions that need to be taken.  Instead of hearing these recommendations and incorporating them, the government instead spent too much time inserting their own priorities into the report.

We are very concerned about the Committee’s decision to insert or otherwise highlight in the report’s recommendations partisan government messaging regarding the Conservative policy priorities. Their inclusion in no way reflects the testimony of witnesses, and thus is a flagrant abuse of the parliamentary principle of reporting on the testimony of witnesses factually.

Regardless of the specific measures, the recommendations should be focused on proposing new initiatives, or new ways to implement existing ones, rather than noting what is already being done.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1.    National Public Inquiry

The Liberal Party of Canada recommends that the Government of Canada call a national public commission of inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. That national public commission of inquiry must have the scope and resources necessary to identify the root causes of this ongoing tragedy, provide justice for the victims and true healing for their loved ones. This inquiry is not only about much needed reconciliation, but a non-partisan mechanism to develop solutions to an ongoing crisis.

It is unfortunate that the recommendations in the Committee’s final report ignored the call for a national public commission of inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. This issue was repeatedly raised by witness after witness who passionately spoke about the need for such an inquiry.

When speaking to the committee on May 30, 2013, NWAC President Michele Audet told us:

“We are not here today to set aside the national public inquiry to document the situation of missing and murdered women. That remains a priority for us…we are talking about a large number of missing women who have never obtained justice. Perhaps the problem is systematic. A national public inquiry would therefore shed some light on the issue and bring about solutions.”

We heard from the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief, Shawn Atleo, on December 3, 2013 that:

“The AFN is not in any way saying that we sit back and not undertake the needed efforts now to stop violence against Indigenous women and girls. Instead, I want you to know that a national public commission of inquiry is critical for accountability and to create change. What has prevented us from moving forward in the past? Has it been cost, negligence, or has it been oversight?”

Ms. Susan O'Sullivan, the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, told the committee on January 30, 2014 that:

“A national commission of inquiry would allow for the voices of Canada's aboriginal women and communities to be heard, respected, and considered, in processes and structures designed to address their needs. In this way, strategies for preventing and responding to this crisis could be specifically tailored to the needs of aboriginal women and rooted in understandings of the social and economic conditions that have contributed to their vulnerability. The Government of Canada has an important leadership role to play in preventing and responding to the crisis of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls. As such, in my view, the initiation of an inclusive, national commission of inquiry on Canada's missing and murdered aboriginal women, with a corresponding commitment to implementing the commission's recommendations would be an appropriate and necessary next step.”

2.    National Action Plan to Combat Violence Against Indigenous Women

These are only some of the examples of the passionate pleas witnesses made to the Committee to recommend that a national public commission of inquiry be called. In addition to testimonies heard by the Committee, premiers from every province and territory have unanimously and publically called on the Government of Canada to call a national public commission of inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

The Liberal Party of Canada recommends the immediate development and implementation of a national action plan to address violence against Indigenous women and girls, the structural root causes of that violence, and to address the coordination and accountability of government bodies charged with preventing and responding to the violence.

The Liberal Party of Canada further recommends that a committee of cabinet be established, which will be responsible for the creation of such a national action plan in close consultation with Aboriginal leadership and communities and that a progress report of the work of this cabinet committee be tabled with Parliament no later than June 21, 2015.

These are complex issues and solutions will involve the cooperation between many government departments and all jurisdictions across Canada. While the Committee Report does call for a working group to implement an “action plan”, that plan has been restricted to the implementation of the recommendations in the Committee Report. There is no question that there are positive recommendations contained in the Committee Report; however, restricting a comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional national action plan to the recommendations in the Committee Report fails to recognize the scope of the issues we are dealing with. Further, the lack of a date by which the activities of the working group referenced in the Committee Report recommendations must even commence fails to recognize the urgency of the issue or to introduce the necessary accountability into the recommendation.

3.    As we heard from AFN National Chief Atleo when he testified:

“We seek a clear and unmitigated commitment to taking action demonstrated through the creation of a national public action plan. Indigenous communities, organizations, provinces and territories, are advancing strategies to end violence, but without clearly articulated national goals and coordinated efforts led by the federal government these initiatives will not fully address the magnitude of response required to prevent and end violence against Indigenous women and girls and bring accountability to the families of those who are missing and murdered.”

The federal government has a leadership role to play in bringing together, not only the various departments and agencies under its jurisdiction, but provincial, territorial and Aboriginal partners to end this national disgrace.

The Liberal Party of Canada would also like to make special note of the fact that, as we heard from witnesses, the development of such a national action plan is not an initiative that would replace a national public commission of inquiry, but would be complementary to it.

As AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo told the committee on December 3, 2013, “Just to be clear, I think the action plan is absolutely in parallel with the call for the national public commission of inquiry”.

4.    Creation of a working group

That the federal government, with leadership from Aboriginal communities, develop a working group on violence against Aboriginal women and children, comprised of relevant government departments (including Public Safety Canada, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, Status of Women Canada and Health Canada) and national Aboriginal organizations, including the Native Women’s Association of Canada;

that this working group be tasked with collectively developing a coordinated strategy to prevent and address violence against Aboriginal women and girls; and;

that the working group report to Parliament on its progress no later than June 30, 2015.

5.    Awareness campaign

That the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal organizations, create a national public awareness and prevention campaign focusing on violence against Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

6.    Support for the families of victims

That the federal government support a national meeting led by the families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.

That the federal government create a fund to help the families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls that have incurred expenses related to the loss of their loved ones.

7.    Support for Communities

That the federal government invest more resources in the program administered by Public Safety Canada that allows Aboriginal communities to develop safety plans and establish emergency management teams to respond to violence.

8.    Funding for anti-violence work

That any new funding for anti-violence work with Aboriginal women include a component for training Aboriginal women so that they can be employed in delivering the service.

9.    Investment in services for victims

That the federal government provides adequate investment in shelters and front-line services for victims of violence to create new shelters and to ensure that funding of existing shelters is comparable to off-reserve shelters.

10.    Funding for First Nations child-care agencies

That the federal government increase funding for First Nations child-care agencies.

11.    Elimination of Obstacles to economic development

That the federal government propose the changes necessary to eliminate obstacles to the economic development of Aboriginal people living on reserve, with particular attention to obstacles hampering full participation by Aboriginal women.

12.    Measures to curb poverty

That the federal government put in place measures such as microcredit in order to curb poverty.

13.    Police Services

That the federal government, in collaboration with the provincial and territorial governments, increase funding for police services in Inuit and First Nations communities.

14.    Data Collection

That the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal organizations and the provincial and territorial governments, examine the possibility of collecting police data on violence against Aboriginal women and girls that includes an ethnicity variable.

15.    Police procedures for multiple investigations

That the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal organizations and the provincial and territorial governments develop procedures among police services to facilitate multipartite investigations.

16.    Police Officer Training

That the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal organizations and human rights advocacy organizations, the Canadian Police College and the provincial and territorial governments, develop police officer training and protocols, along with serious consequences for failing to abide by them, in order to counter racism and sexism in the treatment of Aboriginal women and girls.

CONCLUSION

As we heard from the families who had the courage to share their stories with the Committee, this ongoing tragedy is about missing daughters, mothers, aunties, cousins, nieces and friends. The mandate of the committee was to address the tragedy of those missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls whose families and friends every day have to deal with the aching in their hearts and those who continue to confront violence in their daily lives. They want justice for their loved ones, but most importantly they do not want others to have to experience the pain of losing a loved one or to go through the terrible cycle of violence that so many Indigenous women and girls face. We had hoped that this Special Committee of Parliament would afford the government an opportunity to show the leadership necessary to right this terrible and ongoing attack on social justice. I am saddened that we have let those families down again.

It is deeply disappointing to see the Conservative government use their majority to replace the thoughtful, specific and action-oriented recommendations brought forward by the witnesses with partisan, self-serving, status quo recommendations.  The report does not recommend any concrete actions but instead makes a series of stay-the-course, exploratory recommendations.  In sixteen recommendations, the word ‘continue’ is included 4 times and ‘explore/examine options’ is used 5 times.  Other such terms peppering the report include ‘implement’, ‘maintain, ‘encourage’ and ‘support’. None of these are action-driven resolutions and many in fact imply that significant action is already taking place.

That the recommendations include so many specific references to existing government programs makes it clear that this report is not the work of a parliamentary committee and instead is the product of Ministerial offices. 

Unfortunately, the families will have to wait until the government changes in order for them to get the National Public Enquiry and National Action Plan that they have sought for so long and so rightly deserve.