The following report will discuss the Government of Canada’s implementation of the Calls for Justice and the committee’s intention to seek an Order of Reference from the Senate to further study oversight mechanisms for the Government of Canada’s implementation of the Calls for Justice. We believe accountability is vital to ensure that families and survivors remain at the heart of the implementation of the Calls for Justice.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CALLS FOR JUSTICE

Several years after the release of the National Inquiry’s final report, witnesses indicated that action to implement the Calls for Justice was already lagging in important areas like access to culturally appropriate health care and safe spaces to live. For example, several witnesses identified uneven access to services in Indigenous communities, including a lack of culturally appropriate programming for Inuit women in the correctional system.

Delays to implement the Calls for Justice have significant consequences, as explained by Denise Pictou Maloney:

[W]e will continue to be trapped in a Jordan’s Principle situation where governments at all levels waste valuable time arguing over whose responsibility it is to implement the 231 Calls for Justice while advocacy groups and organizations continue their perpetual lottery with inadequate funding and maintaining the status quo, and our women and girls continue to die….

The committee heard about funding commitments since the release of the National Inquiry’s final report. Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada noted the slow pace of progress on the implementation of the Calls for Justice, and explained that they have only seen a “federal commitment to fund five Inuit-specific shelters, one in each region of Inuit Nunangat and one in Ottawa, where the largest population of urban Inuit live.”

In their appearance before the committee, officials from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada provided several examples of budget commitments and identified a few initiatives developed by the department specifically related to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. However, Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak noted that:

Funding announcements…were not specific, and the funding actually went to more of a broad-based initiative without direct effects on eliminating MMIWG [missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls].”

The committee acknowledges the concerns of witnesses about the slow pace of progress, and believes that there could be more targeted investments clearly related to existing action plans and the critical priorities identified by families and survivors. The committee acknowledges the difficulty in harnessing all levels of governments and various institutions in Canada to respond to 252 Calls for Justice. The committee observes that the federal government could create opportunities to facilitate dialogue and collaboration on the implementation of the Calls for Justice between federal, Indigenous, provincial/territorial governments, and Indigenous peoples and organizations. Initiatives could involve, for example, including the implementation of the Calls for Justice on the agendas of First Ministers’ meetings going forward.

Moreover, witnesses observed it was difficult to obtain information about the Government of Canada’s work related to the implementation of the Calls for Justice. The committee is concerned that families and survivors, who should be at the heart of the implementation of the Calls for Justice, may be unable to find information about progress. The committee was pleased to see that two progress reports were released in 2022, one on the National Action Plan and another on the Federal Pathway.18 However, the committee believes that regular progress reports are needed to ensure that families and survivors are aware of ongoing initiatives. Therefore, the committee recommends:

RECOMMENDATION 1

That Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada provide quarterly progress reports starting in October 2022 on the federal government’s implementation of the Calls for Justice to the committee, post them publicly on its website and ensure they are distributed to families and survivors of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

CONCLUSION

The committee believes that the federal government plays an essential role in implementing the Calls for Justice. The committee intends to ask the Senate for an Order of Reference to contribute to this important work by examining the federal government’s role in the implementation of Calls for Justice 1.7 and 1.10. The potential study would be guided by the families and survivors of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. Ultimately, the committee believes that this work is imperative to support the health and safety of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/441/APPA/Reports/2022-06-22_APPA_SS-1_MMIWG_e_FINAL.pdf