Two decades after a groundbreaking report shone a spotlight on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people in this country, Indigenous people and their allies gathered on Parliament Hill on Oct. 4 to grieve, honour those who have been lost, and share their outrage about years of inaction.
Members of CUPE’s National Indigenous Council joined the Sisters in Spirit vigil to bear witness, mourn, and demand an end to the epidemic of violence and racism. The vigil has been held on the Hill every Oct. 4 for the past 18 years.
Amnesty International Canada’s 2004 Stolen Sisters report, produced in collaboration with the Native Women’s Association of Canada, gave voice to what families had been suffering alone.
Fifteen years later in 2019, the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls documented staggering rates of violence and called for the end of colonial institutions and laws that enable an ongoing genocide.
Grassroots organizing and collective action have forced the crisis into the public eye, but our governments and other colonial institutions have not acted on the inquiry’s 231 Calls to Justice.
Calls for truth, justice, accountability
“Our stories are not changing. The truth is the truth. We’ve been asking for accountability, we’ve been asking for truth, we’ve been asking for justice. It’s time,” said vigil organizer Bridget Tolley, who is a driving force behind Families of Sisters in Spirit. Tolley is an Algonquin woman from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation.
Speakers at the vigil called out government and police inaction, and demanded support for investigations that don’t rely on the police, as well as resources for families searching for their loved ones.
“Violence against us is 100% preventable,” said Dr. Diane Redsky an Ojibway woman from Shoal Lake First Nation who chairs the Urban Indigenous Action Group. Redsky is based in Winnipeg, where the new Red Dress Alert system will be implemented in the city and across the province. “It’s the women that are going to be developing that [alert system],” she said.
“We need to be sitting at those key tables and codeveloping those solutions,” said Redsky, who called for more government funding for Indigenous-led organizations to deliver support and services in their communities.
“The solutions are in the hearts and minds of our women, our children and our knowledge keepers. They’re at the kitchen tables, and they’re at the boardroom tables in Indigenous-led organizations. They’re the ones that should not be struggling today to make ends meet.”
Sharing stories brings healing
Dr. Beverley Jacobs was president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada when the Stolen Sisters report got underway.
“Then, no-one really knew the story. No-one knew the crisis,” she told vigil participants. Jacobs is a Mohawk woman from the Six Nations of the Grand River.
She travelled across the country meeting with families, many of them sharing their stories for the first time. “It was painful listening to their stories over and over. Similar stories of loss, of grief, of pain, it was unimaginable.”
Jacobs said the research was emotionally, spiritually and mentally draining. But it was also about healing. “That was one of the biggest messages that I remember in visiting with many of the families, it was a reminder of the love of our families.”
Racism at root of violence
Fighting racism is key to ending violence against Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people. Speakers called for allies and elected officials to do the work of challenging racism and learning the truth about colonization and the lives of Indigenous peoples.
“We have a serious systemic racism problem here in Canada – starting from the top,” said Colleen Cardinal. Cardinal is a Plains Cree woman from the Saddle Lake First Nation in Treaty 6, and a survivor of the Sixties Scoop. She is based in Ontario and is the co-director of the Sixties Scoop Network.
Cardinal has a simple answer when settlers ask what they can do. “You can unlearn your own stuff, unlearn your stereotypes, unlearn it in your families, unlearn it in the schools, unlearn it in your community,” she said
“It’s hard work. Sometimes we have consequences. But you know what, it’s better than keeping your mouth shut. Indigenous women are dying because of racism,” said Cardinal.
Governments must act
Indigenous services minister Patty Hajdu saluted the work Indigenous communities are doing to fight for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people. But Amnesty International Canada secretary-general Ketty Nivyabandi reminded vigil participants the federal government has a responsibility to do far more.
“For 20 years Canada has known,” said Nivyabandi, pointing to a copy of the Stolen Sisters report. Nivyanbandi said successive federal governments have not implemented the recommendations or lived up to international human rights law.
“The state knows. The state has an obligation to put all resources in place to ensure this does not occur again,” she said. “I know this government has the resources to put in place the change that is needed.”
Melanie Omeniho shared her frustration at how little progress she feels has been made. But she urged people to keep pushing for justice.
“We need to continue to sing the same songs, we need to continue to have the same voice, and we need to continue to make sure that these things change no matter where we are,” said Omeniho, who is a descendent of the historic Lac St. Anne Métis community in Alberta and the president of Women of the Métis Nation/Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak.