Advocates await action, five years after MMIWG inquiry released

Advocates in Winnipeg say they are still waiting for action, five years after a national inquiry delivered more than 200 recommendations aimed at protecting Indigenous women and girls from going missing or being murdered. 

The report was delivered on June 3, 2019, concluding that the MMIWG crisis amounts to genocide. The commission brought forward a total of 231 calls for justice, including governments, police, and the justice system.

“Well I still think we have a long way to go,” said Sandra DeLaronde, project lead for MMIWG2S+ Implementation Community, Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre.

DeLaronde says she doesn’t think there has been a real effective plan in place to implement the 231 calls for justice. 

“The community itself has not seen that big movement that leads to safety and perfective measures. Lots of performative actions, but nothing sustainable,” said DeLaronde.

On Monday, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the feds have advanced around 160 of the 215 calls that involve federal government jurisdiction. Katherine Strongwind says there has been no significant progress on action.

READ MORE: AFN national chief blasts governments’ inaction on fifth anniversary of MMIWG report

“Particularly those that address the root causes of MMIWG, such as poverty, education, and some of those pieces. So, I think there is still a lot of work that needs to be done towards this report,” said Katherine Strongwind, the director of 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a statement, said that after the release of the inquiry’s report, Canada’s failure to respect and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples became “irrefutable.”

Earlier this year, the feds along with the Manitoba governments pledged $20 million each to search the Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of missing Indigenous women. A new pilot project for a MMIWG public alert system was also announced in Manitoba.   

“I think things would have been much different in this community had the police taken a different stand, and had the former provincial government supported a search for the landfill,” said DeLaronde.

The final report was the culmination of testimony from more than 2,380 family members, survivors, experts and knowledge-keepers over two years to understand the crisis and form solutions.

-With files from the Canadian Press