National Roundtable on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

INTRODUCTION  AND PURPOSE

The goals of the National  Roundtable are to:

   
• Create a dialogue  with all levels of government, Indigenous (1) representatives and families to effectively address the crisis of violence  against Indigenous women and girls.
   
• Identify  solutions and collaborative means of moving them forward, including the ongoing  engagement of Indigenous Peoples, families and communities in reducing and  eliminating all forms of violence.

The National  Roundtable brings together federal, provincial and territorial governments in  partnership with National Aboriginal Organizations (NAOs) to discuss how best  to collaborate and coordinate action to prevent and address violence against  Indigenous women and girls, including those cases that result in their murder  or disappearance.  As noted in the 2014 Federal Action Plan to Address Family  Violence and Violent Crimes Against Aboriginal Women and Girls “…no  organization or level of government alone can eradicate this violence.  This work must be done in partnership across  federal organizations, with provinces and territories and through the  leadership of Aboriginal communities and organizations.”

All  Indigenous women and children have an equal right to live free of violence and  all forms of discrimination.  In  recent years, there have been a number of initiatives aimed at responding to  the prevalence of violence against Indigenous women and girls, including the disproportionate  rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.  A variety of responses and actions have been  developed by communities and governments, including provincial, territorial,  federal and Indigenous governments, however no comprehensive and coordinated response exists.  Such a response would bring broader attention,  education and focus to prevention and immediate solutions, while enabling local  flexibility and decision-making.

To move this  dialogue forward and initiate coordinated action, the following three priority  areas have been identified for discussion at the National Roundtable to address  the disproportionate number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls:

   
• Prevention  and Awareness
   
• Community  Safety
   
• Policing  Measures and Justice Responses 

PRINCIPLES

There is  consensus that additional action must be  taken now and increased efforts need to be made to assess our progress while  ensuring that everything possible is being done for the safety and security of  Indigenous women and girls. The National Roundtable presents a unique  opportunity for federal, provincial and territorial governments to come  together with NAOs and representatives from the families of murdered and  missing Indigenous women and girls to move on coordinated actions, prevention  and solutions.

It is  anticipated that the National Roundtable will result in commitments to prevent,  reduce and eliminate violence against Indigenous women and girls, focusing on  the three priority areas.  Parties to the  National Roundtable believe an important foundation for this Framework is  agreement on a set of common principles that guide how the Parties work  together to prevent and address violence against Indigenous women and girls.  Parties to the National Roundtable endorse the  following principles:

Human Rights: Violence against Indigenous women and girls  implicates numerous human rights including the right to life, to security, to  equality and to be free of discrimination.

Shared responsibility: Preventing and addressing violence against Indigenous  women and children is a shared responsibility, requiring shared commitments  across governments and communities.

Community-based solutions:  Solutions to  prevent and end violence against Indigenous women and girls must be  community-based and led, recognizing the diversity of community situations, and  appropriate support given to building community capacity.

A focus on healing: Addressing violence against Indigenous women  and children acknowledges the need for improved relationships based on respect  and understanding among Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians, and  the need for holistic approaches in concert with support for the healing of  individuals and communities.

A collaborative  focus: Indigenous Peoples must be  partners in developing and implementing responses to addressing violence  against Indigenous women and girls.

Bringing about behavioral change: Addressing and preventing violence against Indigenous women and girls  requires a shift in societal attitudes and behaviours, within individuals,  institutions and organizations, including men and boys, who are key agents of  that change.

Changing the discourse: Mobilizing Indigenous and non-Indigenous  communities to change how we talk about the issues can help re-frame institutional  responses, community perspectives and individual attitudes.

These principles underlie recent work as  noted in the reports cited in this Framework document that have identified  paths forward in developing community-based approaches to ending violence  against Indigenous women and girls.  

PATHWAYS FORWARD

As a result of the National Roundtable, each federal,  provincial and territorial government and each NAO will coordinate efforts  toward tangible and immediate actions in each of the priority areas.  Together this will constitute a shared  national commitment to increased, ongoing collaboration with the development of  regionally and community-based and community-driven solutions to prevent and address violence against  Indigenous women and girls.

Parties to  the National Roundtable have agreed to improve coordination and collaboration  across sectors, and amongst each other, along the following high-level  pathways, recognizing these areas are fundamentally interconnected and must not  be viewed in isolation.

Discussion  continues among Parties to the National Roundtable on specific examples of how  these pathways can be implemented.  Means  and processes for implementation will vary based on relationships and  priorities among Indigenous communities and organizations and provincial,  territorial and federal governments.

Prevention and Awareness

   
• Raising public awareness aimed at changing attitudes that devalue Indigenous  women and girls and the contributions of Indigenous Peoples as an educational  tool for violence prevention.  
   
• Reducing the marginalization of Indigenous women and girls by improving  socio-economic development and outcomes.
   
• Improving prevention and responses to violence within intimate  relationships and families.

Community Safety

   
• Supporting Indigenous communities, organizations and individuals to  develop safety initiatives that respond to their unique cultural, traditional  and socio-economic needs and realities.
   
• Engaging communities, governments, organizations and institutions, in supporting  prevention, action, and intervention when violence has occurred.
   
• Supporting and addressing safety and healing of individuals, families and  communities.

Policing Measures and Justice  Responses

   
• Improving the relationship between justice sector professionals, including  police, and Indigenous Peoples and strengthening community-based policing in  Indigenous communities.
   
• Identifying strategies within the justice system to protect and assist Indigenous  women and girls who are victims of violence.

FOLLOW-UP AND SHARING OF OUTCOMES

All Parties to the National Roundtable commit  to continuing to work together in coordinating action to prevent and end  violence against Indigenous women and girls.   To further solidify these efforts a 2nd National Roundtable  will be held by the end of 2016 to discuss progress and continue dialogue on efforts  underway and areas for further focus.  All  Parties commit to work directly with Indigenous communities and organizations  to move forward on these priorities and in preparation for the 2nd  National Roundtable.  

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

It is well understood  there are complex and long-standing underlying issues that have brought us to  where we are today in respect of the disproportionate levels of violence  against Indigenous women and girls which perpetuate this critical situation.  Indigenous  women and girls are three times more likely to experience violence than non-Indigenous  women and this violence results in more serious harm.  In May 2014, the RCMP released a National Operational  Overview on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women.  The research  identified 1,181 missing and murdered  Aboriginal women in Canadian police databases between 1980 and 2012; of those  1,017 were murdered, and there are 164 investigations  of missing Aboriginal women dating back to 1952.  

Indigenous Peoples are not a homogeneous  group culturally, traditionally or geographically.  Diversity and distinctions exist between and within  First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples based on a number of factors including  language, cultural beliefs, social structures, geography, governance structures  and the existence of Treaties and other agreements with the Crown in some  areas. This means effective solutions must  be community-based and community-driven. In recognition of this diversity  and differences in documented outcomes for various First Nations, Inuit and  Métis Peoples, special attention needs to be given to the development of responses  that reflect these differences.   Additionally, the varying needs and perspectives of women, youth, Elders,  urban, northern and remote populations must also be taken into account.

The  safety and well-being of Indigenous women and girls is integral to ensuring  healthy and prosperous Indigenous families, communities and nations within  Canada. There is no more important role for governments or the state than  protecting citizens. Equally, there is no more important role for families or  communities than keeping each other safe and promoting safety.  

Numerous  reports, forums and inquiries have brought attention to this issue, including  the seminal Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996), the Manitoba  Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, (1999), Amnesty International’s Stolen Sisters Report (2004), the BC Missing Women Commission of  Inquiry (2012), the Inter-American Commission on Human  Rights report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in  British Columbia, Canada (2014) and each of the reports from the National Aboriginal  Women’s Summits 2007-2014.

Jurisdictions  and Indigenous communities have responded with a range of activities.   Additionally, there are a number of cross-jurisdictional  efforts underway to address violence against Aboriginal women and girls in  Canada. Frameworks have been developed by the Aboriginal Affairs Ministers and  National Aboriginal Leaders Working Group (Framework  for Coordinating Action to End Violence Against Aboriginal Women and Girls), the  Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Ministers of Justice and Public Safety (Draft Justice Framework to Address Violence  Against Aboriginal Women and Girls) and the FPT Forum of Ministers  Responsible for the Status of Women endorsed the Iqaluit Declaration in 2007 to  address violence against Aboriginal women.

Federally, a Special Parliamentary Committee on  Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls released its report Invisible  Women: A Call to Action – A Report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in  Canada in March 2014.  The Government  of Canada provided a response to this report in September 2014 in the 2014 Federal Action Plan to Address Family  Violence and Violent Crimes Against Aboriginal Women and Girls.