Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Sub-group of TRC-Bobcaygeon – July 20, 2020
As we know, the federal government was mandated to come up with an Action Plan this past June, one year after the Report was tabled. Nothing has been done and of course, COVID-19 is being blamed for all such neglected obligations when really there is no excuse. In fact, with Zoom meetings, lots of opportunity for online work, etc. it is a travesty that there is no response.
The sub-committee thinks we need to have an action plan for TRC Bobcaygeon. Here are some notes/thoughts:
The Report of the National Inquiry into MMIWG finds that indeed this colonial violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGTQQIA people amounts to genocide (p. 4, Reclaiming Power and Place – the Executive Summary of the MMIWG Report)
After defining genocide and summarizing the Report itself, the Overarching Findings are basically outlined as follows:
* …This colonialism, discrimination and genocide explains the high rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
An absolute paradigm shift is required to dismantle colonialism within Canadian society, and from all levels of government and public institutions. Ideologies and instruments of colonialism, racism, and misogyny, past and present, must be rejected.
* Canada has signed and ratified many international declarations and treaties that affect Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s rights, protection, security and safety. Canada has failed to meaningfully implement the provisions of these legal instruments…. Further, Canada has enacted domestic laws…and human rights legislation, to ensure the legal protection of human rights and Indigenous rights….Canada has failed to protect these rights….
* The Canadian state has displaced Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA people from their traditional roles in governance and leadership and continues to violate their political rights…
* ..Indigenous self-determination and self-governance in all areas of Indigenous society are required to properly serve and protect Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people. This is particularly true in the delivery of services.
Following these Overarching Findings, there are 123 major Calls for Justice under 15 separate headings (with many sub-sections within them).
The sub-group is thinking of a 4-pronged strategy as follows:
1. Relationships.
As with all of our work, establishing relationships is paramount. Therefore, even if we have some ideas on where to start, I think we should reach out to the First Nations in this area and perhaps meet with women or 2SLGBTQQIA people who may be taking the lead within their Fits Nation on this very issue. For example, Curve Lake Health Centre produced a video on MMIWG and held a ceremony in 2019 where women leaders and elders honoured the new installation on MMIWG. However, in my opinion it would be up to the Chief and Council to decide who is the most appropriate person or group for us to meet with. Perhaps Alderville F.N. and Hiawatha F.N. also have designated persons or committees to work on this issue. It would be important to know what are the most important recommendations or actions that these Indigenous communities would like to see implemented first and foremost – and what Settlers like us can do to assist.
Let’s think of a very special way to do this like a letter of intent in a package that includes a print of Ann’s Quilt square and other squares that reference MMIWG.
2. Research.
Some initial research may be useful – e.g. what are other like-minded groups doing on this issue (e.g. KAIROS, other Indigenous support groups),what were the calls from Lynn Gehl and the group that demonstrated outside Mariam Monsef’s office a few weeks ago, what is happening in bigger cities, smaller communities, etc. across this country.
3. Recommendations.
Notwithstanding the prime importance of No. 1., as Settlers we might have ideas about which particular calls for justice would be a good focus for us as TRC-Bobcaygeon, that is, where we believe we might have the most impact on making the paradigm shift to dismantle colonialism within Canadian society. During and after initial discussions with local First Nations, we may be asked for our input on the Calls for Justice so we should be thinking about these as well.
4. Communication. We need to think about how we communicate what we are doing and how to keep it updated on a regular basis.
There are many examples of Calls that we might look at in our future work on this issue (Executive Summary):
P. 62 – 72: Calls for Justice for All Governments (Human and Indigenous Rights and Governmental Obligations; Calls for Justice for All Governments: Culture; Calls for Justice for All Governments: Health and Wellness; Calls for Justice for All Governments: Human Security; Calls for Justice for All Governments: Justice)
P. 73 – 84: Calls for Justice for Industries, Institutions, Services, and partnerships (Calls for Media and Social Influencers; Calls for Health and Wellness Providers; Calls for Transportations Service Providers and Hospitality Industry; Calls for Police Services; Calls for Attorneys and Law Societies; Calls for Educators; Calls for Social Workers and Those Implicated in Child Welfare; Calls for Extractive and Development Industries)
P. 85: Calls for Justice for All Canadians
P. 87 – 104: Calls for Justice: Distinctions-Based Calls (Inuit -Specific Calls for Justice; Calls For Justice For Inuit; Metis-Specific Calls for Justice; 2SLGBTQQIA-Specific Calls for Justice).
Lots of food for thought in these Calls! Just The Calls for All Governments would give us lots of work in demanding local municipal governments start acting on some of these Calls, For example, see p. 62 (1.1), p. 64 (1.8, 1.9), p.65 (2.5 – perhaps this is one Drew Milligan and Cameron Brown are looking at for Gamiing – a permanent empowerment fund which would include the support of land-based educational programs that can assist in foundational cultural learning and awareness).
These are our initial thoughts and we welcome feedback.