RECLAIMING

POWER
AND PLACE

T HE F I NAL RE P ORT
OF T HE NAT I ONAL I NQUI RY
I NTO MI S S I NG AND
MURDE RE D I NDI GE NOUS
WOME N AND GI RL S

Volume 1a
Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Volume 1a

Cette publication est également disponible en français :

Réclamer notre pouvoir et notre place : le rapport final de l’enquête sur les
femmes et les filles autochtones disparues et assassinées, volume 1a
CP32-163/2-1-2019E-PDF
ISBN: 978-0-660-29274-8

COVER IMAGE:
Special thanks to the artists whose work appears on the cover of this report:

Dee-Jay Monika Rumbolt (Snowbird), for Motherly Love

The Saa-Ust Centre, for the star blanket community art piece
Christi Belcourt, for This Painting is a Mirror
 Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements 1
Foreword by Chief Commissioner Marion Buller 5
Foreword by Commissioner Michèle Audette 7
Foreword by Commissioner Qajaq Robinson 9
Foreword by Commissioner Brian Eyolfson 11
Messages from the Directors 13
Reflections from the National Family Advisory Circle (NFAC) 15
Our Women and Girls Are Sacred: Reflections from the
National Inquiry Elders and Grandmothers Circle 33
Introduction to the Final Report: Understanding Violence against
Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA People 49

Introduction to Section 1: Establishing a New Framework 89

CHAPTER 1: Centring Relationships to End Violence 93
Introduction: Building a Solid Foundation 93
Why Start with Relationships? 95
Encounters That Make a Difference 98
An Intersectional Approach to Encounters 102
Four Pathways That Maintain Colonial Violence 111
Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA People as Rights Holders 117
Promoting and Maintaining Healthy Encounters 122
Conclusion: Bringing It All Together 124

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
CHAPTER 2: Indigenous Recognitions of Power and Place 129
Introduction: Women Are the Heart of Their Communities 129
Two-Eyed Seeing: Diverse Legal Orders and Inherent Indigenous Laws 132
Understanding How Laws Are Lived, in Community 137
Stories as Rights, Stories as Medicine 140
Indigenous Expressions of the Right to Culture, Health, Safety, and Justice 145
Existing Systems of Relationship, Governance, and Identity 162
Conclusion: Finding Solutions through New Relationships 173

CHAPTER 3: Emphasizing Accountability through Human Rights Tools 181

Introduction: Why Human Rights? 181
The International Human Rights Context 183
Applying International Human Rights Instruments to Ensure Accountability 199
Domestic Rights Instruments in Canada 202
Indigenous Rights and Human Rights: A Complicated Relationship 218
Conclusion: Understanding the Need for Self-Determined Solutions 221

CHAPTER 4: Colonization as Gendered Oppression 229

Introduction: The Context of Colonization for
Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA People 229
Understanding Colonization as a Structure 231
The Logic of Discovery: Early European Exploration among
First Nations and Impacts on Gender Relations 234
A Religious Enterprise: Early Colonization among First Nations and Métis 236
The Early Colonial Context of Violence against Gender-Diverse People 239
Complex Relationships in Fur Trade Country 241
For Queen and Country: Shifting First Nations Experiences
within the Context of Canada 244
Colonial Encounter: Distinctive Métis Experiences 283
Colonial Encounter: Distinctive Inuit Experiences 294
Conclusion: A Crisis Centuries in the Making 312

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Introduction to Section 2: Encountering Oppression 321
CHAPTER 5: Confronting Oppression – Right to Culture 327
Introduction: Identity and Culture 327
Defining “Culture” 329
Pathway to Violence: Intergenerational and Multigenerational Trauma 331
Deeper Dive: The Need for a Systems-Level Approach to
Transforming Child Welfare 339
Pathway to Violence: Social and Economic Marginalization 379
Pathway to Violence: Lack of Will and Insufficient Institutional Responses 381
Deeper Dive: Media and Representation 385
Pathway to Violence: Denying Agency and Expertise in Restoring Culture 397
Self-Determined and Decolonized Systems 399
Linking Culture to International Human Rights Instruments 402
Conclusion: “Stop making an industry out of me” 406
Findings: Right to Culture 408

CHAPTER 6: Confronting Oppression – Right to Health 413

Introduction: Connecting Health and Safety 413
Defining “Health” 414
Current Approaches to Health in Canada 418
Pathway to Violence: Intergenerational and Multigenerational Trauma 420
Pathway to Violence: Social and Economic Marginalization 442
Deeper Dive: Understanding Distinctive Experiences of Danger in the
Lives of 2SLGBTQQIA People 447
Pathway to Violence: Lack of Will and Insufficient Institutional Responses 461
Deeper Dive: Issues Specific to Inuit and Remote Communities 472
Pathway to Violence: Denying Agency and Expertise in Restoring Health 488
Connecting to International Human Rights 493
Conclusion: Creating a New Normal 497
Findings: Right to Health 498

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
CHAPTER 7: Confronting Oppression – Right to Security 503
Introduction: “We’re not safe. Nobody is safe.” 503
Defining “Human Security” 504
Pathway to Violence: Intergenerational Trauma and Interpersonal Violence 508
Pathway to Violence: Social and Economic Marginalization 519
Deeper Dive: Understanding Intersectional Métis Experiences 526
Deeper Dive: Enhancing Interjurisdictional Cooperation to Promote Safety 561
Pathway to Violence: Lack of Will and Insufficient Institutional Responses 575
Deeper Dive: Resource Extraction Projects and Violence Against Indigenous Women 584
Pathway to Violence: Denying Agency and Expertise in Restoring Safety 595
International Human Rights Instruments and Human Security 608
Conclusion: Challenging “the way it is” 612
Findings: Right to Security 614

CHAPTER 8: Confronting Oppression – Right to Justice 621

Introduction: “Safety and justice and peace are just words to us” 621
Defining “Justice” 623
Pathway to Violence: Intergenerational and Multigenerational Trauma 627
Pathway to Violence: Social and Economic Marginalization 631
Deeper Dive: Criminalizing and Incarcerating Indigenous Women 635
Pathway to Violence: Lack of Will and Insufficient Institutional Responses 648
Deeper Dive: The Sex Industry, Sexual Exploitation, and Human Trafficking 656
Deeper Dive: The Need to Reform Law Enforcement to Increase Safety 674
Pathway to Violence: Denying Agency and Expertise in Restoring Justice 703
International Human Rights Instruments and Principles of Justice 711
Conclusion: Reinventing the Relationship 715
Findings: Right to Justice 717

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Acknowledgements
As Commissioners, we were mandated to investigate all forms of
violence against Inuit, Métis and First Nations women and girls, including
2SLGBTQQIA people. We were given a sacred responsibility to hear
from families and survivors of violence to make concrete and actionable
recommendations for the safety of Indigenous individuals, families and
communities. The legacies of those who no longer walk among us will not
be forgotten as all Canadians have a moral obligation to share this sacred
responsibility in breaking down systemic barriers, eliminating violence,
and ultimately creating safer spaces for Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people.
We honour the memory of all missing and murdered Métis, First Nations
and Inuit women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people including the spirits of
the missing or murdered whose families shared with us. You were taken,
but you are not forgotten; your lives, dreams, hopes and losses are now
forever a part of Canada’s living history.
We want to thank the families who shared their painful truths, knowledge,
wisdom, experiences and expertise with us. We honour your strength,
courage and perseverance in seeking justice and healing for the loss of
your grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunties, daughters, nieces, cousins
and close friends.

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 P R E FA C E

We acknowledge the survivors of violence who shared their experiences

with us. You have illustrated pure strength, courage and resiliency in
sharing your truth as many of you are still experiencing trauma and
systemic violence. We are extremely touched you entrusted us with your
experiences.
We cherish the submissions of artistic expressions, including, songs, poems
and art, that have been shared with us. Thank you to the artists, family
members, survivors and those across the nation who have been impacted
or inspired to take action through their submission. Your art will continue
to serve as powerful commemoration and legacy tools to share truth and
knowledge and serve as a means to heal and inspire action in others.
We offer our sincerest gratitude to the Elders and Grandmothers Circle
who worked alongside us, offering their support, wisdom, encouragement,
advice, protection and love to us and all who worked with the National
Inquiry. Our inspiration came from our Grandmothers who motivated us to
always work to the highest standards. One of the ways we will be able to
express our gratitude is to always live by the lessons and wisdom they
shared.
We want to acknowledge and thank the families and survivors who guided
and assisted us as members of the National Family Advisory Circle. For
many years, you fought to be heard and acknowledged in seeking justice
for your loved ones and your fellow Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people. You fought for a national investigation into the
injustices and violence experienced by Métis, Inuit and First Nations
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. We were not provided with the

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
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time, tools and powers to do all that we had hoped we could do, but you
walked with us every step of the way, and we are beyond humbled to have
walked alongside you, and to have received your truth and your trust.
We have been honoured with the support of Elders and Knowledge Keepers
across the nation who offered their guidance, knowledge, wisdom, prayers,
traditions, and ceremonies to the National Inquiry at our hearings, state-
ment-gathering events and other community events. In sitting with us, tend-
ing to the qulliq and sacred fires, offering ceremonies, songs, prayers, and
words of wisdom, you have helped us navigate through the very challeng-
ing task of engaging in a legal inquiry process, while incorporating
distinctive First Nations, Inuit, and Métis cultures, languages, spirituality,
and creating opportunities for healing. You remind us that every step in our
process had to be with heartfelt intention and purpose and grounded in
relationships and reciprocity.
We want to acknowledge the communities across the country that
welcomed us into their territories and homes. You helped us create safe
spaces filled with culture, language, spirit and compassion at each hearing.
In these safe spaces, difficult truths were brought to light, and for some,
healing began.
We offer gratitude to the members of our Métis, Inuit, 2SLGBTQQIA and
Quebec Advisory Committees, who offered their time to us in exploring
issues and positive solutions. Your expertise, advice and guidance has
contributed to the development of this report and recommendations for
the elimination of violence against Inuit, Métis and First Nations women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

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 P R E FA C E

We are so thankful for all of the staff and the contractors who made up the
National Inquiry. You have been fiercely driven and dedicated to ensuring
we were able to fulfill as much of our mandate in the time we had avail-
able to us as we could. Time and time again you pulled off the impossible:
24 hearings across the country, almost 750 people’s statements gathered,
eight institutional visits to correctional facilities, four Guided Dialogues,
eight validation meetings for the Final Report and numerous other gather-
ings which were required to fulfill this national mandate. You have truly
brought to life our vision of finding the truth, honouring the truth and
giving life to the truth.

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
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Chief Commissioner Marion Buller

F
irst, I acknowledge and welcome the spirits of the missing and murdered Indigenous
women and girls. I also acknowledge the courage of survivors. Their spirits and courage
guided us in our work. This report is about these beautiful Indigenous people and the
systemic factors that lead to their losses of dignity, humanity and, in too many cases, losses of
life. This report is about deliberate race, identity and gender-based genocide.
The violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people is a national tragedy
of epic proportion. Also part of this national tragedy is governments’ refusals to grant the
National Inquiry the full two-year extension requested. In doing so, governments chose to leave
many truths unspoken and unknown. There has been and will be criticism of our work; it is
vitally important. I hope that the criticism will be constructive and never end. I take the critics
and their criticism as indications of the great passion that exists about the issue of violence
against Indigenous women and girls.
As a nation, we face a crisis: regardless of which number of missing and murdered Indigenous
women and girls is cited, the number is too great. The continuing murders, disappearances and
violence prove that this crisis has escalated to a national emergency that calls for timely and
effective responses.
Within the National Inquiry, and in the short time we have had to do our work, families and
survivors have provided important truths. These truths force us to reconsider where the roots of
violence lie, and in doing so, to reconsider the solutions. I hope that knowing these truths will
contribute to a better understanding of the real lives of Indigenous people and the violations of
their human and Indigenous rights when they are targeted for violence. The truth is that we live
in a country whose laws and institutions perpetuate violations of basic human and Indigenous
rights. These violations amount to nothing less than the deliberate, often covert campaign of
genocide against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. This is not what Canada
is supposed to be about; it is not what it purports to stand for.

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
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In this report, we use hard words to address hard truths like genocide, colonization, murder and
rape. To deny these hard words is to deny the truths of the families and survivors, front-line
workers, and grassroots organizers. We used hard words because the violence against Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people is a difficult, critically important crisis to address and
in which we all have a role.
This report is also about hope. I believe, especially after witnessing the resilience of Indigenous
families, survivors and communities, that change will happen. An Elder said, “We all have to
get past the guilt and shame.” This begins with recognizing the truth. For non-Indigenous
Canadians, this means rethinking commonly held stereotypes, and confronting racism in every
context. For Indigenous Peoples, this means using the truth to rebuild our lives, our families, our
communities and Canada itself. And for governments, this means nothing less than a new
and decolonized social order; it is an opportunity to transform and to rebuild in real partnership
with Indigenous Peoples.
Skeptics will be fearful and will complain that the financial cost of rebuilding is too great, that
enough has been done, that enough money has been spent. To them I say, we as a nation cannot
afford not to rebuild. Otherwise, we all knowingly enable the continuation of genocide in our
own country.
I thank the family members and survivors who shared their painful truths about their tragic
experiences at our hearings and statement-gathering events. I am honoured to have shared your
tears, hugs and hopes for a better future. I will always be inspired by your resilience.
I have special admiration for the grassroots people and activists who knew, first hand, about the
depth of the violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. They knew –
they have always known – that the violence has to stop. Through their sheer determination over
generations, they have forced governments to pay attention, and to establish what we consider to
be just the beginning of this work: a National Inquiry into the root causes of a crisis that has been
generations in the making.
Canada can be a great country – the one many Canadians believe it is. Collectively, we must
settle for nothing less. Achieving this greatness will take vision, courage and leadership. I have
seen these qualities and more, in Indigenous people, from coast to coast to coast. I challenge
them to be the new leaders who will create a new reality, a new social order – a safe and healthy
country for all.

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
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Commissioner Michèle Audette

T
hroughout the ages, all societies have taken care to ensure the safety of the members of
their communities. And yet, still today, the World Health Organization reports that 35% of
women worldwide will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, this figure
reflecting only violence that is reported.
In Canada, statistics show that Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be
murdered or missing than any other women in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, between
2001 and 2015, homicide rates for Indigenous women were nearly six times higher than for
non-Indigenous women. A risk of such magnitude requires us all to take responsibility, to clearly
identify the issue and to take strong measures to address this situation, which is rooted in
Canada’s historical and political context.
That said, statistics cannot convey what families and communities really go through when they
lose loved ones to such violence. The concept of family means so much more than biological
lineage, with the strengths and diversity of a family being found in the sum of its parts. Each of
them deserves to live in an environment where all of its members can develop their full potential
safely and peacefully.
The National Inquiry has been an enriching learning experience, both personally and profession-
ally, but it has also been trying. Fulfilling our mandate was a daunting task, and I often felt
helpless when hearing the testimony of every person who generously contributed to the exercise
we put before them.
Our mission was to shed light on a social crisis that affects Indigenous women and girls and
2SLGBTQQIA people every day of their lives. Although this crisis was identified long ago, we
have been slow to examine it in depth. The commission that I have been part of inquired into a
situation that has affected all of Canada’s Indigenous communities, as well as all Canadians,
throughout the 500 years of our common history.

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
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This unprecedented inquiry addresses violence against some of this country’s most vulnerable
citizens and identifies its systemic causes. Never has there been such an opportunity for the truth
about violence against Indigenous women and girls to be heard and acknowledged. Within the
organization, we pushed and constantly stretched the limits of our teams to meet our goals.
Why go to such lengths? To bring about change. As my mandate comes to an end, I note, with
great humility, that this National Inquiry will have honoured the struggles taken up by the fami-
lies and survivors over the past 40 years. This Inquiry, which was sought by 3,000 families, will
have shone light on facts that are all too often hidden.
Violence against Indigenous women and girls does not stem from one isolated event. Sadly, it is
the daily reality of far too many human beings, many of whom are among this country’s most
vulnerable. Today, we have the opportunity to highlight the extraordinary resilience of Indige-
nous women and girls, who remain dedicated to advocating for their rights and charting a path
forward – a path we must all take together. We wish to honourably acknowledge victims and give
families the opportunity to finally be able to give their children a better future.
The present can only be understood in relation to the past: we must know our past, understand it
and accept it, if the future is to have meaning. We now need to go further and put forward a true
social blueprint that will enable the country to adequately address this major social issue and
break through this impasse. All our efforts will have led to identifying the solutions, means and
actions needed to bring about this movement. Every Canadian can and must become involved at
their own level if things are to change. Together, we have a duty to take effective measures to
prevent and put an end to violence against Indigenous women and girls and ensure their safety.
This commission of inquiry does not mark the end of a movement, but represents a step in a
healthy process that is a source of hope, a social undertaking. Today is the first day of the Canada
of tomorrow. We cannot change the past, but we can work together to shape a better future built
on the strengths of each and every community that welcomes it, thereby committing to improv-
ing the safety of Indigenous women and girls together.
#EndViolence #WomenAndGirlsAreSacred #ThankYouLife

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
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Commissioner Qajaq Robinson

A
s a non-Indigenous person, I must acknowledge the significance of the welcoming,
respect and kindness I, like others, have graciously received from Indigenous communi-
ties throughout the National Inquiry. I acknowledge that for many Indigenous Peoples,
however, welcome, respect and kindness is not what you receive when you encounter govern-
ment agencies and the Canadian public. Through this process, I have come to more fully under-
stand that the Canada I live in and enjoy is not the Canada that Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA peoples experience. In the eyes of the state, through law, policies and practice,
we are not seen or treated as equals.
The continued actions of our governments to deny and infringe on human rights and Indigenous
rights and the colonial, sexist and racist attitudes held by non-Indigenous peoples fails to recipro-
cate this welcome, respect and kindness you have shown me. Despite the numerous human
rights laws and instruments the federal, provincial and territorial governments are bound by, and
despite the recognition and affirmation of Indigenous rights in our Constitution, and the numer-
ous court decisions calling for rights recognition and respect, this is not the reality for Indigenous
Peoples, and especially Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in Canada.
There continues to be a widespread denial of rights and dehumanization of Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA peoples. This denial and dehumanization is the foundation Canada is
built on, and upon which it continues to operate today. It is the cause of the violence we have
been called upon to examine. It is a hard truth to accept for Canadians today, as we pride our-
selves on being a just and principled society, bound by the rule of law and respectful of human
rights and human dignity. However, we have been blind to the reality that our own place and
privilege as Canadians is the result of gross human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples.
These violations continue to persist in overt and in more subtle ways daily across Canada. This
truth hurts us all, and grossly undermines our values and our potential as a country.
So what are we non-Indigenous Canadians to do now? We must acknowledge our role and we
must become actors in the rebuilding of this nation. We must acknowledge that the crisis of
violence against Indigenous women and girls has been centuries in the making, and its root cause
is colonialism, which runs deep throughout the foundational fabric of this country. We are here

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 P R E FA C E

now because of years and years of decisions and actions that built Canada, all while robbing
Indigenous Peoples, and especially women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA peoples, of their humanity,
dignity and ultimately their lives. It is genocide.
We must be active participants in decolonizing Canada. We must challenge all institutions,
governments and agencies to consciously and critically challenge the ideologies that govern
them. We must critically examine our systems of laws and governance to identify how they
exclude and oppress Indigenous Peoples. We must challenge and call on all leaders to protect and
uphold the humanity and dignity of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA peoples. And
when they fail to do so, we must hold them accountable.
Finally, ending the genocide and rebuilding Canada into a decolonized nation requires true and
equal partnership with Indigenous Peoples. I hope that the Final Report of the National Inquiry
into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls can be a tool to do just that.

Martha Kyak designed and sewed this amauti. Sewing this

amauti was a healing process for her. Martha has dedicated
this amauti in memory of her sister Lily.

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Commissioner Brian Eyolfson

A
s I reflect on the work of the National Inquiry, I have tremendous gratitude for the family
members and survivors of violence whose voices and contributions have carried this
work forward. Over the course of the National Inquiry, we heard from many courageous
grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunties, daughters, grandfathers, fathers, brothers, uncles, sons
and other family members, including families of the heart, about their loved ones who have gone
missing or been murdered, as well as survivors of violence. As one of the Commissioners of the
National Inquiry, I have had the honoured privilege to be a part of this opportunity to change the
way forward.
To witness the extraordinary strength and courage of the families and survivors who shared their
truths with all of us has been an incredible experience. Those shared truths will always be in my
heart, and observing such strength and resiliency also gives me hope for positive change on a
stain that has covered this country for far too long. The release of this Final Report is also an
important opportunity and step in honouring the gifts of the truths that families and survivors
shared with the National Inquiry and everyone in Canada.
The mandate given to the National Inquiry, to inquire into and report on the systemic causes
of all forms of violence – including sexual violence – against Indigenous women and girls, is
far-reaching. In carrying out this mandate, it was important to the National Inquiry to create a
process that put family members and survivors first, to help create a path towards healing, and to
find, honour and give life to the truth, given the undeniable need to transform the conversation
about Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in this country and in our Nations.
Through this work, many beautiful relationships were also created across the land, relationships
that will continue beyond the mandate of the National Inquiry. We also heard from local Elders
who provided advice, such as keeping and carrying a sacred fire to each of our hearings. We
have also strived to be inclusive of all Indigenous people, including 2SLGBTQQIA people, and
respectful of local protocol.
Carrying out this important and necessary work from coast to coast to coast, in the allotted time,
has not been without its challenges. However, the many voices and contributions of families,
survivors, experts, Knowledge Keepers and other witnesses such as front-line workers, Parties

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with Standing, and our Grandmothers and National Family Advisory Circle members are undeni-
able. The record created, the fires lit and the many connections made through the work of the
National Inquiry, give strength and support for concrete and effective action that can be taken to
remove systemic causes of violence and to increase the safety of Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people in Canada.
The fundamental rights, including human rights and Indigenous rights, of Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in Canada must be upheld and respected on a substantive and
equitable basis. Many Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are denied basic
rights that others in Canada take for granted, such as access to safe housing and education. For
far too long, colonial and discriminatory policies, practices and attitudes have subjected Indige-
nous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to violence in this country – a violence that
unfortunately for many Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit and transgender people has
become normalized – and continues on an ongoing basis. The need for decisive action to address
this crisis is urgent!
Not just governments, but everyone in Canada has a duty and responsibility to take action to
address the issue of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. This
also requires critically examining attitudes and behaviours that impact the lives of Indigenous
women, girls, and Two-Spirit and transgender people in this country, such as negative portrayals
of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in the media. It is also important that
men “take action and stand up to end violence towards women and children,” as the Moose Hide
Campaign encourages, through actions such as speaking out against violence, holding each other
accountable, and healing and being healthy role models for youth. It is also vitally important
that we listen to Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in addressing this pressing
issue, as they are the experts and have the solutions and important roles to play in ending
violence.
I firmly believe that the work of the National Inquiry, and the findings and recommendations
set out in this Final Report, provide a strong basis for changing the way forward. We have the
opportunity and the will of many to make the necessary changes to ensure the safety of Indige-
nous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people for generations to come. Through our concrete
actions, let’s honour and give life to the truth.
Our women and girls are sacred.
Chi-Meegwetch

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Messages from the Directors

My continuing prayer is that this national tragedy will end. We have the roadmap drawn in this
Final Report, guided by the heartbreak and hope of the many family members and survivors who
testified, and the Knowledge Keepers, experts and institutional witnesses who took the time to
appear before us. Now, we need the courage to face these truths and the collective will to make
Canada the country it was meant to be.

- Jennifer Moore Rattray, Executive Director

I would like to thank my team for their hard work and dedication throughout the Inquiry. They
ensured the Commissioners and the Legal, Research, and Outreach and Support Services teams
were able to concentrate on the survivors and family members who have been impacted by this
national tragedy, and that the witnesses were able to travel to and attend hearings across the
country. Despite being largely behind the scenes, we bore witness to terrible truths shared by
incredibly brave people, and we wholeheartedly believe that the recommendations from this
report must be acted upon immediately.

- Alexandre Desharnais, Director, Logistics

I am honoured and humbled by the incredible trust placed in us to hear these truths and to share
them within this report. To my incredible team - it has been a privilege to share this experience
with you. I hope that the vision we have outlined reflects the needs of those who came forward
to share their experiences, and that they ultimately contribute to a safer world for all Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. To my family - Craig, Anabelle, Claire and my
mother Carolyn - thank you for your support throughout this work. To all: each and every one
of us has a role; it is time to act.

- Dr. Karine Duhamel, Director, Research

Even though my role and responsibility was to provide enabling administrative services, I feel
privileged to have supported such quick, forceful and meaningful change. I am beyond hopeful
that the work instigated by the National Inquiry will be a catalyst towards repairing damage and
altering a trajectory which will provide equality of opportunity if not equality of circumstance.
With the advent of this Final Report and recommendations, what lies ahead is a great deal of
hard work, sure to be filled with moments of despair as well as celebration. Onwards.

- Nicholas Obomsawin, Director, Operations

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 FOREWORD

The Registry’s responsibility was to hold all of the sacred truths and the evidence given to the
Commission by the thousands of witnesses who stood up to denounce the ongoing violence
against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in this country. My team and I
count ourselves lucky to have helped build a public record that resounds with the grace and
strength of the witnesses and their advocates. Their perspectives can help Canadians heal from
our country’s past and they tell us we must stop the current, normalized forms of violence. We
must begin to listen and to act.

- Bryan Zandberg, Registrar

The National Inquiry has a large public record accessible to anyone. The work was only
accomplished with the bravery, courage, and resiliency of all who shared their truth. The
evidence is compelling; it demonstrates how Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people are treated and how indifference and discrimination are maintaining harm and violence.
I encourage everyone to listen or read the record; it will not be easy – while the truth is
heartbreaking it also provides solutions and calls for change that need to occur so that this
country is safe for everyone.

- Christa Big Canoe, Lead Commission Counsel

It has been a great honour and privilege to be a part of this historic process. My sincere wish is
for the voices of the families and loved ones who testified at the National Inquiry to be finally
heard, and that their stories of loss and human rights abuses pave the way to a new future for
Canada, one in which we all are respected and treated as equal citizens. The Final Report and its
Calls for Justice speak to all Canadians; may we hear their truth and act.

- Catherine Kloczkowski, Director, Communications

I want to acknowledge all those who had the courage to forge this new path with us, the spirits of
our stolen sisters who guided every step of my journey, and my grandmothers in the spirit world,
who watched over me and my son throughout this journey and kept us safe. Now, more than
ever, we must all have the courage to continue on this road. We cannot turn a blind eye nor
remain comfortable with the status quo. My hope is that together with all Canadians, unified in
empathy and compassion, we will undertake the responsibility of ensuring the dawn of a new
reality for all those who have yet to be born.

- Terrellyn Fearn, Director, Outreach and Support Services

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 FOREWORD

Reflections from the

National Family Advisory Circle
The role of the National Family Advisory Circle (NFAC) is to help guide
the work of the National Inquiry and to serve as the voice of truth for the
families and communities of missing and murdered Indigenous women
and girls. NFAC does this by providing advice during the planning and
hearing processes to ensure that the lived experiences of families are heard
by the Commissioners alongside the evidence that is presented by the
Expert Witnesses, and to ensure that the concerns and experiences of
families are taken into account by the Commissioners when they cross-
examine the witnesses bringing evidence before them.
Members of the National Family Advisory Circle are volunteers who
provide advice to the National Inquiry. The members are not involved in
any operations. Members were invited by the Commissioners to participate
based on three considerations:
• They are longtime leaders and advocates for their loved ones.
• They have indicated interest in providing their support to the
National Inquiry.
• They are representative of a diversity of Nations, geographical
regions, and urban and rural communities across the country.

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We asked members of NFAC, on a voluntary basis, to share some reflections about their own
experiences within the National Inquiry and their hopes for the Final Report and the outcome of
the National Inquiry. We emphasize their invaluable contribution to the process; words are not
enough to thank them for their time, expertise, and commitment.

NFAC members in Vancouver discuss and provide feedback on the Final Report.

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 FOREWORD

Vanish,
by Gladys Radek
Tamara Lynn Chipman stole her Daddy’s heart from the moment she was born. Even her Mom
knew she would be a Daddy’s girl forever. When Tamara lost her Grampa – her favourite person
in the world – she clung to her Daddy and became his little shadow. Tamara loved fishing boats,
fast cars, and dogs. She was an adventurer. She grew into a tall, lanky, charming, beautiful young
lady with a smile that would brighten anybody’s day – from Daddy’s little tomboy to a young
mother at age 19, forever bonded with her son. She was never afraid of anything and lived life to
the fullest.
Then, one day, out of the blue, something out of the ordinary happened. There were no phone
calls, no knock on the door, no cheery hello, no more, “Hey Daddy, what we going to do today?”
All of a sudden, our world came crashing down. Tamara had vanished. Days turned into weeks, a
month and then into years. She disappeared on September 21, 2005 from the northernmost tip of
the Highway of Tears in British Columbia.
Our family conducted search parties through the mountains, along the railroad tracks, in ditches
and culverts and tread through the back allies of communities where angels wouldn’t dare tread.
We searched local, provincial, national and international waters for our baby girl only to realize
that there were so many more missing, like her.
The eternal flame will continue to burn in the hopes that someday soon she will bounce in that
door and say, “Hey Daddy, what we going to do today?” We wonder, is she warm, is she safe,
is she alive, and is she being held against her will, is she being raped or tortured, is she being
bought or sold? What happened to her, is she dead? Somewhere out there someone knows some-
thing; we pray that someday they will come forward and tell us the truth. This thought runs
through the minds of all the families of our missing loved ones, the thousands of us who wake up
to this nightmare every single day.
Of all of the hurtful experiences associated with the vanishing of a loved one, one of the most
is the racism displayed when our First Nations loved ones disappear. We hear things like “I heard
she was just a party animal,” or, “Was she wanted by the cops?” Or, the worst of all, that she
“lived a high-risk lifestyle.” These labels have taught mainstream society that all our women and
girls are just that – prostitutes, addicts and hitchhikers, and therefore not worthy of care or effort.
This is not true: Tamara is loved, now and forever. The Government of Canada as a whole has the
responsibility of ensuring every citizen is protected by the laws of the land; all people living in
Canada have the responsibility to live in peace and with respect for basic human rights, including
safety and justice. It is time for justice, closure, accountability, equality and true reconciliation.
It is time to END VIOLENCE against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. What
do we want? JUSTICE! When do we want it? NOW!

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Fallon Farinacci
When the opportunity arose to be part of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women and Girls, I immediately knew I was being guided to share my family’s story.
I had to be the voice for those who no longer could speak for themselves. Being part of the
National Inquiry as an NFAC member has been a stepping stone to a deeper level of healing.
It has opened my eyes to the emotional wounds I was suppressing.
It has truly been an honour being part of NFAC. The National Inquiry into Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is bigger than most Canadians understand. It’s not only
about bringing awareness to the lives that have been lost, but it’s also about bringing attention to
the deep historical wounds that Indigenous people have had to endure. It’s about a movement for
healing for all.
I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for being given the opportunity to be a member of NFAC and to
have my voice heard for my mother (and father). Without NFAC, I don’t feel we would have had
the same level of respect laid out throughout the work for those who have gone. NFAC members
have drawn from deep within themselves to share and fight for change for generations to come.
My hope for the National Inquiry is that we the families, survivors and victims can all find
healing, but it must start with change.

Jeremiah Bosse,
widower of Daleen Bosse
At first, my thoughts about a National Inquiry were, “Will this actually work or help?” Doubt
wandered around my brain, knowing how many First Nations issues have been swept under
the rug.
I now hope this National Inquiry touches the hearts of the people of Canada, helping non-
Indigenous people understand the need for reconciliation.
Today I feel hopeful for the first time that as victims of violence our words will be heard. The
words of our lost ones are spoken! We will be there to represent them; they may be lost, but they
are not forgotten!

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Myrna LaPlante
Our LaPlante/Osmond family began our journey as family members of missing and murdered
Indigenous women and girls in September 2007, and we have since been involved in a number of
activities in Saskatchewan and nationally.
In February 2017, I was invited to a family members meeting in Acton, Ontario. There began my
journey as a National Family Advisory Circle (NFAC) member. It was truly an honour to serve
as a member on this committee alongside other family members who are seeking justice. My
goal was to bring knowledge and expertise also from the volunteer MMIWG work that we do
in Saskatchewan.
The National Inquiry has provided the opportunity for our family to tell our story about missing
Aunt Emily to the Commissioners and a national and international audience. This also provided
the opportunity to offer recommendations on the topic of missing and murdered Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
The sudden and unexpected loss of loved ones in a family dramatically shifts family dynamics,
and that presents a new way of interactions within family and with external entities – for exam-
ple, with work and extended relationships, friends, and social and other activities. There is a lot
of sadness; our family tends to be more subdued, and immediate family gatherings change. We
learn to cope with this ambiguous loss rather than heal. The National Inquiry has provided me
with an opportunity to learn new skills and to engage in true healing through the aftercare
funding via an Edu-Therapy Grief Resolution certification.
We trust that the truth is reflected within the Final Report, that it is evaluated, and that it is
compiled in a way that is respectful of families. We trust that the recommendations that will stem
from all of the testimony and family stories, and that there will be swift implementation by gov-
ernments. We also trust that there will be ongoing supports for families who have suffered great
losses.
The love and support of our NFAC family has been tremendous for me. For that, I am thankful.
We know that we are in the same boat as many families and we are not alone.

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Melanie Morrison
I’ve been fighting for years to have change, and one of the focuses of Native Women’s Associa-
tion of Canada was to have an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
We wanted the concerns about our experiences and our files to be heard. It was important to our
family that change happens. I saw it as an opportunity to expand our families’ cry out for change
to police protocols on Indigenous missing and murdered women’s and girls’ cases.
My sister went missing June 18, 2006. My mother did an initial search by talking to all of my
sisters’ friends and people who usually knew where she was. It was unlike my sister to not come
home because she was a young mother. She told my mother she was coming home early that
night. When my mom went to the police, she was met with the stereotype that because she was
only 24, she was probably just out with friends and would show up. Unfortunately, my sister’s
remains were found four years later. It was devastating because where she was found was less
than a kilometre from her home. Local police were in charge up to that point. Then, after follow-
up with the case, it was handed over to the Sûreté du Quebec and the file remains active. My
niece was left to be raised without a mother. My daughter and I were very close to my sister, and
my youngest never got to know her aunt. My mother hasn’t recovered from the loss. My father
passed in 2015. He passed without answers. She was very outspoken and a ball of energy. When
her life was taken, the light fizzled and things are not the same.
Being part of the National Family Advisory Circle is healing in the prospect of having real
change. It’s another ray of light that I hope will burn. The way our women’s files are treated is
wrong, and my hope is that our reality won’t be someone else’s reality. These women and girls
were important. They never got to fulfill their purpose because someone was able to take their
life. I would love for all Canadians to think of our women as important because they were impor-
tant to us. When this happened to my sister, she was in a good place. She had just finished an
entrepreneurial course and she had a dream to build a house for her and her daughter. It was
painful because she was doing all these great things and then this happens.
My hope would be that there is an immediate change of how the police handle Indigenous files
on- or off-reserve so there’s no delay in pursuing every possible option to find that missing or
murdered loved one. There was such a divide in my personal experience. On-reserve, my sister’s
case wasn’t considered important, and off-reserve, people didn’t think they had to be responsive.
If the local police and off-reserve police had communicated with each other, we could maybe
have had closure.

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 FOREWORD

Darlene Osborne
Tansi, Kitatamiskatinawow, I am a member of the National Family Advisory Circle and have
attended five hearings across the country in Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, and Quebec
City. My husband, John, often attended with me as my support.
For John and I, there was truth in the words and tears of the families who shared their stories and
experiences about their loved ones. While this National Inquiry represents a start, there is so
much more to do. The limitation of the process, and its structure, could not shine enough light on
so many dimensions of truth we had hoped the Inquiry’s noble mandate would illuminate. In the
end, we as family members, because of the Inquiry, are able to stand strong together and united
in the singular message that there cannot be any more violence against women and we must find
a way as a nation to end these shameful and preventable deaths and murders.
There are many solutions that were offered by families and by survivors. While the National
Inquiry’s mandate was limited to Indigenous women and girls, we heard from many other fami-
lies who lost Indigenous men and non-Indigenous women; families who felt their grief and loss
but who did not have a voice or a way to contribute to the National Inquiry. Their stories need to
be heard, too.
We also feel there is a need to further investigate policing in this country; we are concerned that
the truth around how police departments treated the investigations of our loved ones at the time
will be lacking. We need this information to truly tackle the problems; to make changes so that
our women and children do not go missing or, if they do, these crimes no longer go unpunished.
We realize that as we seek the truth, we must also focus on healing. Healing needs to happen to
address violence that still occurs today. Our community of Norway House Cree Nation has many
members who have lost loved ones to senseless violence. We need true healing centres where
there is long-term aftercare, particularly for the children of the murdered and missing women.
Many of these children are now young teens and adults. They are lost and angry for what has
been stolen from them. A healing centre would recognize the lasting legacy these crimes have
had on our community; a healing centre would also allow our community to offer a place to heal
that addresses each family member’s needs.
We are honoured that we could be part of the National Family Advisory Circle. We hope our
words and reflections are taken in the spirit with which we intend: a sincere desire for change,
rooted in an honest reflection on the achievements and failings of this process, and on the diffi-
cult task of finding truths and answers that end the loss of our sisters’, mothers’, and daughters’
lives. The losses of our loved ones have profoundly affected those of us who were there when
our loved ones went missing – and who are still here now, looking for answers. We demand more
from this nation called Canada.

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 FOREWORD

Pamela Fillier
My daughter Hilary went missing on September 15, 2009. When I went to the police, they
assumed she was out partying and did not look for her. My community ended up looking for her.
We called the media and when the media got involved and it blew up on television, the police
started looking for her. When my daughter was found, it was discovered that her first cousin had
murdered her. He had previously been to jail for raping the mother of his children. He was let out
of jail even though his file said he was at a high risk of reoffending, and now I don’t have my
little girl.
The National Inquiry has been a healing process for me. I felt very alone, but when I go to the
hearings and to meetings with NFAC, I don’t feel so alone. The person next to you knows how
you feel because they’ve been there in a sense. No two stories are the same, but there is always
something that is the same that you can identify with. I will stay in contact with these women
because they really feel like my family.
My hope for the Final Report is that it will raise awareness about how much racism still exists
in Canada. I also hope for tougher laws for rapists, pedophiles, and murderers. My daughter’s
murderer received a sentence of 25 years in prison, but after 13 years he will qualify for day
passes. He was also previously charged in a number of violent cases. I fear for the safety of
women and girls in his community because he showed no remorse for what he did to my daugh-
ter and I fear he will reoffend.
Something else I would like to see come of the Final Report would be more safe spaces for
children. My dream would be to create Hilary House, a safe haven where children from the com-
munity could play or have a place to stay the night. I would like for it to include an arcade room
and a dance floor. There are no existing houses of this kind on reserves and I believe that it
would be a wonderful initiative to keep our kids safe.

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 FOREWORD

Priscilla Simard
Verna Mae Simard-Shabaquay was born to Charles and Tina Simard in Red Lake, Ontario.
Together they raised their children Cecil, Verna, and Mitchel. She was born into a warm and
loving family. As a child, she was happy, kind, and full of spirit. Her father affectionately called
her Fawn for her gentle nature. Her mother died when Verna was a very young age. Her father
was grief-stricken. Children’s Aid Society (CAS) took the children and placed them in a Men-
nonite home in Red Lake. They were placed in foster homes where physical and sexual abuse
occurred.
Verna married, but it did not last long. She raised her children, but they were taken into CAS. To
compound that loss, her oldest son died. Verna became a grandmother, and Verna doted, cared
for, loved, and lived for her granddaughter. Verna’s life was difficult and tragic, as she was un-
able to deal with her traumatic history, the grief and loss of her mother, the tragic death of her
father, the loss of her brother, and the loss of her oldest son. We believe these factors contributed
to her high-risk lifestyle: alcohol/drug addiction, multiple partners, and intimate partner violence,
which resulted in her death.
Verna had allegedly fallen from a sixth-floor window of Vancouver’s Regent Hotel on Hastings
Street. The circumstances surrounding her death remain suspicious, unsolved but ruled “no foul
play” by Vancouver City Police. This case can be reopened pending any new information
brought forward by any person. We, as a family, believe the intimate partner violence contributed
to her death. We believe she was thrown out of the window.
At the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls hearing in
Thunder Bay, Ontario, December 2017, the family put forward several recommendations for
change, including on issues such as the investigative process of the Vancouver City Police, police
reports, coroners’ reports, police response and protocols, credible witnesses, and a preponderance
of evidence based on environment. As well, the family had specific recommendations on child
welfare, domestic violence, intimate partner violence resulting in death, and the need for holistic
healing strategies.
We honour the memory of Verna and seek justice. We look to the National Inquiry to advocate
for and advance the recommendations for women like Verna. These recommendations cannot be
downplayed, ignored, or shelved. When the recommendations are implemented, we avert suffer-
ing, justice can be served, and her spirit can rest!
Miigwech!

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 FOREWORD

Sylvia Murphy
I am honoured to be part of this mission for justice. I have obtained so much knowledge and
direction from the National Inquiry. The hard work and dedication of the Commissioners and
National Inquiry staff, the strength and dedication of witnesses and survivors, who offered
testimony – all have impacted my own journey in important ways.
Intergenerational trauma has been the outcome of my mother’s life, my own life, my daughters’
lives and my grandkids’ lives. If things would be the way that they should be, our family would
have not had to live through this. Our journey, filled with trauma, was caused by my father’s
death that left my mother, at 28 years of age, with eight children to support. My own journey in
care, first in an orphanage and then in foster homes, left me with deep feelings of rejection, loss,
and alienation within an often cruel world.
The struggles have not been without successes, though. My youngest daughter will soon cele-
brate two years of sobriety and of living clean from drugs and alcohol. During this time she has
worked to complete grade 12 and has started college to be an Addiction Support Worker. She is
working to heal, one day at a time.
I have lived my journey, which has not been an easy one. With the Creator’s guidance, I have
transformed into the person I am today. My grandchildren are living in this world with the help
and love from their mothers and me. As their Grandma, I have tried with the best of my knowl-
edge to direct my daughters with help from programs we will get on our journey of healing
and love.
Respect, love and patience are very important for a better life for all. Key to these values include
all the members of our communities, including Grandmothers, who are Knowledge Keepers full
of wisdom and knowledge, who give guidance to all in need at any time. Men and boys are im-
portant as well; they need programs and support to be fathers of future generations. Improve-
ments in programs to help men and boys recognize their importance in protecting the women and
girls in this world.
While I have many hopes for the future, the most important thing, for me, is to make sure that a
program is put in place so children in care receive direction and support, to ensure their survival
and the survival of future generations.
The Creator is making us all strong. I pray every day that justice will come.

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 FOREWORD

Barb Manitowabi
The support of my family (Shailla, Michael and Jacob) was what helped me participate in the
Truth-Gathering Process and contribute as a National Family Advisory Circle member. For us,
this was a step we took together in our healing from past traumas and abuse and to gain a sense
of justice and validation; to gain a better understanding about the oppression facing our people.
My family’s experience reflects many of the themes that other families shared, including the
intergenerational trauma, racism, abuse; ongoing economic and social challenges; the issue of
lateral violence; our deep mistrust in the institutions of Canada to protect and take care of us; and
in large part, how systems have failed in protecting and helping my family when we needed it
most. Retraumatizing, revictimizing and setting us up for more poverty and even more violence.
This was an opportunity to give a voice to the grief, pain and rage that we, as a family, were
unable to let go of otherwise.
After this journey we are closer and stronger as a family; for this, I am grateful.
This process has changed me forever. For two years we went to the darkest places where the pain
and hurt still lives. The National Inquiry has uncovered failure after failure in protecting the lives
and rights of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. It is a system that, at its core,
aims to destroy and pull families apart. Our reality is that we are watching the slow, painful
destruction of Indigenous Peoples. Canada has built a system of rules and laws stemming from
greed, racism, and hate; this system continues to devour our families today. Canadians cannot
deny the facts, as ugly as they may seem: this is genocide.
From my experience being in NFAC and working with the Commissioners, I am in absolute awe
at the dignity, strength, beauty, courage, and perseverance our NFAC group has shown over the
past two years. Through all the bad media, political posturing, on top of the stress of testifying
and hearings, we stayed committed to our mission: ensuring that the truth be heard.
We all had moments of wanting to quit when things got too painful. In these moments of doubt
we tried to stay focused and remind each other why we were doing this – and for whom. We are
doing this for the sons and daughters of future generations, and it is only by sharing and knowing
the truth that healing can begin. I’m proud to be standing with other survivors and family mem-
bers knowing we did all we could to help the next generation of survivors and warriors.
I am grateful to NFAC and to the Commissioners for hearing and supporting my family. I would
also like to say Gchi Miigwetch (big thank you) to family, friends and Elders who supported us
through many storms along the way and helped me personally to stay focused on my commit-
ment. Rebekka Ingram, Thohohente Kim Weaver, Maura Tynes, Gladys Radek, Lorna Brown,
Ron Zink; I hold you in my heart always and forever. Shailla, Michael, Jacob, I love you.

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 FOREWORD

Lesa Semmler
When the National Inquiry started and I was asked to be part of the National Family Advisory
Circle, I had never been on MMIWG walks or been to rallies.
I had never identified with MMIWG even though my mother was murdered by her common-law
partner when I was eight years old. I didn’t think she fit the category because she had not gone
missing first. When I attended the pre-inquiry meeting in Yellowknife in 2016, it lit a fire inside
of me because I realized that I could use my voice to make change. During the first NFAC mem-
ber meeting there was a lot of talk about the issues First Nations are facing and talk of chiefs and
reserves. The other Inuit NFAC members and I explained that we are Inuit and that our issues are
different, and we deal with them differently. We live in an isolated part of the world and our
women are dealing with a lot of family violence. I wanted to ensure people in our region had a
voice and that their concerns were represented in this national process.
It has been a healing journey to talk about what happened to my mother at the National Inquiry
into MMIWG so I can deal with it. It has been healing for me to tell my mother’s story. Other
people who have identified with my experience decided to start talking about what happened to
them, too. Sharing our Truth was important for me and for my grandmother who never talked
about it before. After we shared, she felt relieved because she finally had the chance to say what
she wanted to say. She also realized so many other people have had similar experiences.
My hope for the Final Report is that there will be good recommendations for the northern territo-
ries to ensure the safety of children, women and men in the North. We need programs and sup-
port for families that are culturally relevant. Western ways do not work for Inuit women because
they are not heard the way they want to be heard. I hope that the recommendations are written in
a way that will be easily adopted by the provinces and territories and that they will initiate
action. I hope that all people in Canada will sit down and read everything that has been done to
Indigenous people before they just say it’s our own fault. Without a shift in that thinking, nothing
is going to change.

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 FOREWORD

Pauline Muskego
The day I received a call from Commissioner Michelle Audette to ask if I would consider sitting
as a member of the National Family Advisory Circle (NFAC) for the National Inquiry into
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (NIMMIWG) is a day I will never forget.
I recall the emotions I felt knowing that I would be honouring the memory of all MMIWG across
this land. My late daughter, Daleen Kay Bosse (Muskego) was one of the thousands who had
gone missing and was later found murdered. It was because of what we went through as a family
and what all families have gone through and continue to go through that I said yes, that it would
be an honour. My family was greatly impacted by our loss. Being able to tell our truth was a
way for us to heal from the pain we went through; however, it is a life-long healing journey for a
lot of the family members.
As a member of NFAC, these past few years have been challenging yet rewarding, knowing
that a National Inquiry of this magnitude and scope was able to accomplish what it did in the
short time it was given. The NIMMIWG is now in its final stages of completion and if it wasn’t
for the Commissioners and staff who stood strong and pushed forward despite all the opposition,
challenges, and obstacles, this National Inquiry would not have happened. For this I am thankful.
I close by saying, thank you…. It was an honour to sit as a member of NFAC.
“My Loved One Is Forever In My Heart”

Toni Blanchard
I decided to become involved in NFAC to have a voice for our Northern area and help make sure
something is done.
Being a part of the NFAC group helps with my healing and makes me stronger.
I want people to know that my sister, who was murdered in 2008 in Whitehorse, Yukon, had a
face. She was a daughter, mother, sister, auntie, granddaughter, and was very loved. She left
behind three beautiful children, who loved her very much. It is a hard journey to be able to talk
openly about what happened. I always end up crying and hating, when I shouldn’t be. All
MMIWG2S have people who care and love them so very much.
I hope the National Inquiry leaves as its legacy a beginning of decolonization, and that all
governments implement all Calls for Justice.

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 FOREWORD

Norma Jacobs
Guyohkohnyo Cayuga Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy

Haudenosaunee people, like other Indigenous Peoples, are so used to struggling. We are prison-
ers in our own lands, struggling with the traumas inflicted on us with the arrival of settler people
in our homelands, this great continent of North America, or, as the Original Peoples call it,
“Turtle Island.”
Through these struggles, we try to protect our “Mother, the Earth.” We do this to provide for and
leave something great for future generations, or as we say, our “coming faces yet unborn.”
Long ago, the Onkwehón:we, or Original Peoples, were given a sacred bundle made up of our
songs, languages, families, ceremonies, and everything else that supports our way of life. But our
people were beaten, enslaved and punished for using our language, coerced into giving up land,
ridiculed for our way of life and labelled negatively, violating our sacred boundaries of space
and time.
Even after we became aware of our own history, we dared not talk about it for fear of further
punishment, or even for fear of losing something we kept safe in our own minds. If we saw
someone violating our values and principles, not being accountable, we still did not speak up.
We learned to keep quiet and stick with the status quo, don’t talk, don’t feel.
Now! We are breaking that bond and speaking about our truths, even as we are surrounded by
our abusers and violators of our sacredness. It is possible to rebuild and restructure and restore
our ceremonies and languages. It is our blood memory.
Our Creation started with prayer and ceremony, guided by a sacred council. The Grand Council
of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy provided us with our bundles of values and principles so we
may experience this human journey with dignity and integrity.
Over 400 years ago, the Original Peoples made the first Treaty with European settlers, called the
Two Row Wampum Treaty. The Two Row Treaty was about each people respecting each other’s
sacred boundaries. Every Treaty was made with good intentions, respect, compassion and love.
Today, all of our demands are about respecting our values and principles. Settlers should respect
Turtle Island from our perspective, as visitors in our homes. We have to speak out and instill
responsibility and accountability in each and every living person.

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It takes so much time to heal our wounds and scars and transform oneself because of the status
quo. We have to heal not only ourselves, but also the trauma of our ancestors over generations.
But until we can move away from the status quo, break the cycle and gather our strength, we will
continue to have negative and hurtful relationships in this world and in our lives. By transform-
ing ourselves we can stop this cycle and instill within those coming faces yet unborn the values
and beliefs that will enhance our attitudes and behaviours for a more balanced future.

Our Values and Principles

Adenidao shra: Compassion and Kindness

Dewadadrihwa noh Kwa:k: Respecting One Another
Degayenawako:ngye: Working Together
Dewagagenawako:ngye: Assisting One Another
Esadatgehs: Self-Reflection on Actions
Gaihwaedagoh: Taking Responsibility
Gasgya:nyok: Encouragement
Gasasdenhshra: Strength & Supporting One Another
Drihwawaihsyo: Honest Moral Conduct
Oihwadogehsra: Being Truthful and Consistent
Sgeno: Peaceful Thoughts and Actions
Ongwadeni:deo: “Taking Care of Our Own”

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Rebecca Moore
I am an l’nu woman who was born and raised in the Kjipuktuk district of Mi’kma’ki (so-called
Halifax, Nova Scotia).
As an l’nu woman, I have been taught by my Elders that it is our inherent duty, as l’nu women,
to take care of the water and to protect the water for the future seven generations. I feel that this
is imperative for Canadians to understand. I take my inherent duty very seriously, which requires
much of my time, effort, care, and attention.
Our inherent duty and responsibilities as an l’nu woman places us as a direct target for violence,
harassment, police violence, misinformation by mainstream Canadians, criminalization, and in-
carceration. You see, it is not only Indigenous women who are living “at-risk” lifestyles or are on
the streets who are being targeted, it is Indigenous women as a whole. Because non-Indigenous
society benefits from settler-colonialism.
Being an Indigenous woman means living under a society and “civilization” that benefits from
your voicelessness, invisibility, disappearance, non-existence, and erasure. Because if we don’t
exist, then Canadians – while claiming to live an earnest and honest living – are free to steal and
exploit what is rightfully ours by loosening the “Rule of Law” for themselves and tightening it to
extinguish our existence and resistance.
Indigenous matriarchs – being the life-givers, grandmothers, clan mothers, and steering decision
makers – are not affirmed or recognized by the colonial courts and systems for their significant
place in Indigenous societies.
The Canadian government strips Indigenous women of their rightful place within Indigenous
societies and the outside world. By imposing their colonial structures, Canada removes the
decision-making power from the women and displaces it to corrupt government departments,
agencies, and service providers, etc.
Being l’nu in theory isn’t illegal, but in practice, living in action as one is. We have Treaty rights
under the Peace and Friendship Treaty, but good luck asserting them because the government is
going to tell you, “No, you can’t do that.” When it comes to hunting, fishing, or “earning a
moderate livelihood” with our own initiatives, we, as individual inherent rights holders and
descendants of the land itself, are treated by the state as criminals.
The Canadian government prevents Indigenous women and their families from having the auton-
omy to earn a moderate livelihood and achieve their own safety and security. Until Indigenous
women are given the power and authority to self-determine what happens within their own
territories, we will always be at risk under Canada’s “Rule of Law.”

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Lorraine Clements

I woke this morning to a soft but inviting snow covered mountain,

A mountain of my childhood
A mountain I returned to this week to move forward speak my truth and
continue the healing within
A mountain of pain
A mountain of learning
A mountain of Hope.
My mountain has been a hard one to climb,
In my time have never reached the top.
Now with this day, my day of truth telling,
My mountain is not too high.
My mountain seems easier to climb.
My mountain now has hope.
My climb is just the beginning as with
many others this week.
Our mountain will be conquered.
With love, kindness and always together,
fighting the systems for Justice.

Photo submitted by Lorraine Clements; no copyright

infringement intended.

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Our Women and Girls Are Sacred:

Reflections from the National Inquiry
Elders and Grandmothers Circle

Introduction
Early on in the National Inquiry process, the Commissioners’ Elder
Advisors, or “Grandmothers,” gathered in a sweatlodge in Quebec. They
went into this ceremony asking themselves, what should the National
Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls look
like? What is the best way to do this work?
The sweatlodge was part of the Missinak Community Home, a safe house
in Quebec City co-founded by Elder Pénélope Guay, Commissioner
Audette’s spiritual grandmother. As Pénélope shares, “We all got together
there. And we came up with a plan, in our own way. We came up with a
plan to see how the National Inquiry would proceed. For the Grandmothers
[and Elders], for the Commissioners. What will our work be? That’s how
it went. We decided on everything you see. Our role, our involvement.
That was when we decided on how it would all be done.”1

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Members of the Elders and

Grandmothers Circle. Left to right:
Leslie Spillett, Laureen “Blu”
Waters, Audrey Siegl, Louise Haulli,
and Bernie Williams. Not pictured:
Kathy Louis and Pénélope Guay.

Elder Laureen “Blu” Waters, Grandmother to Commissioner Brian Eyolfson, was there as well:
“When we came out of that sweat, one of the most important and profound things that came to
being was that we needed to have something that showed our Indigeneity and that blanket idea
came out of that. Those blankets that are hung up around the rooms [at the hearings]. Those
blankets that identify people, identify their Nations, their names, their land masses, the things
that they used for their cultures…. That was one of the most important things that I remember, is
doing that sweat and coming out with that idea. And, that helped shape us and to make sure that
we never forget about ceremony, to incorporate ceremony into everything that we do.”2
Ceremony, whatever it looks like, is deeply rooted in a people’s cultural identity. Incorporating
ceremony into such a legal structure as a public inquiry is a way of reminding Indigenous
families and survivors that this National Inquiry is to honour the sacred in them and in their lost
loved ones. As a National Inquiry, we have faced criticism for a seemingly rigid and legalistic
structure. Yet, within the limitations of our mandate, these words from the Grandmothers who
have led us through the process remind us of the National Inquiry’s guiding principle: that our
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are sacred.
To honour their work, the National Inquiry asked the National Inquiry Elders and Grandmothers
to sit down with the Research team, to include their reflections of this journey in the Final
Report.3 This is one small way to acknowledge their incredible contributions, which often
happen behind the scenes, as well as the work of mothers, grandmothers, aunties and caregivers
guiding similar work across this land.
The National Inquiry Elders and Grandmothers Circle
The idea for an Elders or Grandmothers Circle first started in the fall of 2016. The Commission-
ers decided to each seek an Elder from their community to provide them with advice. Blu recalls
that when Commissioner Eyolfson first offered tobacco to Blu, he explained that “he needed

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somebody to be there as support for him, to help him with this important work that’s being done
and to make sure that we incorporate spirituality.”4
The Commissioners decided to use the term “Grandmother” to represent the closer, kinship
relationship that was developing between themselves and their Elders. While not all the Elders
are biological grandmothers, they fill those traditional roles.
The current members of the Elders and Grandmothers Circle are: Pénélope Guay, French-
speaking Innu Grandmother to Commissioner Audette; Louise Haulli, Inuk Elder to Commis-
sioner Robinson; Kathy Louis, Cree Elder to Chief Commissioner Buller; Laureen “Blu” Waters,
Cree/Métis/Mi'kmaw Grandmother to Commissioner Eyolfson; and Bernie Williams, English-
speaking Haida/Nuu-chah-nulth/Coast Salish Grandmother to Commissioner Audette. Leslie
Spillett, Cree/Métis Grandmother to Executive Director Jennifer Rattray, joined the National
Inquiry in the spring of 2018, and Audrey Siegl, Bernie’s niece and a member of the National
Inquiry’s health support team, also supports the Elders and Grandmothers Circle.
As Indigenous women who are survivors and family members themselves, the Elders and
Grandmothers are witnesses to the many ways Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA people
have been devalued and dehumanized, making them prime targets for violence. Working with
the National Inquiry has given the Grandmothers another way to do the same work they were
already doing, but in a new way. Each of the Commissioners’ Grandmothers bring deep commu-
nity knowledge and practical expertise to their roles.
Grandmother Pénélope is a proud Innu woman from Mashteuiatsh in Quebec, who strongly
believes in the power of reconnecting with your culture to heal the wounds of history. Her
Innu mother was deprived of her First Nations status when she married a métis man, as stipulated
by the Indian Act. As an adult, Pénélope has had to recover her culture through healing and
reclaim her identity as an Indigenous woman.
Pénélope co-founded the Missinak Community Home (la Maison Communautaire Missinak),
a safe house for Indigenous women in Quebec City, with her daughter 20 years ago. There she
sees many young women who are deeply affected by the trauma of residential schools, as well
as by substance use and homelessness, the consequences of residential schools today. With
nowhere to go, many of them end up being exploited on the streets. However, Pénélope also gets
to witness what she calls “miracles”5 – the extraordinary change that can happen when you give
people time and space to heal.
Elder Louise lives in Igloolik, Nunavut, a small community of less than 2,000 people. Much of
Louise’s work in the past has been focused on strengthening Inuit traditional values and making
Inuit knowledge and skills more accessible to the Nunavut government. She has worked as the
Inuit Societal Value Project Coordinator for Igloolik, where she offered traditional Inuit coun-
selling and did radio shows on Inuit family values. She worked on community wellness projects
for Igloolik and Nunavut, and was a Nunavut Human Rights Tribunal member from 2004 to
2013. She was also an Inuktitut language specialist in elementary schools and visits Elders in
Igloolik to make sure they get some help around the house.

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Louise shares that violence is a significant issue in the Arctic, just as it is for so many First
Nations and Métis communities, although the culture of silence is even stronger: “For those of us
living in the Arctic, we have experienced this, but we are less vocal…. Indeed, Inuit too have
gone through exactly the same experience of mistreatment.”6 She emphasizes how much she has
learned from hearing the stories of so many other Indigenous women in Canada, and how impor-
tant it is not to feel that we know it all, but to really pause, listen to the families and survivors,
and learn from what they have to share.
Elder Kathy says: “My name is Kathy Louis. My views as an Elder from Samson Cree Nation
are mine and those of my Ancestors who were Leaders and Healers. Growing up on the reserve
was a lived experience throughout my life.” She was raised by parents and ancestors steeped in
strong traditional values. She is a residential school survivor and has spent her life helping her
people heal, especially men and women involved in the criminal justice system. Kathy was the
Pacific Regional Vice-Chair of the National Parole Board, where she served for many years, and
successfully helped introduce Elder-assisted parole hearings in Canada along with two male First
Nations Elders. She has also been awarded Canada’s Meritorious Service Medal and the Order of
British Columbia. In her work, Kathy saw many women who had acted violently in their lives,
but: “I observed that as the way they may have been treated as children and young adults grow-
ing up, and this was their lived experience in adult relationships. All this stems from racism,
oppression and colonization.”7
When she isn’t working with the National Inquiry, Kathy volunteers with several urban Aborigi-
nal organizations in Vancouver. In particular, she is working on the development of an Aboriginal
Family Healing Court Conference project. This is an Elder-driven project that focuses on helping
families involved with the child welfare system develop healing plans, to re-connect with their
own Indigenous cultural values and keep families together.
Grandmother Leslie (or Giizhigooweyaabikwe, Painted Sky Woman, White Bear Clan) is a
Cree/Métis woman from northern Manitoba. She began her career as a journalist and photogra-
pher before dedicating herself to what some people call “community development,” but she calls
Nation-building.
Leslie was one of the principle founders of Mother of Red Nations Women’s Council of Mani-
toba, sat on the Native Women’s Association of Canada Board of Directors, and is the founder of
Ka Ni Kanichihk, a Winnipeg organization that provides Indigenous-led programming, including
for family members of missing and murdered women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Leslie,
who has been raising awareness on this issue since the early 2000s, says: “One of the most ex-
treme forms of the colonial project has been about violence against Indigenous women and girls.
So that includes all kinds of violence, including state violence and discrimination, which has
caused so much trauma. And at its most extreme is, of course, the missing and murdered women
who just have been murdered because they were Indigenous, or who have disappeared, again,
because they were Indigenous.”8

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Grandmother Blu (or Istchii Nikamoon, meaning Earth Song) is a Two-Spirit Cree, Mi’kmaw
and Métis community Elder working in the Toronto area. She is Wolf Clan, and her family is
from Big River Saskatchewan, Star Blanket Reserve and Bra’dor Lake, Eskasoni First Nations,
Nova Scotia. She currently works at Seneca College as an Elder on campus providing traditional
teachings and one-to-one counselling to the students and faculty.
Blu was first raised by her Kokum (grandmother), learning traditional medicines and hunting
geese, rabbits, ducks and muskrats in Toronto’s High Park. At age 10, she was adopted into a
white family. While she later sought out those Indigenous connections again, it caused a lot of
pain in her life. Blu sees many other people going through this, too: “For a lot of Indigenous
Peoples, they lose those connections and they’re lost. They’re wandering around lost, but know-
ing that there’s a big piece of them inside that’s missing.”9
Grandmother Bernie (or Gul Giit Jaad, Golden Spruce Woman, of Raven Clan), is a Haida mas-
ter carver, artist and activist. She is also a survivor and family member who has spent her life
advocating for Indigenous women, particularly in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES).
Bernie’s first love was her art, and she apprenticed under world-renown Haida carver Bill Reid,
the only female apprentice he has ever had. Bernie’s work is recognized around the world, and
one of her proudest achievements was creating a traditional Haida button blanket for the first
Indigenous woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Through all the different kinds of violence
she survived, art and music were the things that provided safety for her. Her art today is her
biggest passion after her children and grandchildren.
However, she also answered her Elders’ call to advocate for her people. She first joined the Red
Power in 1974 and was mentored by other Indigenous Elders – “power house” women like
Harriet Nahanee, Kitty Sparrow, Reta Blind, Viola Thomas, Carol Martin, Mary McCaskill,
Noddy Bernice Brown, and Phillipa Ryan – who taught her who she really was and how she was
connected to the land. She continues this work with other women on the front-lines of the Down-
town Eastside, with no funding, simply going wherever she’s called into the early hours of the
morning. As Bernie says, “All I ever wanted to do was to bring the truth out – because I am a
survivor of sexual abuse, domestic violence, Sixties Scoop, Indian day school, residential school,
and all I wanted was, you know, the truth to come out. That women like me, you know, who have
lost family members, like my mother and my three sisters…. And then to hear, you know, the
stories all across Canada, that we had, like, a common thread together in that, eh? And, it was the
mismanaging of so many of our loved ones all across Canada.”10
Audrey Siegl (or sχɬemtəna:t, St’agid Jaad) is “Musqueam all the way back to the first sun-
rise,”11 with Haida connections through Bernie. She is one of the National Inquiry’s traditional
medicine carriers. In this role, she travels to almost all of the National Inquiry’s public events to
support people as they need it.

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Audrey is also a survivor and family member, who came to this work through activism: “A lot
of people say we ‘protest’…. I protest nothing. I protect. Big difference. What I stand for is as
important as … what stands against me.”12 Later on, she adds, “I do the work I do because of all
the women who came before me who could not.”13
Leading with the Grandmothers’ Perspectives
The Grandmothers’ role at the National Inquiry has always been flexible, and has evolved over
time.
Louise, Commissioner Robinson’s Grandmother, started her work with the National Inquiry with
the intention of sitting by the Commissioner and being an Elder for her support.14
Pénélope similarly explains: “We have a role that is quite important, because we support the
Commissioners in their work to ensure that the vision for each approach respects the spiritual
values of our people. We’re always there from the start to the end … if we’re needed for infor-
mation, or for our thoughts, or to ask us questions. We’re always listening. We Grandmothers
follow along during the National Inquiry, and we meet to talk about how it went. What can be
improved? What can be done? We also meet over Skype to come together and prepare for the
next event.”15
At the Grandmothers’ direction, the National Inquiry did its best to incorporate the local tradi-
tions and cultures into its hearings wherever possible. As Blu explains, “Each Nation has its own
ceremonies that have sustained them over the beginning of time and they’re all valuable. None is
greater than the other.”16 This included the way the rooms were arranged and the opportunity for
families to access both Indigenous and Western healing supports.
One of the consistent reminders of Indigenous women’s power and place was the bundle of
sacred objects that traveled with the National Inquiry from hearing to hearing. The National
Inquiry’s bundle started with a red willow basket, a qulliq (an Inuit women’s oil lamp), a copper
cup with water, a smudge bowl and various medicines. We added to this bundle with each hear-
ing as people gifted us a Red River cart, a birch bark biting, sealskin, photos, songs, feathers,
stones, and many more medicines. Pénélope explained that: “We bring our sacred objects, like
our eagle feathers. All these objects, that’s our path, it’s our way of doing things…. It’s like our
way of giving thanks. Thanking the Creator a bit for the work that we have done too.”17
As Pénélope points out, making spirituality so visible in the National Inquiry is one of the
things that makes it unique: “That’s still important. It’s an inquiry, there are Commissioners.
Witnesses, lawyers. Putting spirituality at the centre of this National Inquiry allows us to work in
a calmer atmosphere, rooted in cultural values that are thousands of years old.”18
Incorporating Indigenous ways of doing things has been critical to making the process of the
Inquiry, and not just the recommendations or the Final Report, as healing and as decolonizing
as possible.
The Grandmothers also used their strengths differently within the National Inquiry.

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Blu describes her role, particularly at the hearings, as one that encompassed many different
aspects: “We can be sitting in the back talking with a family member who is having a hard time,
or we can be sitting up at the front supporting the Commissioners and having them know that
we’re standing there with them, we’re there to watch them, we’re there to pray for them, we’re
there to make sure that the Creator is helping them, to hear the words that are being spoken and
to understand what they’re hearing…. Or the next day, we may be, you know, sitting with a per-
son who has just come in off the street and is having a breakdown because they hear their life
story being told, right? The same thing has happened to them and they’ve had no supports.”19
Bernie is not an Elder – her role in life is as a land defender and peacekeeper – but she takes her
role as a Grandmother at the National Inquiry very seriously. Her most important focus is on sup-
porting the families and survivors. She says it comes down to being a humble servant, lending a
hand, and making sure the families, the Commissioners, the staff and everyone else are okay.
The Grandmothers emphasized that while they were originally asked to guide the Commission-
ers, they worked with the entire National Inquiry community. Blu says, “We support the different
members of the Commission itself, so the cameramen, the security teams, you know, the Parties
with Standing, the health workers, the Registrar. You know, all the community members that
make up this National Inquiry, we’re here for every one of them, none of them has a greater role
than the other.”20
As part of the health team, Audrey brought comfort and healing to people using traditional medi-
cines. She says that the number one medicine she brings is love. Number two is patience, and
number three is space: “My granny taught me that you have to be able to do what you do with
only you. It’s good if you have the medicines, the actual medicines there, but if you can’t do –
if you can’t work on someone, if you can’t work with someone with nothing, with just you, that’s
not good.”21
Audrey explains some of the tools she uses: “I have an eagle fan, I have an owl fan. We have
different kinds of sage, we have beautiful tobaccos, we have copal. We have medicines that have
been gifted from all across Canada, north to south…. Everyone who comes in here and brings
medicine, it is my job, and I am honoured and humbled to do it, to take care of them.”22
The National Inquiry also makes use of the Grandmothers’ expertise in specific areas—for
example, Elder Kathy’s expertise with the justice system, or Bernie’s expertise on the DTES, as
well as their perspectives as Quebecoise, Inuit and Two-Spirit women. Their advice in crafting
the Final Report has helped ensure that the report will help keep women and girls safe, and
won’t simply collect dust on a shelf.
What Does it Mean to Be “Sacred”?
One of the most unique ways that the Grandmothers have guided the National Inquiry is by
helping us understand what “sacred” looks like in everyday life and in the context of this work.
What does “sacred” mean, and if women and girls are sacred, how does that affect what we do?

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From the Grandmothers, we can see that the idea of women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people
being “sacred” is as multi-faceted as people themselves.
Elder Kathy, who is fluent in Cree (Y dialect), explains the literal meaning of “sacred”: “It’s
Creator-gifting, Creator-power-gifting. You can say it in different ways and it will mean the
same. It’s Creator-centred-thinking…. It’s a sacredness of life.”23 After a bit more thought, she
adds, “It’s … you have the gifts that were given to you and you’re putting them to use for the
good of humanity.”24
Grandmother Blu echoes this idea: “For me, one of the lessons I learned was that in Creation, the
Creator made us and we’re all gifts. We carry gifts within ourselves and each one of us has our
own unique gifts. But, together as communities, when we share those gifts, we’re very rich. It’s
more valuable than any monetary means can be, because we know, and we can understand, and
we can help each other, and we can take care of each other, and support and know what the right
things are to do.”25
For Blu, one of her gifts is being Two-Spirited. She describes it: “As a Two-Spirited person,
I encompass both that male masculinity side and that female side. It’s a delicate balance. Some
days I feel more feminine, some days I feel more masculine. But, for me, it’s a blessing. For
others, they look at it as you’re a freak. You should either be man or woman, you can’t be both.
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the saying, ‘God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and
Steve’ just out of ignorance. So, we have a lot of ignorances out there that we fight against
every day.”26
Blu explains that it was important to include 2SLGBTQQIA (Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual) and gender-diverse people in the National
Inquiry’s mandate, because they have always been part of Indigenous circles: “Our Two-Spirited
people, our trans people, they’ve always been in community. They were ostracized through colo-
nization. They were told that their lifestyles were not appropriate, that they couldn’t carry on the
way they were. But, we’re still here. And, that we need to teach each other the valuable skills that
we pick up along the way. We need to support each other in doing our cultural work to reclaim
who we are.”27
One of the most common ways Indigenous Peoples recognize women as sacred is by bringing
new life into a community. Grandmother Blu explains: “Our women are so sacred. They control
everything. They are the heart of our nations, right? … Our women are the ones who are the
caregivers, they’re the ones that can bring life forward, they create that new life. Yes, they need
another partner to help them do that with, but they’re the ones that carry that life.”28
However, women and 2SLGBTQQIA people are sacred in many other ways, as well, since they
have many gifts to offer. As Leslie explains: “I do believe that … we are kind of portals for life.
But I don’t think that’s all we are, you know? I think we’re so much more than birthers. So I
don’t want to dismiss the sacredness of women as life-givers, but … that is so not our only
role.”29 She points out that everyone and every community is going to reclaim women’s
responsibilities differently, and that culture evolves.

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Audrey offers another way to look at it: “For our young women, for our grandmothers, for our
women who travel with us, we are sacred because we exist. We are sacred because we have
survived.”
In many ways, the journey to the National Inquiry started in places like Vancouver’s DTES.
There isn’t anything that respects the idea that women and girls are sacred there – which is why
Bernie and others working with Indigenous women in the Downtown Eastside always remind
them that they are important, that they matter. Bernie says, “I walk up to them and tell them, I
just want to let you know how much you are loved…. Contact your families and let them know
you’re okay. That’s the message we tell them, because they feel judged a lot. That’s my front-line
work, is to let them know that no matter what, we’re fighting for them. You try to give them that
little ray of hope. No matter what, we’re fighting for them and we value them.”30
Grandmother Blu sums it up: “Women are the life-givers, but women are not going to be life-
givers without men. So, that’s a balance in life. Our Two-Spirited people bring that balance
again, of masculine and femininity. Our lives are not about our sexuality or even our gender
identity, it’s about us being a human being. It’s about us following those teachings that our ances-
tors put in place for us, those teachings of kindness and respect, truth, honesty, humility, love,
wisdom, about living those ways of life. Trying to look at each other as a valuable portion of a
community, what gifts does that person have to bring to the table, so that we can become a very
rich table, right?”31
When we honour our own gifts and the gifts in others, we are recognizing the sacred in all of us.
Understanding and Restoring Power and Place
Based on this idea of people’s gifts being respected and fulfilled, the National Inquiry’s vision is
to help Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people “reclaim their power and place.”
One of the best ways to do this is to recognize the importance of Indigenous ways of knowing,
doing and being. This often starts with learning, or re-learning, what those Indigenous ways are.
Grandmother Leslie shares that this approach is not often welcome when it comes to Indigenous
people and organizations trying to suggest their own solutions: “Assimilation is still how the
dominant culture approaches Indigenous Peoples. Somehow, we need to become them to be
okay. We need to have their values. We need to have their world views. If we don’t, then there’s
something psychologically wrong, deficient in us.”32
Several Grandmothers spoke about how they themselves grew up separated from their culture.
Grandmother Pénélope, whose mother had internalized a lot of shame for being Indigenous, had
her “wake-up call” when she first started learning the true history of Indigenous Peoples: “Today,
I teach this history wherever I’m invited. It takes me at least three hours from first contact to
today: what happened? What happened in residential schools? What happened with the Indian
Act, that made women like me lose their whole identity, their pride? No, as long as the Creator
grants me life, I don’t think I’ll ever stop telling this history.”33

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Elder Kathy’s most important Cree teachings are to love, respect, help and care for one another,
and to be honest and kind with one another. She says, “The more centred you are in your life, the
more you realize your true essence and purpose in life of being a strong Indigenous woman. Also
I believe that, in order to live and be of help to anyone, we need to know and understand our
own values. We need to know who we are. Then you can take risks to do things differently and
contribute to society to bring about change. Because all of us can contribute that way. When we
recognize our gifts from our Creator, anything is possible. You make it real as you continue to
step forward.”34
Kathy is very aware that one of the greatest losses for Indigenous Peoples today is the loss of
language, culture and a sense of belonging. She witnessed first-hand how powerful restoring this
sense of belonging could be in Elder-assisted parole hearings for Indigenous offenders, where
she said they were “very, very receptive.”35 Sweat ceremonies are also important to women’s
healing, as well as immersion-style training for all service providers who are part of the
corrections system.
Kathy also shares that the inmates were functioning better than the staff because of the incredible
impact Elder involvement and ceremony was having: “Men and women came to prison, admitted
they came to prison to learn about their culture. To learn anything about having to do with tradi-
tions. And yet some of the men and women … were brought up with the traditions, but had not
lived and practiced any of that.”36 In doing this work, she has followed the teachings – of love,
compassion and forgiveness for others.
Leslie sees her work at Ka Ni Kanichihk, where all of the programs are culturally-based and
Indigenous-led, as an act of sovereignty: “It was us knowing that we had our solutions and learning
about how to apply those solutions in a way that really has an impact in the community.”37 She said
it was also explicitly about reclaiming women’s power: “I’m not interested in, you know, taking
over men. I think that we want to restore that balance … within our culture groups, and to show our
girls and our boys that there is a place that we hold them both up, and they are equally sacred and
they’re equally valuable, and they are equally needed to be a part of our Nations.”38
Leslie reminds us: “There is no nationhood without women and without not only women, with-
out women playing a fundamental and equal role within that Nation. There is no nationhood
without that.”39
Reclaiming power and place will look different across Canada, because of the diversity of
Indigenous Peoples. As Elder Louise pointed out, many plans made in the south don’t work
when people try to implement them with Inuit, because they didn’t come from Inuit.
However, Louise also sees many cultural similarities between Inuit and First Nations in how they
have responded to the hurt and trauma of colonization: “Inuit in the Arctic, and the First Nations,
are all one group and we have cultural values that we can recognize within each other.”40
One of the biggest challenges to reclaiming this power and place is how many women and
2SLGBTQQIA people continue to be lost every day. Blu explained that “[We lose] all their

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teachings. All their life lessons are lost. To learn – to be able to walk the same path that someone
has already walked takes a long time. And, when those people are taken early from us or when
there’s people who pass on into the spirit world, all their knowledge, their life experiences go
with them.”41
Ultimately, it comes down to listening to Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
We have to value their voices, and fight against the stereotypes and centuries of colonization that
have de-valued and dismissed the many gifts they have to offer. Leslie emphasizes this: “I do
believe, and I believe to this day, that there has to be an independent Indigenous women’s voice.
And that doesn’t mean that we don’t play a role within our Nations or within the community. But
that’s, I think, a really necessary thing at this time.”42
As Pénélope says, “It’s really important for Indigenous women to speak up. I tell myself the
more they speak, the more they regain their strength. The more of us women who speak up, it’s
strength. It also shows our place.”43 She adds: “Taking our place also means moving forward in
spite of pitfalls and prejudice. We must take our rightful place; this is the strength I wish for us. I
really believe that.”44
How the National Inquiry is Creating Change
The Grandmothers have seen some of the changes this National Inquiry is already making, for
themselves and their communities, as well had to deal with its biggest challenges.
Louise reflects on how much work is still left to be done, especially with the National Inquiry’s
short timeline: “There is still a lot of work. Those we hear from are sharing stories, these are
stories they are finally sharing, of what they have been holding onto in their hearts, the pain that
they have been carrying, the untold stories they have been holding onto for many years without
any type of support. This is what we are seeing today…. But this is their story and now they have
been given an opportunity to be grounded and work towards the next stage.”45
Another challenge is that incorporating Indigenous ways into the legal inquiry structure wasn’t
always successful. The short time frame, bureaucratic rules and requirements and internal
difficulties all contributed to make this work as challenging at times as it was rewarding.
Bernie, Blu and Audrey all spoke about how this work – both in the National Inquiry, and outside
of it – can wear you down, to the point where it’s impossible to think what a “normal day” would
look like. The violence goes on, even as the National Inquiry ends. Bernie sees this every day:
“These are young kids that are just fighting for their own survival and that. Yet nothing – unless
you have somebody that’s going to come down there and look for you, you’re done. It’s only two
ways out. Either somebody is going to come in there that loves and cares about you enough, like
your family or your relatives, or you’re going out in a body bag.”46
Between January and September 2018, Bernie lost a staggering 88 friends or family members to
violence in the Downtown Eastside. Children are experiencing terrible psychosis, she says, “and
everyone just kind of turns a blind eye.”47

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Leslie sees these challenges in Winnipeg, as well – particularly how women are blamed for the
violence they experience: “We know that they’ve been called prostitutes, drug addicts. And then
there’s always the polite terminology, which is coded, racially coded, like ‘at-risk,’ or those kinds
of things. There’s ways of people washing their hands as if to say, ‘Well… that has really noth-
ing to do with us.’ They’ve caused their own disappearances. They’ve contributed to their own
disappearances, and/or rapes, and/or murders, by their personal behaviours – by the way that
they are dressed, by what they were doing, by being Indigenous, and by being women. Many
people don’t see the system as violence. But in fact, missing and murdered Indigenous women
and girls is the result of imposed poverty, legal and individual racism, discrimination and the
patriarchy.”48
However, the Grandmothers also recognized some of the changes already starting as a result
of this National Inquiry. For Louise, one of the biggest impacts has been that more and more
Inuit are speaking out: “Recently we have broken the silence, given the recent ability to tell our
stories. Through the First Nations’ willingness to open their stories by sharing them, our stories
are being heard. The Commissioners’ Inquiry is what opened this.”49
Pénélope sees these commonalities between our stories, too: “It’s striking too, all their stories.
They show how fragile we are, and at the same time, how strong we are. And it still continues
today. That’s what strikes me, and how resilient we are.”50
She sees that we are at a critical juncture: “With the National Inquiry, that’s what I say. We’re at
a turning point here in Quebec just as we are in every community in Canada. Every Indigenous
person in the country knows now that it’s not normal to be second-class citizens in your own
country. This will make us stronger. That’s what the National Inquiry will produce.”51
Most important is the support, comfort and healing the National Inquiry has been able to provide
to families and survivors – work the Grandmothers will carry on past the life of the National In-
quiry. As Bernie says, “Being asked to be part of the National Inquiry has been one of the biggest
responsibilities of my life, and one of the hardest. I’ve met amazing Elders, family members and
survivors all across our beautiful nation and it’s given me the opportunity to walk shoulder to
shoulder with families and be part of the change. I’m amazed at how resilient we all are –
through our journey, we still have a sense of humour and we’re still standing together. This has
been a healing journey for me…. It’s been tough sometimes, but that’s what made us stronger
and closer through the process.”52
Bernie also makes a point to single out the Commissioners. “I have never seen a group of four
more incredible human beings, who have taken on so much starting with nothing. They are the
true warriors. They have put in long hours, long days, time spent away from their families. The
Creator doesn’t make mistakes, and he knew exactly who was fittest for this journey. Now, I’ve
going to support them right to the very end.”
As Elder Kathy says, “Right from the start of the National Inquiry it appears to have been held
to a different standard by the government and mainstream society. However, I strongly believe
that our Spiritual ancestors have guided us in powerful ways to attain what our Creator and our

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ancestors rightfully gifted us, with our lifeblood – they left us their DNA to continue to right
the wrongs for our loved ones, the missing and murdered mothers, girls, sisters, aunts, great-
grandmothers and great-great-aunts. I have observed a hopeful future for empowerment, for
recognition, acknowledgement of survival and resilience, and in particular the Canadian society’s
need to validate the strong Indigenous women that we are. Perhaps some of us have not yet fully
realized that Indigenous women (people) come from a strong sacred essence, teachings and
knowing of personal power.”
Violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people violates that understand-
ing that each of us is sacred. This can create long-lasting trauma, but trauma is not the end of the
story. As Audrey puts it: “Here I am, after a lifetime of hiding myself and shaming myself,
proud, humbled and empowered. Empowered by truth, empowered by trauma and unspeakable
atrocities, to travel and be bold enough to say and to work with medicines that have existed since
the first sunrise, as long as we have.”53
Next Steps: The National Inquiry as a Beginning, Not an End
As Louise points out, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and
Girls is a beginning, not an end. Everyone has a part to play going forward.
For many non-Indigenous people, it’s important to be ready to “unlearn” some learned behaviours.
Blu points out: “There’s still a lot of others out there that don’t really think this is that important.
They don’t know the histories, they don’t know that. They think these things happened 300 years
ago and why are we still talking about it.”54 Bernie adds, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not
paying attention. This is every Canadian’s responsibility not to turn a blind eye.”
For Leslie, getting individual people creating change is the most important step: “Individuals
have a role in these things as well. They can either support the status quo or resist it.”55 Later on,
she adds: “I have faith in the community. I have faith in the power of the people. That’s where
power truly is.”56
Leslie continues: “We have to mourn our losses, but we can’t let it stop us. We have to just keep
going. And that is the strength of the prayers of the grandmothers and the ancestors, that it’s our
job now, it’s all of our jobs to have strong prayers, and to have strong love for everybody. That’s
the medicine.”57
Blu also emphasizes that governments have to do better: “It’s got to be the government commu-
nicating with the different communities on all the issues that surround those communities,
whether it be water, whether it be land, whether it be suicides, whether it be missing persons,
whether it be housing, whether it be lack of resources. The government has to start listening.”58
Louise sees hope for the future in collaboration, or mutual understanding between Indigenous
and non-Indigenous peoples – for example, by using Inuit and First Nations cultural values in
areas like family services and other programs, where bureaucratic and Indigenous values seem
to clash.59

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Pénélope reminds us that reclaiming Indigenous values is also political: “I work with a group of
Indigenous women and men, and we work on crafts, and one time we were making moccasins.
I said, ‘Do you know that what you’re doing is political? Because if we no longer know how to
make our moccasins, embroidered, it’s a part of us that we lose.’ Now, that’s what they say.
Making our moccasins is political, yes, it’s true. Because it’s part of our culture.”60 As we will
discuss in more detail later in the report, culture is the foundation of nationhood. Teaching people
how to make moccasins not only is an act of personal growth, but it strengths the cultural identity
of a Nation.
This journey may be a hard one, but Kathy encourages people to “trust yourself. Trust your
heart.”61 She shares a quote from Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, a professor at the University of
California, that has been very important to her in her healing work: “ ‘We do not serve the weak
or the broken. What we serve is the wholeness in each other and the wholeness in life. The part
in you that I serve is the same part that is strengthened in me when I serve. Unlike helping and
fixing and rescuing, service is mutual. There are many ways to serve and strengthen the life
around us: through friendship or parenthood or work, by kindness, by compassion, by generosity
or acceptance. Through our philanthropy, our example, our encouragement, our active participa-
tion, our belief. No matter how we do this, our service will bless us.’ ”62
Kathy reminds us, “We’re only given one life, and my gosh, we have to make the best of it when
we’re walking on Mother Earth and do the best for all of humanity.”63
In the meantime, the Grandmothers will carry on – through public policy, through women’s
shelters, by educating others and in their home communities.
Pénélope says she will continue to walk on this journey, no matter how difficult: “I will always
continue to walk despite the pitfalls that there may be or the learning experiences that are diffi-
cult. I’ll never lose hope. Because there’s always someone put on our path to help us understand
things…. It’s important to believe that we can change things even if we’re alone. When we
believe, we can change something. We can change the course of history.”64
Kathy is an example of someone who has survived a lot of colonial oppression, and has given
back so much to her community in spite of that. She says, “You can carry on, you can become
something that your parents and ancestors knew you could make happen of your life. You can
carry the lifeblood in a way that you don’t understand when you’re a kid. Much like a flower
blossoming, it doesn’t blossom fast. It takes years…. But those are the times we grow, because
we’re pushed to the limit of having to grow.”65 She adds: “And it’s not just for Aboriginal people.
Canadian society’s going to learn from what we write and what we do and what we say. They
may not like some of the stuff they hear. That’s part of healing process.”66
Audrey encourages Indigenous women to “make yourself strong, make yourself smart, make
yourself invincible, connect to women around you, support women around you, honour women
around you, guide women around you to places of healing.”67 She adds: “Yes, we have a shit ton
left in front of us to do, but look at how far we’ve come and look at whose shoulders we’re

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standing on to keep carrying ourselves with dignity and respect, and to keep knocking down
those walls, to keep shining the light, to keep leading with love, to keep leading with medicine,
to keep reconnecting to ourselves while we’re surviving a genocide and being accountable to the
Canadian government for legalities that they’re using against us to carry on that genocide.”68
Bernie will never take “no” for an answer: “As long as our women and our children are still
going missing and being murdered at a high rate, I’m still going to be on those front-lines.”69
Bernie said she’s been asked many times, why do you do this work? “And, I’m always reminded,
well, of Mother Teresa, she was coddling this beautiful brown baby. She was in Calcutta and
she was asked the question. And, she said, where else can you see the face of God?…. And, that
resonated…. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I could not stop crying. Because every human being
that you see, at the end of the day, we all belong on that big hoop of life together. And, these
women, why? I can only say what’s in my own heart. But, if I was ever asked to, you know – I
have no regrets and I would do this over and over again for the women, because they matter.”70

1 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018, 14 Interview with Louise Haulli, September 14, 2018,
by Annie Bergeron, p. 6. by Lisa Koperqualuk, pp. 1-2.
2 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4, 15 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018,
2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 12. by Annie Bergeron, pp. 2-3.
3 Some quotes have been edited for clarity in 16 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4,
collaboration with the Grandmothers. 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 26.
4 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4, 17 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018,
2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 7. by Annie Bergeron, pp. 7-8.
5 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018, 18 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018,
by Annie Bergeron, p. 22. by Annie Bergeron, p. 8.
6 Interview with Louise Haulli, September 14, 2018, 19 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4,
by Lisa Koperqualuk, p. 3 and 9. 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 14.
7 Interview with Kathy Louis, September 26, 2018, 20 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4,
by Kelsey Hutton, p. 42. 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 15.
8 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018, 21 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
by Kelsey Hutton, pp. 3-4. September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 22.
9 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4, 22 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 5. September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, pp. 22-23.
10 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl, 23 Interview with Kathy Louis, September 26, 2018,
September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 6. by Kelsey Hutton, p. 114.
11 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl, 24 Interview with Kathy Louis, September 26, 2018,
September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 2. by Kelsey Hutton, pp. 115-116.
12 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl, 25 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4,
September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, pp. 12-13. 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, pp. 13-14.
13 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl, 26 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4,
September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 63. 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 19.

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27 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4, 49 Interview with Louise Haulli, September 14, 2018,
2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 16. by Lisa Koperqualuk, p. 3.
28 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4, 50 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018,
2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 18. by Annie Bergeron, p. 4.
29 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018, 51 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018,
by Kelsey Hutton, p. 29. by Annie Bergeron, p. 16.
30 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl, 52 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 74. September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 29.
31 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4, 53 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
2018, by Kelsey Hutton, pp. 25-26. September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, pp. 14-15.
32 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018, 54 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4,
by Kelsey Hutton, p. 16. 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 8.
33 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018, 55 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018,
by Annie Bergeron, p. 13. by Kelsey Hutton, p. 5.
34 Interview with Kathy Louis, September 26, 2018, 56 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018,
by Kelsey Hutton, p. 100-101. by Kelsey Hutton, p. 34.
35 Interview with Kathy Louis, September 26, 2018, 57 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018,
by Kelsey Hutton, p. 44. by Kelsey Hutton, p. 39.
36 Interview with Kathy Louis, September 26, 2018, 58 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4,
by Kelsey Hutton, p. 46. 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 24.
37 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018, 59 Interview with Louise Haulli, September 14, 2018,
by Kelsey Hutton, p. 17. by Lisa Koperqualuk, pp. 12-13.
38 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018, 60 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018,
by Kelsey Hutton, pp. 19-20. by Annie Bergeron, pp. 14-15.
39 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018, 61 Interview with Kathy Louis, September 26, 2018,
by Kelsey Hutton, p. 38. by Kelsey Hutton, p. 30.
40 Interview with Louise Haulli, September 14, 2018, 62 Remen, My Grandfather’s Blessings, 7, as quoted in
by Lisa Koperqualuk, p. 9. Louis, p. 37.
41 Interview with Laureen “Blu” Waters, October 4, 63 Interview with Kathy Louis, September 26, 2018,
2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. p. 32. by Kelsey Hutton, p. 23.
42 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018, 64 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018,
by Kelsey Hutton, p. 7. by Annie Bergeron, p. 28.
43 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018, 65 Interview with Kathy Louis, September 26, 2018,
by Annie Bergeron, pp. 24-25. by Kelsey Hutton, pp. 118 and 124.
44 Interview with Pénélope Guay, September 18, 2018, 66 Interview with Kathy Louis, September 26, 2018,
by Annie Bergeron, p. 26. by Kelsey Hutton, p. 126.
45 Interview with Louise Haulli, September 14, 2018, 67 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
by Lisa Koperqualuk, pp. 5-6. September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 81.
46 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl, 68 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 54. September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 79.
47 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl, 69 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 56. September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 7.
48 Interview with Leslie Spillett, December 4, 2018, 70 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
by Kelsey Hutton, pp. 8-9. September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 82.

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 INTRODUCTION

Introduction to the Final Report:

UnderstandingViolence against
Indigenous Women, Girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA People
Introduction: Listening Deeply
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in Canada have been the
targets of violence for far too long. This truth is undeniable. The fact that this
National Inquiry is happening now doesn’t mean that Indigenous Peoples waited
this long to speak up; it means it took this long for Canada to listen.
More than 2,380 people participated in the National Inquiry into Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, some in more ways than one. Four
hundred and sixty-eight family members and survivors of violence shared their
experiences and recommendations at 15 Community Hearings. Over 270 family
members and survivors shared their stories with us in 147 private, or in-camera,
sessions. Almost 750 people shared through statement gathering, and 819 people
created artistic expressions to become part of the National Inquiry’s Legacy
Archive. Another 84 Expert Witnesses, Elders and Knowledge Keepers, front-line
workers, and officials provided testimony in nine Institutional and Expert and
Knowledge Keeper Hearings.

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The truths shared in these National Inquiry hearings tell the story – or, more accurately,
thousands of stories – of acts of genocide against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people. The violence the National Inquiry heard amounts to a race-based genocide of Indigenous
Peoples, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis, which especially targets women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people. This genocide has been empowered by colonial structures evidenced
notably by the Indian Act, the Sixties Scoop, residential schools and breaches of human and
Indigenous rights, leading directly to the current increased rates of violence, death, and suicide
in Indigenous populations.

Defining Genocide
The term “genocide” was first used by the Polish-Jewish legal scholar Raphael Lemkin at a
conference in Madrid in 1933. Lemkin later elaborated his ideas in a book, published in 1944,
dealing with German actions within the context of the buildup to the Second World War. The
term “genocide,” as coined by Lemkin, is a hybrid between the Greek root genos (“family,”
“tribe,” or “race”) and the Latin suffix -cide (“killing”).
“Genocide,” in its original construction, is defined as coordinated actions aimed at the destruction
of a group, committed against individual members belonging to that group. In Lemkin’s construc-
tion of the idea, genocide would have two phases that could contribute to establishing the political
domination of the oppressor group. The first included the destruction of the “national pattern of
the group,” and the second phase included what he called the “imposition of the national pattern
of the oppressor,” which could be imposed on the population that remained in the territory, or on
the territory itself within the context of colonization of the land by a new group.
Writing in the context of the German state’s actions in the Second World War, Lemkin defined
“genocide” as occurring across several different fields:
• political, including the attack on, and subsequent disintegration of, political institutions
• social, including the abolition of existing laws and the imposition of new justice systems
• cultural, including forbidding the use of languages in schools and in the press
• economic, including the destruction of the financial base of the group, and including
actions aimed to cripple or to reverse its development
• biological, including measures aimed at decreasing the birthrate among groups of
people
• physical, including the endangering of health, and mass killings
• religious, including the disruption of existing systems of religion and spirituality, and
the imposition of new systems
• moral, including “attempts to create an atmosphere of moral debasement within this
group”1

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 INTRODUCTION

Lemkin’s definition of genocide included an important principle, which didn’t restrict the
definition to physical destruction of a nation or ethnic group. As he explained:
Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction
of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation.
It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the
destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of
annihilating the groups themselves.2

The objectives of a plan of genocide would include actions aimed at the “disintegration of the
political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the eco-
nomic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health,
dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups.”3
A legal definition of genocide wasn’t incorporated into international law until 1948, following
the programs of mass murder carried out by the Nazis during the Second World War. In its
articulation in this forum, though, it became more restrictive. Drafters argued over whether the
definition of genocide should be universal, as in other criminal categories, or restricted to certain
groups, as well as whether leaving some groups out might actually serve to target them.4 Lemkin,
who participated in the drafting, argued that social and political groups shouldn’t be included,
because they didn’t have the permanence of non-political groups. States in the negotiations –
among them the Soviet Union, Poland, Great Britain, and South Africa – worried that enforce-
ment of such a convention could violate the principles of state sovereignty.5 In the end, the con-
vention was a compromise: an agreement among states and the result of difficult negotiations.
The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide (PPCG) on December 9, 1948. Article II of that convention holds that
genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or
in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its
physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.6
Canada signed the Convention in 1949 and formally ratified it in 1952.

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There is much agreement when it comes to the fact that genocide can be committed both within
and outside the context of an armed conflict.7 However, outstanding disagreements remain
concerning the question of “intent,” the nature of the groups included in its definition, and the
importance of physical or biological destruction in whole or in part as an essential part of
defining genocide.8
To some extent, these differences are part of a more social versus legalistic interpretation of the
term. As historian and political scientist Jacques Semelin explains, those scholars relying on a
legalistic concept of genocide are facing new challenges from those who question the extent to
which an international legal norm based on a political agreement by the international community
in 1948 should be the operational basis for how we examine and evaluate actions that may fall
under one or more parts of its definition today.9 Today, fields other than law also examine geno-
cide in different terms.
Conceived as a social practice, as Daniel Feierstein, director of the Centre of Genocide Studies
at the National University of Tres de Febrero in Argentina, argues, genocide involves “shared
beliefs and understandings as well as shared actions” that may contribute to genocide or to
attempted genocide, and which include “symbolic representations and discourses promoting or
justifying genocide.”10 Feierstein asserts that genocide as a social practice is a “technology of
power.” It aims, first, “to destroy social relationships based on autonomy and cooperation by
annihilating a significant part of the population,” in numbers or in practice, and, second, “to use
the terror of annihilation to establish new models of identity and social relationships among the
survivors.”11
As Canadian writer and filmmaker Larry Krotz explains, applying the term “genocide” to what
happened in North America has a decades-long history, including in the 1973 book The Genocide
Machine in Canada: The Pacification of the North, by Robert Davis and Mark Zannis; and
1993’s American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World, by David E.
Stannard. A more recent work, Accounting for Genocide: Canada’s Bureaucratic Assault on
Aboriginal People, by Dean Neu and Richard Therrien, was published in 2003.12
In recent years, and in light of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s
(TRC) Final Report, many Indigenous thinkers have turned to evaluating how the term “geno-
cide” applies in Canada. As genocide scholar Andrew Woolford has noted, Canadian scholars
have not given colonial genocide in Canada enough attention, due in part, perhaps, to the fact
that the spatial and temporal boundaries of the case of genocide in Canada are not obvious. As he
notes, “If Canadian settler colonialism was genocidal, where exactly did it occur and when did it
begin? And considering the intergenerational effects at stake, as well as the perpetuation of set-
tler colonial practices, can we say for sure whether genocide has even ended?”13 Usually, and as
he notes, “Much nuance is lost by force fitting it into a traditional comparative genocide studies
paradigm that defines cases on national rather than regional or international levels of analysis.”14

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Officially, the Government of Canada currently recognizes five genocides: the Holocaust, the
Holodomor genocide, the Armenian genocide in 1915, the Rwandan genocide of 1994, and the
ethnic cleansing in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995. As Krotz maintains, “In our world, genocide is
absolutely the worst thing you can say about an action undertaken by individuals or groups.
So atrocious, in fact, that many historic events that carry the characteristics of genocide struggle
to – or fail to – get named as such.”15 But as Woolford argues, and as the testimonies heard by the
National Inquiry make clear, we must consider the application of genocide in both legal and in
social terms, and as it persists today.
As Pamela Palmater, chair in Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University, explains:
If you speak to Indigenous women today, they will tell you that the crisis is far from
over. The Indian Act still discriminates against Indigenous women and their descendants
in the transmission of Indian status and membership in First Nations. Indigenous women
suffer far greater rates of heart disease and stroke; they have higher rates of suicide
attempts; they disproportionately live in poverty as single parents; their over-
incarceration rates have increased by 90% in the last decade; and 48% of all children
in foster care in Canada are Indigenous. With this list of harrowing statistics, is it any
wonder that thousands of our sisters are missing or murdered?16

Considering the application of genocide on both legal and social fronts also means examining the
historical record in light of the particular ways in which the programs aimed at subjugating and
eliminating Indigenous Peoples were enacted, and the contemporary effect of these structures in
the ways that many programs and pieces of legislation continue to be administered. In the Cana-
dian context, and in reference to Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, some
examples include: deaths of women in police custody; the failure to protect Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people from exploitation and trafficking, as well as from known killers;
the crisis of child welfare; physical, sexual, and mental abuse inflicted on Indigenous women and
girls in state institutions; the denial of Status and membership for First Nations; the removal of
children; forced relocation and its impacts; purposeful, chronic underfunding of essential human
services; coerced sterilizations; and more.
As Palmater notes:
So why is it so important to understand the history of genocide in Canada? Because it’s
not history. Today’s racist government laws, policies and actions have proven to be just
as deadly for Indigenous peoples as the genocidal acts of the past. What used to be the
theft of children into residential schools is now the theft of children into provincial
foster care. What used to be scalping bounties are now Starlight tours (deaths in police
custody).… Racism for Indigenous peoples in Canada is not just about enduring
stereotypical insults and name-calling, being turned away for employment, or being
vilified in the media by government officials – racism is killing our people.17

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As former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine and Bernie Farber,
executive director of the Mosaic Institute, commented in a 2013 opinion piece, “Genocides
rarely emerge fully formed from the womb of evil. They typically evolve in a stepwise fashion
over time, as one crime leads to another…. Our conviction is that Canadian policy over more
than 100 years can be defined as a genocide of First Nations.”18 As they point out, the fact that
Indigenous Peoples are still here and that the population is growing should not discount the
charge; the resilience and continued growth of these populations don’t discount the many actions
detailed within this report, both historical and contemporary, that have contributed to endemic vi-
olence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
Settler colonialist structures enabled this genocide, and “the intergenerational effects of geno-
cide, whereby the progeny of survivors also endure the sufferings caused by mass violence which
they did not directly experience,” need to be understood in the Canadian context.19 Genocide is
the sum of the social practices, assumptions, and actions detailed within this report. As Danny P.
shared in his testimony, “Is it any different today than it was 300 years ago when this was
socially acceptable and is it still socially acceptable to be going around killing our people off? …
That to me is a form of systemic genocide, which is still perpetrated today.”20
The National Inquiry’s findings support characterizing these acts, including violence against
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as genocide. Throughout this report, and as
witnesses shared, we convey truths about state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and
colonial ideologies, built on the presumption of superiority, and utilized to maintain power and
control over the land and the people by oppression and, in many cases, by eliminating them. Due
to the gravity of this issue, the National Inquiry is preparing a supplementary report on the
Canadian genocide of Indigenous Peoples according to the legal definition of “genocide,” which
will be publicly available on our website.

Speaking Up … Again
As we discuss in the Interim Report, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have
been speaking out about this violence for decades. While some people spoke out about their
loved ones for the first time at the National Inquiry, others had also shared their testimony with
the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba,
Amnesty International for their 2004 Stolen Sisters report, and the Native Women’s Association
of Canada’s “Sisters in Spirit” research, education, and policy initiative.
In 2010, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) confirmed 582 cases over 20 years
of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls.21 In 2013, Maryanne Pearce, writing about
missing and murdered women for her doctorate in law, identified 824 who were Indigenous.22
The mounting evidence spurred the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to do their own
review, which confirmed 1,181 cases of “police-recorded incidents of Aboriginal female
homicides and unresolved missing Aboriginal females” between 1980 and 2012.23

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The RCMP report also stated that Indigenous women made up roughly 16% of all female homi-
cides between 1980 and 2012, despite making up only 4% of the female population.24 Statistics,
however, can be misleading: this number represents an average over a long time span, which
obscures the increasing severity of the problem – namely, that Indigenous women and girls now
make up 24% of female homicide victims.25
Lisa Meeches, an acclaimed Anishinaabe filmmaker from Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba,
co-created the true crime documentary series TAKEN a few years ago to help resolve the tragic
reality of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.26 As part of their advocacy,
Meeches’s production company, Eagle Vision, partnered with Maryanne Pearce and Tracey Peter,
an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Manitoba, to
transform an updated (2016) version of Pearce’s data into an odds ratio. They found that the
odds were much higher than previously imagined.
According to their calculations, Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be
murdered or missing than any other women in Canada, and 16 times more likely than Caucasian
women.27 Sharing these statistics – as well as the truths of families and survivors behind
them – has been another of their advocacy tools.
As more and more studies show, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are being
targeted from all sides, from partners and family members, acquaintances, and serial killers.
Rates of domestic and family violence are extremely high,28 but so is stranger violence. Indige-
nous women are also more likely to be killed by acquaintances than non-Indigenous women,29
and are seven times as likely to be targeted by serial killers.30 In the words of James Anaya,
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the rates of missing and
murdered Indigenous women and girls are “epidemic.”31
Other than murder, statistics also reveal how Indigenous women consistently experience higher
rates and more severe forms of physical assault and robbery than other groups in Canada.32
Sexual violence is a huge problem in all its forms: Indigenous women are sexually assaulted
three times more often than non-Indigenous women,33 and most of the women and children
trafficked in Canada are Indigenous.34 According to researchers Cherry Kingsley and Melanie
Mark, in some communities, sexually exploited Indigenous children and youth make up more
than 90% of the visible sex trade, even where Indigenous people make up less than 10% of the
population.35 The majority of Indigenous women who are later sexually exploited or trafficked
were sexually abused at an early age, making them easy targets for traffickers who prey on this
vulnerability and count on society’s turning a blind eye.36

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The rates of violence are equally alarming for members of the 2SLGBTQQIA community, who
are often erased or left out of national statistics. For example, Égale Canada reports:
Lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LBT) women, as well as gender-diverse and Two
Spirit people encounter discrimination, stigmatization, and traumatic experiences of
violence at disproportionately higher rates than their heterosexual and cisgender
counterparts. These experiences are motivated by intolerance, fear or hatred of the
person’s diversity in attraction, gender identity, and/or gender expression in every social
context: homes, schools, communities, religious and spiritual centres, public spaces, and
health institutions.37

In particular, one Ontario study of gender-diverse and Two-Spirit Indigenous people found that
73% had experienced some form of violence due to transphobia, with 43% having experienced
physical and/or sexual violence.38
Even when faced with the depth and breadth of this violence, many people still believe that
Indigenous Peoples are to blame, due to their so-called “high-risk” lifestyles. However, Statistics
Canada has found that even when all other differentiating factors are accounted for, Indigenous
women are still at a significantly higher risk of violence than non-Indigenous women. This
validates what many Indigenous women and girls already know: just being Indigenous and
female makes you a target.39
The common thread weaving these statistics together is the fact that violence against Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people is not an individual problem, or an issue only for
certain communities. This violence is rooted in systemic factors, like economic, social and politi-
cal marginalization, as well as racism, discrimination, and misogyny, woven into the fabric of
Canadian society. As [Kohkom] explained, “I’ve been in survival mode since I was a little girl,
watching my back, watching goings on. Because I’ve seen my aunties, my cousins, my female
cousins brutalized by police. And, growing up as a First Nation woman in this city, in this
province, in this country – we’re walking with targets on our backs.”40
In talking of the loss of her daughter, Jennifer, Bernice C. spoke eloquently about what it means
to deny her daughter’s right to life: “Somebody stole her, had no right to her, had no right to take
her. She could have had a baby. She could have got married, but that was taken from her. Some-
body decided she didn’t have a right to live, but she had every right to live.”41
Jennifer’s sister, Tamara S., went on to add that Jennifer’s death and experiences of violence
cannot be seen in isolation from the many other stories of relationships in which the safety and
security of Indigenous women were denied.
It’s really heartbreaking to see that this is happening over and over. It’s not just our
family. After Jen, you hear of so many other stories of … other women. It’s just … it’s
becoming more and more of an evident problem that’s out there. This is not just a
random act. This is an actual epidemic. This is an actual genocide. Another form of
genocide against women.42

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Tamara’s observation that Jennifer’s death – and the violence, disappearances, and deaths of
many other Indigenous women – was not a “random act” points to another important part of the
story that Indigenous families, friends, and loved ones told about the relationships and encoun-
ters that violated the safety and security of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
In her testimony, Danielle E. described how even in their daily lives when physical or sexual
violence may not be immediately present, Indigenous women and girls experience a constant
threat of violence and the fear that accompanies this.
I have hope that something good will come out of this, that as an Indigenous woman,
I don’t have to walk on the street and be afraid because, today, when I go somewhere,
I’m afraid, and it’s a fear that we all carry every day and you get so used to it that it’s
like it’s part of you, and it shouldn’t have to be because not everybody in society today
has to walk around and be afraid the way Indigenous women are and girls. I have seven
daughters and lots of granddaughters that I worry about constantly all day. I don’t want
them to become a statistic.43

As these testimonies demonstrate, the normalization of violence – or, put another way, the nor-
malization of the loss of safety and security – becomes another way in which Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are targeted for further violence. The fact that there is little, if
any, response when Indigenous women experience violence makes it easier for those who choose
to commit violence to do so, without fear of detection, prosecution or penalty.

Interpreting the Mandate

As these testimonies suggest, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous
Women and Girls heard about a huge range of issues that impact the safety and wellness of
Indigenous women and girls. The National Inquiry itself is the result of mounting pressure from
grassroots family members and survivors, community organizations and national Indigenous
organizations, international human rights organizations, and the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada to launch a public inquiry into the disproportionate levels of violence
against Indigenous women and girls. After pointed resistance from the previous federal govern-
ment, a new federal government announced a public inquiry into missing and murdered
Indigenous women in 2015, and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous
Women and Girls formally began its work in September 2016.
The terms of the National Inquiry’s mandate (what we are meant to accomplish) is set out in our
Terms of Reference. Specifically, the National Inquiry is mandated to report on:
i. Systemic causes of all forms of violence – including sexual violence – against Indige-
nous women and girls in Canada, including underlying social, economic, cultural,
institutional and historical causes contributing to the ongoing violence and particular
vulnerabilities of Indigenous women and girls in Canada, and

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ii. Institutional policies and practices implemented in response to violence experienced by

Indigenous women and girls in Canada, including the identification and examination of
practices that have been effective in reducing violence and increasing safety.
The Commissioners are to make recommendations on:
i. Concrete and effective action that can be taken to remove systemic causes of violence
and to increase the safety of Indigenous women and girls in Canada, and
ii. Ways to honour and commemorate the missing and murdered Indigenous women and
girls in Canada.44
Simply put, the National Inquiry’s mandate is to (1) report on all forms of violence against
(2) Indigenous women and girls. We will now take a closer look at each of these two parts of the
mandate, and at how the National Inquiry has used its judgment to interpret it.
This mandate hasn’t been without its challenges. For instance, reporting on “all forms of vio-
lence” significantly broadened the mandate of the National Inquiry to include issues such as
family violence, institutional racism in health care, child welfare, policing and the justice system,
and other forms of violence that stem from the same structures of colonization. Reporting on “all
forms of violence” also allowed the National Inquiry to hear from family members of loved
ones who died due to negligence, accidents, or suicide, or whose cause of death is unknown or
disputed. This is why the National Inquiry will often use the more inclusive term “lost loved
ones” instead of referring only to the missing and murdered. We do not use the term “victim” of
violence unless it is necessary in the context of the criminal justice system, in response to those
families and survivors who expressed how the language of victimization can be disempowering.
While this mandate allowed us to look at interrelated issues in a more holistic way, meaningfully
reporting on all forms of violence against Indigenous women and girls is also an extraordinarily
broad mandate to cover in the span of two and a half years – the broadest mandate a Canadian
public inquiry has ever received.
Even our name, the “National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls,”
created a barrier to clearly communicating that our mandate went beyond gathering evidence
only on the specific, limited issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. As this
report will show, we consider violence broadly and across time and space, understanding that the
circumstances that lead to the targeting of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people,
while a combination of factors, are rooted in deeper truths.
While many survivors of other forms of violence did come forward to share their truths, and
nearly every family member who came to share about their lost loved one was also a survivor of
violence themselves, this continued to be a difficult misunderstanding to dispel. We deeply regret
that this may have kept some Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA people from registering
with the National Inquiry to share about other experiences of violence because they did not feel

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CHAPTER 7: Confronting Oppression – Right to Security 503
Introduction: “We’re not safe. Nobody is safe.” 503
Defining “Human Security” 504
Pathway to Violence: Intergenerational Trauma and Interpersonal Violence 508
Pathway to Violence: Social and Economic Marginalization 519
Deeper Dive: Understanding Intersectional Métis Experiences 526
Deeper Dive: Enhancing Interjurisdictional Cooperation to Promote Safety 561
Pathway to Violence: Lack of Will and Insufficient Institutional Responses 575
Deeper Dive: Resource Extraction Projects and Violence Against Indigenous Women 584
Pathway to Violence: Denying Agency and Expertise in Restoring Safety 595
International Human Rights Instruments and Human Security 608
Conclusion: Challenging “the way it is” 612
Findings: Right to Security 614

CHAPTER 8: Confronting Oppression – Right to Justice 621

Introduction: “Safety and justice and peace are just words to us” 621
Defining “Justice” 623
Pathway to Violence: Intergenerational and Multigenerational Trauma 627
Pathway to Violence: Social and Economic Marginalization 631
Deeper Dive: Criminalizing and Incarcerating Indigenous Women 635
Pathway to Violence: Lack of Will and Insufficient Institutional Responses 648
Deeper Dive: The Sex Industry, Sexual Exploitation, and Human Trafficking 656
Deeper Dive: The Need to Reform Law Enforcement to Increase Safety 674
Pathway to Violence: Denying Agency and Expertise in Restoring Justice 703
International Human Rights Instruments and Principles of Justice 711
Conclusion: Reinventing the Relationship 715
Findings: Right to Justice 717

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While our mandate is similar in each province and territory, the rules and requirements for this
National Inquiry differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. These rules, which delineate the National
Inquiry’s powers and limitations, are set out in an Order-in-Council (or Administrative Decree)
for each of the provinces and territories as well as in legislation applicable to public inquiries
in each jurisdiction.
Being able to operate in every province and territory is critical because it gives the National
Inquiry the authority to subpoena documents, compel witnesses, and investigate the systemic
causes of violence against Indigenous women and girls anywhere deemed necessary, not just in
areas that fall under federal jurisdiction. This includes investigating root causes as well as
government policies, laws, and practices. However, this also makes our legal requirements
significantly more complicated, as there are also different laws and rules for public inquiries in
general across the jurisdictions.
As in other public inquiries, the National Inquiry has the power to investigate the issue at hand
by collecting evidence and hearing testimony from witnesses. This is done in as open and
transparent a manner as possible, creating a “public record” of critical information that can live
on past the life of the National Inquiry. The Commissioner or Commissioners then write a report
and make recommendations for change. Governments are not required to implement these
recommendations. However, public attention and education, particularly through the ongoing
legacy work of the public inquiry, help put pressure on governments wherever possible.
One of the National Inquiry’s main limitations – which is the same for all public inquiries – is
that a public inquiry can’t resolve individual cases or declare certain people legally at fault. This
is because public inquiries are meant to focus on systemic problems and solutions with the
understanding that these problems cannot be traced back to “a few bad apples.” The National
Inquiry also can’t do anything to jeopardize ongoing criminal investigations and must follow the
privacy rules around personal information as laid out in federal, provincial and territorial privacy
laws and obligations.
However, if new information comes to light during our Truth-Gathering Process or if the
Commissioners have reasonable grounds to believe the information relates to misconduct, they
can remit the information to appropriate authorities.

Gathering Truth
With these powers and limitations in mind, the Commissioners designed the overall format of
the National Inquiry – what we now call the “Truth-Gathering Process.”
Overall, the National Inquiry sought to be families-first (putting the family members of lost
loved ones and survivors of violence ahead of others who usually hold the power, including
politicians, governments, and the media), trauma-informed (supporting healing in a way that
does no further harm), and decolonizing (centring Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and

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doing). All of these goals were grounded in the National Inquiry’s guiding principle, “Our
Women and Girls are Sacred.” This vision would help to build the foundation upon which
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people will reclaim their power and place.
The National Inquiry also recognizes that, from an Indigenous perspective, there is not necessar-
ily a singular “truth.” Instead, each person brings with them their truth, and by gathering these
truths together, we can gain a more complete understanding of the issue. For these reasons, the
National Inquiry determined that our process would be called the “Truth-Gathering Process,”
recognizing multiple “truths” or perspectives to be brought forward.
These truths were offered by a variety of different people, families, and organizations, as well as
by the National Inquiry’s advisory bodies. Advisory bodies include the National Family Advisory
Circle (NFAC), made up of family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women and
girls and survivors; the National Inquiry Elders and Grandmothers Circle, in which the Commis-
sioners and the executive director have an Elder or Grandmother who works closely with them;
and external advisory bodies on four key cross-cutting perspectives that are often overlooked in
national Indigenous research or events: Inuit, Métis, 2SLGBTQQIA, and Quebec.
Part 1 of our Truth-Gathering Process focused on the lived experiences of those who came
forward as family members and as survivors themselves. All family members, friends and sup-
porters of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as well
as survivors of violence within these groups, were automatically entitled to participate in the
National Inquiry’s process at Community Hearings, through statement gathering, or through
artistic expressions. The National Inquiry did this through a public communications campaign to
tell as many people as possible how to contact the National Inquiry, but did not contact family
members or survivors without being asked to, to solicit their story; we believed very strongly that
it was up to each person to decide if they wanted to participate. If they did, we would assist in
every way to facilitate this participation.
Once a family member or survivor reached out to the National Inquiry, either by mail, email, or
phone, they did an initial intake process with a member of our Health team (later renamed Out-
reach and Support Services) to get their contact information and hear if they had any immediate
needs. Multiple options of how people could share their truth was explained to them, in keeping
with the principles of our trauma-informed approach and greater personal control over the
process.
This first option was to share publicly at a Community Hearing in front of the general public and
the Commissioners; in this case, their testimony would be livestreamed to the rest of the country,
and the transcripts of the testimony made public on the National Inquiry’s website. The only re-
strictions would be on names and events redacted to comply with privacy laws. Our decolonizing
approach meant that we travelled only to those communities that welcomed us, following local
protocols and taking guidance from local Elders. In order to be trauma-informed and create
culturally safe spaces, we did not allow cross-examination of family members and survivors.
Commissioners asked questions for clarification only.

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Sharing their truths in-camera, or privately, at a Community Hearing was another option. In this
case, families and survivors shared directly to a Commissioner with their supports, National
Inquiry staff members, and Parties with Standing present, but without any access by the general
public. This was for the safety of the people sharing their truth, in some cases, as well as within
the trauma-informed approach where people might have difficulty describing their stories in pub-
lic. Whether it was for physical safety, mental safety, or cultural safety, holding private hearings
was crucial to ensure we could hear the true stories of family members and survivors of violence.
Confidential transcripts of these sessions were created to help contribute to the National
Inquiry’s findings of fact and recommendations, and identify overall trends, but they will not be
released to the public and will not be made available after the life of the National Inquiry. While
truths shared in-camera have helped shape the National Inquiry’s findings and conclusions, no
direct quotes are used from in-camera testimony in this report to respect that person’s confiden-
tiality, except in exceptional circumstances where permission was granted by the witness for
portions of the testimony to be used.
Sharing with a Statement Gatherer was another option. In this case, Statement Gatherers
travelled to the family member or survivor and conducted an in-person, videotaped interview
with them, which would later be reviewed by one of the Commissioners in all jurisdictions but
Quebec, which required review by three. The person sharing could request that their transcripts
be made public or kept private. There were also statement-gathering events, where multiple
statements were collected from participants at one location.
Another option was to submit an artistic expression that represented that person’s response to,
or experience of, violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to the
National Inquiry’s Legacy Archive. Commissioners welcomed people’s testimony in more than
one form.
Another decolonizing and trauma-informed decision made was to include chosen families, or
“families of the heart,” in all of our definitions of “family members.” This includes a broad sense
of family that goes beyond a person’s nuclear, biological, or extended family to include others
who consider themselves family. These “families of the heart” have chosen to stay closely in-
volved and support each other out of mutual love and respect. This is especially important for
many 2SLGBTQQIA people, women who have had to leave their biological families and/or
communities due to violence, or those who have been separated from their birth families through
child welfare, adoption, and the Sixties Scoop.
Parts 2 and 3 of the Truth-Gathering Process involved Institutional Hearings and Expert and
Knowledge Keeper Hearings. Institutional Hearings inquired into the systemic causes of
institutionalized violence, as well institutional responses to violence, while those who shared as
part of the Expert and Knowledge Keeper Hearings – Elders, academics, legal experts, front-line
workers, young people, specialists, and others – provided their recommendations on systemic
causes of violence and possible solutions. As part of the hearing process, National Inquiry
lawyers and Parties with Standing had the opportunity to examine Parts 2 and 3 witnesses. The
topics covered during the Institutional and Expert and Knowledge Keeper Hearings grew out of

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the topics and issues that families and survivors were identifying as important to them during the
Community Hearings. The Institutional and Expert and Knowledge Keeper Hearings allowed the
National Inquiry to hear from representatives of the systems and institutions that many of the
families spoke about during their testimony and to explore in more depth how these systems and
institutions worked. It also ensured that the experiences and issues raised by families and sur-
vivors remained at the centre of the Truth-Gathering Process, even when we were hearing from
experts and institutional officials.
The National Inquiry did not maintain a narrow or Western definition of “experts,” but specifi-
cally sought to include Elders and Knowledge Keepers. These are Indigenous people who are
known for their wisdom, knowledge, experience, background, and insight. They are generally
sought out by community members or individuals for advice on traditional as well as contempo-
rary issues. Knowledge Keepers in particular have deep knowledge or expertise in Indigenous
knowledge systems, including Indigenous intellectual traditions, world views, and laws. Some
are considered the keepers of traditional knowledge or oral history within their families,
communities, or Nations.
The Parties with Standing played an important part during this phase of the Truth-Gathering
Process. Parties with Standing are groups that applied to have additional rights to participate in
the National Inquiry’s processes because they had substantial and direct interest in the subject
matter of the National Inquiry or because they represent distinct interests within which their ex-
pertise and perspective would be essential for the National Inquiry to fulfill its mandate. There
are 94 Parties with Standing, including groups representing non-governmental organizations,
Indigenous women’s organizations, civil societies and governments, and some police agencies.
Two of the most important ways that Parties with Standing participated in the Truth-Gathering
Process were by asking questions of the Institutional and Expert Witnesses at the hearings (called
“cross-examination”) and by providing closing oral and written submissions once all the evi-
dence had been gathered to offer their additional recommendations on how to end violence.
These submissions made up Part 4 of the Truth-Gathering Process. They also provided advice on
how to interpret the evidence before the National Inquiry and on the key findings that needed to
be made, in addition to the actions and recommendations required to promote safety and security.
Their submissions are accessible on our website online.49 Their contributions to the entire
process, as well as their particular contributions in proposing recommendations and resources
for us to consider, are evident in the Calls for Justice that we demand be fulfilled at the close
of this report.
The evidence considered by the Commissioners includes all testimony, or truths, gathered in
Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Truth-Gathering Process. It also includes exhibits submitted as part of a
witness’s testimony. For family members and survivors sharing in Part 1, these exhibits could
include photographs of loved ones, newspaper clippings, or other materials that would help tell
their story. In Parts 2 and 3 hearings, exhibits usually included relevant reports, studies, public
records, or other supporting documents.

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Reclaiming Power and Place

The result of research conducted through the Truth-Gathering Process that privileges the voices
of those with lived experience, and that focuses on the sacred place of Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people in their families, communities, and Nations, is a report that insists on
self-determined solutions distinctive to the needs of those most affected as rights bearers. And
while it is far from the first report released on violence against Indigenous Peoples, and it likely
won’t be the last, we maintain that the framework behind Reclaiming Power and Place: The
Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is
both powerful and empowering in its calls to focus on rights and relationships at every level –
from the individual day-to-day encounters that feed violence and discrimination, to those larger
institutional and systemic structures that need to change.
In its presentation of findings, this report connects the testimony collected nationally during
the Truth-Gathering Process to violations of Indigenous women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people’s human and Indigenous rights. By applying a human and Indigenous rights lens, as well
as a gendered lens, to the truths shared during the Truth-Gathering Process, we argue that the
violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people – as well as all
forms of violence experienced by Indigenous Peoples – is a human rights issue. In sharing their
truths, families, loved ones, and survivors were not only sharing stories about the violence they
or their loved one endured but also sharing stories about human rights abuses and violations.
Making the changes required to end violence against them is not a matter of public policy but
one of domestic and international law.
Based on the findings from our Truth-Gathering Process and our analysis of previous reports, the
National Inquiry finds that the main reason these changes and recommendations haven’t been
implemented yet is that they rely on governments and bureaucracies to want to change their own
laws, contracts, and policies. While many of these should indeed be changed, they miss the
fundamental role of relationship. After all, Canadian laws are not set in stone; they are based
on the values and relationships of the people who write them.
In sharing their truths with the National Inquiry, family members and survivors told not only
stories about violence but also stories about the relationships through which violence takes place.
In this report, we focus on the role of relationships, and the significant encounters within rela-
tionships, that family members and survivors described as leading to or lessening harm, violence,
and suffering. Taking a basic lesson offered through the testimony – that relationships matter –
this report presents many examples that illustrate how relationships – whether those as small as
the relationship shared between two people or as large as the relationship between two world
views – offer important ways of understanding how violence continues and how violence may be
prevented. While the report and its recommendations argue for changes to the relationships that
colonial systems and structures are built on, it also strives to provide examples of the way indi-
vidual people and their day-to-day interactions can make a difference in ending violence.

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Family members and survivors have revealed to us that relationships provide critical moments
of encounter that can either harm or help others. Whether it was at the hearings, in private state-
ments, or through artistic expressions, they told us about moments in their lives where either
healthy or harmful relationships had a huge impact on their lives. This is key to understanding
the real causes of violence. Because of this, we are focusing on the relationships behind the laws
and structures that are currently failing to keep women and 2SLGBTQQIA people safe.
This report presents its findings in such a way that it takes the truths, experiences, and expertise
held by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people as the most important word on the
subject of the violence committed against them. By looking to Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people and their testimony to explain what needs to be done to end violence in
their lives, this report reflects a recognition of their strength, resilience, and expertise.
Opaskwayak Cree researcher Shawn Wilson has said:
One thing that most of these Indigenous inquiries hold in common is that they look at
social, historical and economic factors to explain the differences between Indigenous and
non-Indigenous peoples and then make recommendations that are intended to adapt the
dominant system to the needs of Indigenous people. These programs proceed with the
assumption that if economic and environmental conditions were the same for Indigenous
and non-Indigenous people, Indigenous people could ‘pull themselves up’ to the
standards of dominant society. This same attitude promoted the forced assimilation of
Indigenous people through such social tragedies as the ‘stolen generation’ and forced
residential schooling.50

In the past, “expertise” generated within academic institutions, governments, or Western ways of
knowing and conducting research – all systems that have historically excluded women and espe-
cially Indigenous women – has been seen as that most suited to addressing the complex problems
presented in this report related to issues such as culture, health, security, and justice. In contrast
to much previous research that positions Indigenous women as “victims” in need of protection or
saving, or that positions their experiences as “less than” knowledge gathered according to West-
ern research methods or approaches, this report instead centres these voices in recognition that it
is the wisdom held by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people that has the potential
to create more healthy and safe environments for all.
In this sense, the information presented in this report and the recommendations it offers are not
easy to understand or implement. Due to the denial of knowledge and expertise held by Indige-
nous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people for so long, respecting these opinions and teach-
ings will challenge readers, researchers, policy makers, and the general public who are used to
thinking about policy solutions or social issues in a particular way or within already established
systems. Really listening to this expertise often requires questioning standard ways of doing
things, challenging the status quo, and being open to radical, new alternatives.

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Most importantly, this report recognizes that Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people also have the solutions to counter this violence, overcome indifference, and reclaim their
power and place. Greg M., whose sister Jackie has been missing since 1997, said, “It’s tough
being an Indian these days. There’s so many things against us. But still we’re resilient people.
We stood … for 10,000 years here. We’re still going to be here.”51

Evaluation of the Federal Government’s Response to the

National Inquiry’s Interim Report Recommendations
One of family members’ and survivors’ biggest fears in opening themselves up for a process as
intense as this one is that in the end, nothing is done – that the report gathers dust on a shelf and
the recommendations are left unanswered. As family member Melanie D. said:
My biggest question is what is the government planning to do after this Inquiry?
Like, what is the action plan? Because I hope it’s not like another RCAP [Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Peoples] report. I hope it’s not 94 Calls to Action where we
have roundabout circle talks about reconciliation…. And I’m not just placing that on to
the government, but … what is Canada, all of Canada going to do?52

In Our Women and Girls Are Sacred: The Interim Report of the National Inquiry into Missing
and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, we issued 10 recommendations for immediate
action. Many of these recommendations had to do with the procedural work of the National
Inquiry itself, to make it easier and more responsive to families’ needs.
Holding those with the power to act on these recommendations to account is an essential step of
this process, and evaluating the progress made to date is an important indicator of the work left
to accomplish.53 As Terry L. shared: “I hear words all the time. I don’t want words anymore.
I want action.”54

The National Inquiry’s 10 Calls for Immediate Action from the

Interim Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
1. Implementation of all the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
particularly those that impact Indigenous women and children, including the immediate
implementation of Jordan’s Principle and the immediate and full implementation of the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for
reconciliation, and including a federal action plan, strategies and other concrete
measures to achieve the goals.

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To date, this has been partially implemented, and we recognize that the National Inquiry into
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is in itself a fulfilled TRC Call to Action.
Other actions include endorsing and passing New Democratic MP and reconciliation critic
Romeo Saganash’s Bill 262, a private member’s bill aimed at ensuring that Canada’s laws are in
harmony with those rights set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples – a declaration that Saganash himself helped to create. At time of this writing, the Bill
was in its second reading, in Senate. In 2018, the federal government had also agreed to work
toward the equivalent of Jordan’s Principle for Inuit children, to ensure health care for them
would not be delayed. In addition, Bill C-91, An Act Respecting Indigenous Languages, which
would establish measures for long-term and sustainable funding for the support and promotiong
Indigenous languages, was unveiled in early 2019.
Collectively, these are important pieces of work, which will require careful implementation and
reporting. In particular, ensuring that the principles that animate them are applied to all services
that can help to promote security and safety for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people is a complicated process, but one that we argue needs to move more urgently and quickly.
2. Full compliance with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling (2016) that found
that Canada was racially discriminating against First Nations children.
This has not been implemented. Canada has now received seven non-compliance orders from
the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT).55 The First Nations Child and Family Caring
Society is back in court against Canada, which is now rejecting First Nations children’s claims
based on their lack of Status as determined by the Indian Act. Aside from the many problems
with assigning First Nations identity through colonial legislation such as the Indian Act, which
we cover in more detail elsewhere in this report, the CHRT decision makes no distinction be-
tween Status and non-Status First Nations children, and the Supreme Court of Canada recently
ruled that Ottawa has a fiduciary duty to non-Status First Nations people, and to Métis. As of
February 19, 2019, the tribunal issued interim relief orders for Jordan’s Principle in favour of the
Caring Society, stating that non-Status First Nations children in urgent situations will be covered
under Jordan’s Principle until the evidence has been heard regarding the definition of “First
Nations.”56
Given that the Canadian Human Rights Act forbids discrimination based on race, it is the Caring
Society’s position that Jordan’s Principle also applies to Inuit children where public services
have been delayed or denied.
The National Inquiry heartily agrees with Dr. Cindy Blackstock when she says: “When I look at
the wealth of this country, I think that equality for First Nations children should come in a leap,
not in a shuffle. And just frankly, if they can afford to spend five billion on a pipeline, they can
afford to eradicate inequalities in education and other areas for their kids.”57

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3. That the federal government finds a way to provide the contact information of the
families and survivors who participated in the pre-Inquiry process to the National
Inquiry. Alternatively, that the federal government provide families and survivors of
the pre-Inquiry information on how to participate in the National Inquiry.
To our knowledge, this was never done. Many families who participated in the pre-Inquiry
consultation process told our Outreach and Support Services team members that while they were
glad to see the National Inquiry moving forward, the registration process itself was confusing
due to the manner in which Canada conducted its pre-Inquiry consultations. Many families
believed that being part of those placed them on a list; the reality was that these were separate
processes. The pre-Inquiry process led families to believe that we would have their contact
information and we would reach out to them.
Also, many families believed that as Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had their contact information, we would have that
information too and reach out to them. This was not the case. We sincerely regret that family
members and survivors experienced added stress and confusion regarding our registration
process as a result.
4. That the federal, provincial and territorial governments provide project funding, in
addition to regular operational funds, to help ensure Indigenous organizations full and
meaningful participation in the National Inquiry.
This recommendation was partially implemented. The federal government did increase funding
to help improve the participation of the Parties with Standing, who consist mostly of Indigenous
organizations, at the National Inquiry’s urging. However, many smaller community and grass-
roots organizations, which are already underfunded and understaffed, did not receive any
additional funding to participate in the process or help the Inquiry do community outreach. In
addition, the requirement to pre-pay expenses and then get reimbursed was taxing for already
overstretched organizations reliant on sometimes unstable funding.
5. That the federal government establish a commemoration fund in collaboration with
national and regional Indigenous organizations (including Indigenous women’s organiza-
tions) and in partnership with family coalitions, Indigenous artists, and grassroots
advocates who spearheaded commemoration events and initiatives related to missing
and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and LGBTQ2S people.
This is one of the few recommendations that the Government of Canada responded to directly.
The federal government, through Status of Women Canada, committed to a commemoration fund
that would provide $10 million over two years “to honour the lives and legacies of Indigenous
women, girls, and LGBTQ2S individuals.”58 The commemoration fund committed to supporting
Indigenous communities in developing and implementing commemorative events.
The National Inquiry is glad to see that the federal government recognizes the power of
public commemoration to “honour truths, support healing, create awareness, and to advance
reconciliation.”59

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However, we have serious concerns with the way the federal government reinterpreted this
recommendation. In particular, our recommendation specifically noted the importance of involv-
ing Indigenous women’s organizations, family coalitions, Indigenous artists, and grassroots
advocates. However, the call for proposals for this commemoration fund applies only to legally
constituted organizations, and it is not clear to what extent others will be able to access it.60 This
excludes these very same family coalitions and grassroots organizations we wanted to include,
who have been organizing around missing and murdered women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people for decades with very little support.
It can be a long and onerous process to legally incorporate as an organization; coupled with the
very short time frame organizations were given to apply, this almost certainly excludes the very
groups we intended this recommendation to reach.
6. That the federal government immediately provide additional funding to Health Canada’s
Resolution Health Support Program and expand its services to meet the increased needs
flowing from the National Inquiry’s work, and at a minimum for the duration of the
National Inquiry.
In response, the Government of Canada committed to increase health support and victim
services by
providing $21.3 million over three years to complement the health supports provided by
the inquiry, such as allowing the expansion of services to include all survivors, family
members and those affected by the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women
and girls, improving their access to health support services and extending the timeframe
during which health support services will be available up to June 30, 2020.61

They also committed to “providing an additional $5.42 million in 2019–2020 to extend the time-
frame for the two Department of Justice Canada initiatives: Family Information Liaison Units
and funding for community-based organizations to support families beyond the life of the
National Inquiry.”62
The National Inquiry welcomed this announcement, and in particular the portion of the Resolu-
tion Health Support Program that was designated to support the health needs of those who
participated in the National Inquiry. This did help family members and survivors.
However, the National Inquiry was only minimally consulted in how to allocate these funds.
Because most of the funds were allocated through regional First Nations and Inuit Health Branch
(FNIHB) offices, the support services available to family members and survivors did not include
travel or cultural healing, wellness ceremonies, or transportation to meet with Elders or tradi-
tional medicine practitioners, instead covering only Western approaches to health and wellness –
namely, counselling. While counselling is, in fact, an important part of many Indigenous Peoples’
healing journeys, cultural safety must be a key component in any Indigenous health and wellness
service. However, the FNIHB did lift all eligibility criteria so that everyone could seek advice,

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including all those affected by the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people, whether they be Status First Nations, non-Status First Nations, Inuit or
Métis.
In addition, distributing these funds through existing regional offices meant that families and
survivors who already had trouble accessing health services due to living in rural and remote
areas continued to have the same problems accessing these funds.
7. That Health Canada’s Resolution Health Support Program provide funding to
Indigenous organizations and other service providers (including provincial and territo-
rial governments) through contribution agreements and transfer funds to families
and survivors participating in the National Inquiry’s Truth-Gathering Process and
engaging in its commemoration activities.
The goal of this recommendation was to ensure that families and survivors, and not only estab-
lished organizations, had a voice in their healing and commemoration. The National Inquiry was
ultimately successful in negotiating contribution agreements with individuals for their aftercare
plans, which a Canadian government had never agreed to before. This gave families and sur-
vivors direct ownership over their own healing and wellness. We discuss this in more detail in
Chapter 9.
8. That the federal government undertake an engagement process with families, survivors,
Indigenous organizations, and the National Inquiry to investigate the feasibility of
restoring the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
To date, this important recommendation has not been implemented.
9. That the federal government work collaboratively with provinces and territories to
create a national police task force to which the National Inquiry could refer families and
survivors to assess or reopen cases or review investigations.
The Government of Canada announced that they would provide
$9.6 million over five years [which] will support the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP)'s new National Investigative Standards and Practices Unit. Members of this unit
will provide national oversight to major RCMP investigations. A significant proportion
of this oversight will focus on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls
investigations.63

However, this does not fulfill the National Inquiry’s recommendation. We maintain that Canada
needs an independent national police task force specifically designed to meet the needs of family
members and survivors of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people,
which would include non-police members and investigators, and other built-in, transparent over-
sight mechanisms.

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Our most important objection to providing additional funding to the RCMP in this manner is
that, once again, this involves police policing themselves. The RCMP have not proven to Canada
that they are capable of holding themselves to account – and, in fact, many of the truths shared
here speak to ongoing issues of systemic and individual racism, sexism, and other forms of dis-
crimination that prevent honest oversight from taking place.
In addition, our recommendation was for a national police task force, whereas the government’s
response includes only the RCMP, which does not cover other police service investigations or
areas covered by a national task force.
The National Inquiry is also concerned about the non-specific language used, in that “a signifi-
cant portion” will go toward investigations of missing and murdered Indigenous women and
girls. In 2010, the federal government cut funding to the Native Women’s Association of
Canada’s “Sisters in Spirit” research, education, and policy initiative to provide additional fund-
ing to other departments and to the RCMP, where enhancements made were general and not spe-
cific to Indigenous women and girls.64 These actions don’t inspire confidence for the future.
10. Given the short timeframe of the National Inquiry and the urgency of establishing
robust administrative structures and processes, that the federal government provide
alternatives and options to its administrative rules to enable the National Inquiry
to fulfill the terms of its mandate.
Overall, the National Inquiry recognizes that many improvements were made to expedite some
administrative services, particularly in the areas of staff hiring, security clearance, and procure-
ment of goods and services. However, problem-solving administrative processes that were
designed for indeterminate and well-established federal government organizations continued to
cause significant delays and frustration. Such administrative processes do not lend themselves to
inquiries with short timelines, let alone a National Inquiry with an Indigenous cultural mandate
that stresses the need to accomplish the work in a trauma-informed and decolonizing way.
The area where this had the deepest effect on families and survivors was in aftercare, where the
critical support the National Inquiry needed to provide to participants in order to avoid being
retraumatized as a result of sharing their truths was placed on shaky ground. This came to a head
in January 2018, when the federal government challenged the National Inquiry’s Terms of
Reference and authority to provide health support to families and survivors in preparation for
and during their appearance before the National Inquiry, and after sharing their truths. This effec-
tively froze all movement on aftercare supports for three months, while families and survivors,
including those in urgent crises, suffered. Even after coming to a funding resolution, there were
many rules and regulations that continued to hamper aftercare services, causing more delays and
valuable time lost. These required multiple paperwork amendments and new signatures, which
generated stress for the families and survivors as well as delays in payments.

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Successes and Challenges of the National Inquiry

In reflecting on where we are today, the National Inquiry recognizes it has had many successes
as well as many challenges.
One of the most important successes of the National Inquiry is how many people entrusted us
with their stories. We see these stories as sacred. The National Inquiry made some mistakes
along the way, but family members and survivors of violence were able to work one-on-one with
our Health and Legal teams to share their stories, and continued to receive support through the
National Inquiry’s aftercare program for several months after they shared their truths. We are
humbled by the sheer number of people who shared their stories in order to help others truly
understand the levels of violence in this country.
Having so many people break the silence has already created a momentum much bigger than the
National Inquiry, and has continued to build. Trauma has widespread effects, but so does healing.
As one Inuk Elder told the members of the National Inquiry’s internal Inuit Working Group, their
work was “already saving lives.” These healing effects are still rippling gently through families
and communities. It is one of Canada’s most important jobs in the months and years ahead to
ensure that these ripples build into waves of change.
One of our biggest challenges was working under the federal government’s rules and procedures,
which are designed for government departments with long lifespans, not two-year public in-
quiries working in a culturally safe and trauma-informed way. Finding ways to navigate these
rules designed for a completely different context was particularly critical, given our other biggest
challenge: the lack of time.
The two years and four months’ mandate given to the National Inquiry at its outset was not
enough. With the broadest mandate of any public inquiry in Canadian history, and given the time
required simply to hire staff, get the infrastructure in place, and begin to build key relationships,
this time frame significantly hampered our ability to fully work according to families-first,
decolonizing, and trauma-informed approaches. Processes that would normally take months in a
government department needed to be compressed into weeks to fit our schedule. Many of our
hearings were held back-to-back, and we were never able to give as much notice for hearings and
events as we would have liked. It was very difficult to get the appropriate systems and policies in
place until well into our mandate. It was also very difficult to build relationships with Indigenous
communities with enough lead time to allow them to report back to, and work collectively
within, their families, communities, and governance structures. In some cases, family members
felt rushed, and received short notice for when they were scheduled to testify.
From an organizational perspective, National Inquiry staff members experienced delays in
receiving computers, phones, Internet connections, email access, and access to a central shared
drive – extremely important for a National Inquiry working from coast to coast to coast. Many
staff members worked from home, across all time zones and in remote locations, or spent a great
deal of time on the road. Ongoing technology and IT problems, along with the complex require-

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ments of a public inquiry operating in 14 jurisdictions at the same time, delayed processes
regarding travel arrangements, hospitality planning, procurement, and financial approvals and
payments.
In the end, the National Inquiry held dozens of events, large and small, in urban settings and in
northern locations across Canada. There were challenges. For example, the Community Hearing
in Smithers was held while the town was under a boil-water advisory, which meant bringing in
hundreds of litres of bottled water. In Rankin Inlet, National Inquiry-related activities used up
every single available hotel room in the community, and, in Iqaluit, we used up almost the entire
town’s bandwidth of Internet to be able to livestream the hearing online. In Whitehorse, an earth-
quake damaged the facility originally booked for the first Community Hearing, which resulted in
relocating to the already-full Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre and setting up large tents outside.
However, we recognize that these challenges were temporary for the National Inquiry. The com-
munities we visited have to manage with these challenges all the time. These are the kinds of
geographic and distinction-based needs that must be taken into account when governments are
responding to the National Inquiry’s recommendations.
The National Inquiry also had many other highlights. For example, the National Inquiry advo-
cated on behalf of Indigenous women and girls at the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of
Barton v. Her Majesty the Queen.65 This case involves the trial of Bradley Barton, the man
accused of killing Cindy Gladue, who bled to death after what the accused said was consensual
sexual acts. In our intervention related to the trial process, the National Inquiry argued that the
trial is emblematic of how Indigenous women are seen as less believable and “less worthy”
victims than non-Indigenous women, and that justice does not serve Indigenous women.
Importantly, we discussed the court’s failure to apply the law correctly under section 276 of the
Criminal Code of Canada, and to take judicial notice of the high victimization of Indigenous
women. We submitted that widespread racism and discrimination against Indigenous women
exists and that the courts must take judicial notice of such systemic bias against Indigenous
women complainants. We argued that indifference by all actors in the court, who often referred to
Cindy as a “native prostitute” instead of by her name, may have led to reinforcing discriminatory
beliefs, misconceptions, or upholding bias by the jury about the sexual availability of Indigenous
women and specifically, Cindy Gladue.
The National Inquiry’s action on this issue marks the first time a public inquiry has sought inter-
vener status at the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court’s determination in this case,
which is still pending, is anticipated to be a seminal case for determining the extent of the laws
around sexual violence and consent. We felt it was imperative to act and do everything possible
to speak out for Indigenous women on the issues that profoundly affect so many survivors and
families.
In designing our communications approach, it was a challenge to tailor our messages to diverse
stakeholders from families and survivors across Canada, to national and provincial Indigenous
organizations, and to federal and provincial governments. We needed to use a tool kit to reach

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people that included a variety of channels and platforms – from social media to e-newsletters to
traditional print, television, and radio news stories – while being responsive to diverse cultural,
language, and demographic needs and perspectives.
However, with the guidance of the Grandmothers Circle and the National Family Advisory
Circle members, the National Inquiry created space for families to be heard and their truths to
be validated at every event. Public awareness of the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous
women is also on the rise. In 2017 on Twitter, for example, there were 13,529 tweets and 112
million impressions on a variety of topics, including spreading news of upcoming Community
Hearings. When we livestreamed Knowledge Keeper, Expert and Institutional Hearings on
Facebook and CPAC, thousands tuned in each day to watch the proceedings, comment, share,
and be inspired by the strength of the testimony presented.
We also redesigned the National Inquiry’s website in 2018 to better offer up-to-date information
on news and events, and an interactive map of all past hearings and events with links to docu-
ments and videos. Additional upgrades designed in early 2019 involve organizing and featuring
thousands of public records of evidence, including testimony from survivors, families, experts,
academics, and Knowledge Keepers, as well as written submissions, statements, orders, and
motions on our website. It is a significant record of information now available to the public – a
lasting testament of truth for all Canadians.
In many ways, this record is as much a part of the legacy of the National Inquiry as this report
itself. While the Final Report is the culmination of over 1,000 hours of truths shared with us, it
still only scratches the surface of the examination of violence against Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Our evidence belongs to the public, and is available in video and as
transcripts. We hope that academic institutions, governments, policy makers, and individuals
who want to better understand these issues will return to this public record. It presents a unique
opportunity for Canadians to hear these truths for themselves and change the relationships they
have with Indigenous women and girls in their own lives.

Response to the Denial of a Two-Year Extension

One of the biggest blows to the National Inquiry’s ability to balance the urgency of these issues
with the need to do this work thoroughly was the government’s decision to deny the Inquiry its
requested two-year extension, providing only a six-month writing extension instead.66
The National Inquiry was given an extraordinarily large task to accomplish in a time period that
federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions, with their knowledge of their own bureaucratic
natures, should have known was too short from the beginning. This was profoundly disappoint-
ing, and does a disservice to the thousands of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people lost to violence, and to the survivors of violence, some of whom advocated for decades
for a public inquiry. As Nahanni Fontaine explained to the Commissioners at the Winnipeg
Community Hearing:

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Often I’ll say, well, we’ve been working on this for 30 years, if you look at the Highway
of Tears. But … actually we have collectively been working on this for 50 years. If you
look at Helen Betty Osborne, if you look at some of the first cases of missing women on
the Highway of Tears, those go back actually to the late ’50s, right? So, over 50 years,
MMIWG families have been quietly, loudly, courageously, resiliently, have been from
coast to coast to coast demanding action on MMIWG. It is only because of MMIWG
families that we are here today, along with Indigenous women who have stood with
families, and have been lobbying, and that voice in support of families.67

This extension would have allowed the National Inquiry to hold more Community, Institutional,
and Expert Hearings, so we could have heard from more women and gender-diverse people
involved in human trafficking and exploitation, who are homeless, who are in federal institu-
tions, and who live in more remote areas and in other regions. An extension would have ensured
the ability to look at regional specificities, and into larger or more complex issues.
Most importantly, however, an extension would have given more people a national public plat-
form to speak up and speak out about issues some people haven’t ever spoken about before. The
opportunity to share one’s truth can be remarkably transformational, especially when coupled
with a flexible and responsive aftercare program. There are many, many people whose strength
still need to be recognized, who are ready to take the next step. We cannot control the outcome
of this National Inquiry, but we have done our best to make the process itself a healing one. We
wish this National Inquiry could have been that tool for even more families and survivors.
The National Inquiry has done what it can to honour the spirits of those who are no longer with
us, and the future generations that are still yet to come, in the time we were given. However,
Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA people cannot continue to fall to the bottom of the priority
list. They cannot be expected to make do with a few extra dollars here or a new program there.
Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls calls for real, significant, foundational change. The rest
of Canada must be prepared to meet this challenge.

Foundational Concepts in Understanding Violence

Despite the short time frame to engage in this critical work, the National Inquiry humbly offers
this Final Report as an important piece of understanding violence in a different context. As many
witnesses shared, confronting the epidemic of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people – what the National Inquiry has deemed to be practices that are genocidal
– begins with acknowledging the scope of the harm that has been caused. Throughout this report,
we use a variety of terms and concepts to help draw critical connections between the experiences

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and issues brought before the National Inquiry. Some of these terms and concepts were used by
families and survivors; others were used by Elders, Knowledge Keepers, researchers, and ac-
tivists. Here, we provide a brief explanation of some of these concepts that are critical to under-
standing why we need foundational changes, not band-aid solutions, to ending violence against
Indigenous women and girls.
The National Inquiry uses a broad definition of “violence.” We started with the World Health
Organization’s definition of “violence,” which involves the intentional use or threatened use of
power or force that is likely to cause harm against someone else (for example, interpersonal
violence), against a group or community (for example, armed conflict), or against oneself
(for example, suicide or self-harm).68
These types of violence can take many forms:
• physical (hitting, choking, murder)
• sexual (unwelcome sexual comments, fondling, rape)
• emotional (name calling, jealousy, humiliation)
• psychological (threats, social isolation, stalking)
• spiritual (not allowing someone to practise their preferred spirituality
or religion, belittling said spirituality or religion)
• cultural (violence in the name of a culture, religion, or tradition)
• verbal (yelling, lying, telling someone they are worthless)
• financial (not allowing someone access to money, destroying personal property)
• neglect (failing to meet the needs of someone who can’t meet those needs alone)69
We expanded that definition to include colonial, cultural, and institutional violence. Altogether,
these lead to systemic or structural violence, as well as, in many cases, lateral violence.
Colonial violence stems from colonization or colonialism, and relies on the dehumanization of
Indigenous Peoples. Colonial violence is perpetuated through a variety of different strategies,
including depriving people of the necessities of life, using public institutions and laws to reassert
colonial norms, ignoring the knowledge and capacity of Indigenous Peoples, and using con-
structs that deny the ongoing presence and dignity of Indigenous Peoples. It is also linked to
racism. The National Inquiry grounds racism through all of its analysis, insisting that racism
takes concrete and devastating forms. Racism, then, must be seen as more than just a set of ideas,
but as a set of practices that are grounded in systems that serve to target Indigenous Peoples over
generations, undergirding intergenerational and multigenerational violence, and contribute to
economic, social, and political marginalization; lack of will; maintenance of the status quo; and
the denial of agency, expertise, and value.

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The process of colonialism is defined as the attempted or actual imposition of policies, laws,
mores, economies, cultures, or systems and institutions put in place by settler governments to
support and continue the occupation of Indigenous territories, the subjugation of Indigenous
individuals, communities and Nations, and the resulting internalized and externalized ways of
thinking and knowing that support this occupation and subjugation. These impositions are race-
and gender-based.
Colonialism is not to be confused with colonization. “Colonialism” is the ideology advocating
colonization. “Colonization” generally refers to the process by which Europeans invaded and
occupied Indigenous national territories.
While some people refer to the present as “post-colonial,” many Indigenous Peoples reject this
idea that colonialism is “over, finished business.” As Maori researcher Linda Tuhiwai-Smith
says, “This is best articulated by Aborigine activist Bobbi Sykes, who asked at an academic
conference on post-colonialism, ‘What? Post-colonialism? Have they left?’”70
There are many kinds of violence, particularly within the context of colonization. Colonization
is based on the practice of cultural violence, in a broader sense than is discussed above. These
practices, which can be explained by peace and conflict scholar Johan Galtung, target “those
aspects of culture …that can be used to justify or legitimize direct or structural violence.”71 This
includes Canada’s Western, white-dominant, mainstream culture, where racist attitudes and
forced assimilation policies are both examples of cultural violence, since it stems from racist
beliefs deeply embedded in Canadian culture.72
Systemic patterns of thinking such as racism, sexism, and colonialism also result in institutional
violence. Institutional violence is perpetrated by institutions such as the military, the church, the
educational system, the health system, police and emergency responders, and the justice system.
Because these institutions are generally well regarded within society, and operate on specific
rules, institutional violence can easily become the “status quo.”73 This makes them more difficult
to challenge or change.
As a result of all these forms of violence, many examples of structural or systemic violence
become embedded in Canadian society over time. As political scientist and scholar Rauna
Kuokkanen writes: “All these systems and structures – colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy –
are predicated on violence, whether direct and interpersonal or structural, economic or
epistemic.”74
Structural violence can be understood as the gap between a person’s or community’s potential
well-being and their actual well-being, when that difference is avoidable. These gaps are due to
injustices, inequalities, and other forms of violence embedded in everyday life that privilege
some people to the detriment of others. For example, extreme levels of poverty are not, in them-
selves, examples of structural violence. But when Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people are disproportionately affected from extreme poverty, and when state governments and

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other institutions could address the inequalities and injustices that lead to this disproportionate
level of poverty, but don’t, then it becomes structural violence.75 As explained by Robyn Bour-
geois, in speaking about her own approach to understanding violence,
You have to recognize that all of the systems, whether it’s class exploitation, whether it
is disability and ableist privilege, whether it’s racism or colonialism – they all work in
and through one another. So, they work in mutually sustaining ways. So, this framework
really requires that we pay attention to how all of those things work together.76

Because these structures still exist today, “decolonization” (or “decolonizing,” since this
process is still ongoing) is also a key concept. “Decolonizing” is a social and political process
aimed at resisting and undoing the multi-faceted impacts of colonization and re-establishing
strong contemporary Indigenous Peoples, Nations, and institutions based on traditional values,
philosophies, and knowledge systems.
A decolonizing mindset requires people to consciously and critically question the legitimacy of
the colonizer and reflect on the ways we have been influenced by colonialism. According to ex-
pert in Indigenous research methodologies Margaret Kovach, the purpose of decolonization is to
create space in everyday life, research, academia, and society for an Indigenous perspective
without its being neglected, shunted aside, mocked, or dismissed.77
The ideas of “resistance and resurgence” are important to a decolonizing approach. “Resistance”
refers to the diverse strategies Indigenous Peoples and Nations use to resist colonialism. To
Indigenous Peoples, resistance is not just mass mobilization, armed conflict, and protest. It
encompasses a broad range of strategies and activities that promote decolonization, Indigenous
ways of life, values, knowledge, and broader political goals. Indigenous resistance includes
“everyday acts of resistance” that embody individuals and communities living by their traditional
teachings, despite overwhelming pressure from the dominant society not to do so. As a related
concept, “resurgence” is the increase or revival of an activity or of ideas. For Indigenous Peoples,
this involves increasing or reviving traditional land-based and water-based cultural practices that
existed long before colonization and will continue to exist long after, as well as the revitalization
of languages and cultural practices that have been under attack.

“She’s not just a picture on a wall”: Privileging the

Stories of Lives Lived
These concepts inform our findings, as well as undergird the testimonies of those who shared
their truths. These larger concepts, however, don’t obscure the most important elements of the
National Inquiry’s research: the loved ones who are no longer among their families, communi-
ties, and Nations. As Bernice C. said about her daughter Jennifer, “She’s not just a picture on a
wall somewhere or a newspaper clipping. She’s not just a statistic with the 1,000 or more
missing. She was our daughter.”78

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The truth is, despite the National Inquiry’s best efforts to gather all of these truths, we conclude
that no one knows an exact number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in
Canada. Thousands of women’s deaths or disappearances have likely gone unrecorded over the
decades, and many families likely did not feel ready or safe to share with the National Inquiry
before our timelines required us to close registration. One of the most telling pieces of informa-
tion, however, is the amount of people who shared about either their own experiences or their
loved ones’ publicly for the first time. Without a doubt, there are many more.
As witnesses made clear, we can’t forget the people behind those numbers. These women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people are daughters, friends, aunties, mothers and grandmothers. They are
present or future teachers, lawyers, nurses, land and water protectors, healers, artists, business-
women, foster parents, social workers, community leaders, and more. Most important, however,
is the fact that these women had their own hopes and dreams that were unfairly cut short.
Gwenda Y., who testified about her daughter Amber R., remembers her as a bright and loving
person who loved sports and children, and was very involved with helping to raise her niece and
nephew. Amber was 19 when she went missing and talked about becoming either a teacher or a
police officer.
When Gwenda remembers her daughter’s milestones, some of her strongest memories are of
Amber dancing. Amber loved Pow-Wows and ceremonies, and they travelled all over Canada
and the United States for her dancing. Her outfits were custom-made by her father. When she
was younger, the women Elders in their community even asked Amber to be the pipe girl, repre-
senting White Buffalo Calf Woman holding the pipe for four days, in the Sundance ceremony,
which was a great honour.
Gwenda remembered:
I’d … just to sit there and watch Amber dance. It was just so amazing to see her glide as
she lifted up her shawl. It was like she was flying like an eagle, soaring like an eagle
when she danced, and her footwork, as she danced, every step was so light. She was on
her toes, and every step was so light, and ... that’s what she reminded me of when I
watched her, watched her dance as an eagle soaring as she danced every step.79

Sarah N., who testified about her older sister Alacie, explained that “Alacie was wonderful to
have as an older sister. She was full of love, and she had touched my inner emotions so strongly.
She ensured that I wore clothing, clean clothing, and she always fixed my hair to be presentable,
as mothers do.”80 Alacie and Sarah grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, living a more traditional
Inuit way of life with parents who loved and took care of each other. They were taught Inuit
values and were raised to
respect others as we respect ourselves and to take care of others. If we see someone in
pain, we will help you. We will not just abandon you. We will hear you. This is what we
were taught. If a person is hungry, even if you have very little to share, you share
anyway.... We like big families with lots of food to share together. It’s an Inuit culture.
We still share today like that.81
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Alacie eventually moved to Montreal with her cousin Lizzie. After her sister’s death, Sarah was
devastated to find out that the Montreal police had never even mounted a search for her and
didn’t investigate the death. Alacie’s tragic death hasn’t taken away the family’s memories of a
sister and a cousin held so close: as Alacie’s cousin Lizzie testified, “She was very kind, and she
was very loving…. She was always helping me. She fed me, because ... I was, like, homeless.
Not homeless, but I was not making any money.… But, my cousin was there helping me.”82
These stories of life lived in full illustrate the important need for Canada to confront what
Nicole B, called “its dirty-little-secret-self…. Stop saying that this is an Indigenous problem. This
is a Canadian problem…. Let’s start looking inside ourselves and say, ‘I’m responsible for this as
well. I am accountable for this and I, as a Canadian citizen, am going to stand up and do something
for this.’”83

Sharing Our Findings from the Truth-Gathering Process

Standing up means sharing these stories and seeing the women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people
who are often obscured within the numbers. In sharing our findings from the Truth-Gathering
Process, this report focuses heavily on the testimony gathered from families, friends, and loved
ones of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as well as
survivors of violence, during the hearings, in statements, and through artistic expression. This
report centres the testimony of these witnesses to share with the broader public how their lives,
families, and communities have been directly impacted by violence and what they believe needs
to be done to create change. In each chapter, we present an overview of testimony in order to
illustrate key issues, concerns, and experiences witnesses spoke about in relation to this topic.
In particular, in keeping with the National Inquiry’s mandate, the findings offered here present a
summary of the root causes of violence as family members described them in relation to four key
themes: culture, health, security, and justice.
These are presented as experiences in common, as well as experiences that are distinctive. In pre-
senting these experiences, we draw from truths shared from every region across Canada, and
from various community perspectives. In doing so, we provide examples that reflect some of the
families’ and survivors’ common concerns and provide real-life examples of how a particular
issue has impacted an individual, family, or community. For example, in discussing the housing
experiences of Indigenous women living in urban cities, we use quotes from a selection of the
many witnesses who spoke on this subject to provide some specific examples that reflect broadly
the concerns echoed by other witnesses. At the same time, however, because of the depth and
breadth of the information collected during the National Inquiry, we encourage members of the
public, Indigenous organizations, and future researchers to dive into these further opportunities
for research and learning to examine the topics discussed in this report in much greater detail.

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Throughout this report, we reference gender diverse and non-binary people as “2SLGBTQQIA,”
in order to emphasize our intent to be inclusive of a full spectrum of experiences. While we
acknowledge and reflect upon the important differences among non-binary gender identities, for
instance in our Deeper Dive sections, as well as in Chapter 11, we maintain that using a more
narrow conception of gender diversity limits our ability to convey the extent to which Indigenous
understandings about gender and gender identity have been under assault by governments, institu-
tions, service providers, and through discriminatory treatment.
We also made the decision to refer to those who shared their truths as family members and
survivors in this report using first names and last initials only. This is because violence against
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people is an ongoing issue, and even though every-
one quoted in this report agreed to share publicly, we did not want to draw unnecessary attention
to individuals and, perhaps, expose them to further risk. However, we do use witnesses’ full names
when they shared either in a panel or in an Institutional or Expert and Knowledge Keeper Hearing,
since they are not sharing in a personal capacity. In the occasional instances where a witness
testified in multiple formats, we use their initials or full names, depending on the format in which
they shared their truth.
In addition to an overview of the testimony gathered during the statements, artistic expressions,
and Community Hearings, this report also presents testimony from the Institutional and Expert
and Knowledge Keeper Hearings (Parts 2 and 3) of the Truth-Gathering Process, as well as other
relevant academic research. This allowed us to further contextualize and deepen the understand-
ing of the truths shared by families, friends, and loved ones. This process also allowed the
National Inquiry to identify commonalities, differences, gaps, or previous findings and research
related to some of the issues families raised as being important to them. Many of the truths fami-
lies shared offered a deeper, more personal look at issues that have been widely recognized and
acknowledged in previous research and by Elders and Knowledge Keepers, front-line workers,
and institutional representatives, while other truths point to knowledge gaps that still need to be
filled in the future.
We have looked at and included testimony from all regions across Canada in this national report,
including the experiences of those in Quebec. In addition, we have produced a provincial study
of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in Quebec, which con-
stitutes Volume 2 of our Final Report. This is an example of the kind of regionally-specific work
that needs to be done going forward to better understand the challenges and solutions to ending
violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in different regions of
the country.

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Overview of the Final Report

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is split into two volumes, 1a and 1b, for length, but is
made up of three main sections, in addition to the final findings of fact and Calls for Justice. This
report also includes focused examinations that look at specific issues in more detail. Volume 1a
includes Sections 1 and 2, while Volume 1b includes Section 3, our final Calls for Justice, the
annex summarizing the work of the Forensic Document Review Project and an overall
bibliography. The report specific to Quebec is a separate volume (Volume 2).
Section 1 – Establishing a New Framework
Section 1 of the report outlines a context that will be helpful for readers in approaching the
information presented in the later sections of the report.
In Chapter 1, “Centring Relationships to End Violence,” we introduce key teachings repeated
throughout the Truth-Gathering Process about the importance of relationships. As those who
shared their truths with the National Inquiry emphasized, understanding what happens in
relationships is the starting point to both understanding and ending violence against Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
In Chapter 2, “Indigenous Recognitions of Power and Place,” we show how Indigenous Peoples
have always had their own concepts of rights, roles, and responsibilities within their communi-
ties or Nations. These rights are relational and reciprocal, and are based on Indigenous knowl-
edge systems and world views.
In Chapter 3, “Emphasizing Accountability through Human Rights Tools,” we examine human
rights instruments Canada has pledged to respect, maintaining that human rights instruments can
be a way to hold governments to account, particularly in the relationship between the Canadian
state and Indigenous Peoples.
Chapter 4, “Colonization as Gendered Oppression,” argues that the process and history of
colonization have jeopardized Indigenous women’s and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s rights to
culture, health, security, and justice. Colonization affected women and gender-diverse people
both in ways similar to the way it affected men as well as in distinct ways. We examine gendered
systems of violence at the root of the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people today.
This analysis brings us to the conclusion that violence against Indigenous women and girls is a
crisis centuries in the making. The process of colonization has, in fact, created the conditions for
the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people
that we are confronting today.

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Section 2 – Encountering Oppression

In Section 2, we focus heavily on the testimony gathered from families, friends, and loved ones
of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as well as
survivors of violence, to better understand their encounters with individual, institutional, and
systemic forms of oppression. This section is organized according to four main areas of rights
violations: culture, health, security, and justice.
In Chapter 5, “Confronting Oppression – Right to Culture,” we look at the importance of culture
in relation to violence in the lives of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Colo-
nization has altered Indigenous Peoples’ relationships to their culture and identity through con-
certed efforts designed to sever these cultural and kin connections. Many of the stories we heard
from family members and survivors are rooted in these initial and ongoing attacks on culture.
In Chapter 6, “Confronting Oppression – Right to Health,” and with a holistic understanding of
health in mind, we consider the consequences of surviving violence or the loss of a loved one on
the health of survivors, family networks, and wider Indigenous communities. Their truths reveal
specific ways that the health care system responds to Indigenous Peoples, and how the lack of
adequate responses can contribute to further harm.
Chapter 7, “Confronting Oppression – Right to Security” engages the concept of human security
as distinct from a more limited understanding of the security state. In this chapter, we look at
how the physical, social, and economic security of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people is undermined through issues such as poverty, housing, education, and transportation, and
how these factors contribute to violence. We also focus on the challenges that Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people face in accessing support to address their security
related needs.
In Chapter 8, “Confronting Oppression – Right to Justice,” we discuss the right to justice as it
relates to the experiences of the families of missing and murdered loved ones. We also look at
what survivors of violence told us about their experiences with police, the court system, and the
correctional system. These encounters highlight crucial disconnections between Indigenous
Peoples and justice systems, in ways that compromise their basic right to justice.
Throughout Section 2, we also take a series of “deeper dives” into topics that present distinct
issues or perspectives and offer opportunities to demonstrate how culture, health, security, and
justice can create particular challenges for specific groups, institutions, geographies, or other
circumstances, within a distinctions-based approach.
Section 3 – Healing Families, Communities, and Nations
In Section 3, we return full circle to many of the principles and teachings that provided the
foundation for Section 1, with a focus on different models of healing and Indigenous-led best
practices.

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Chapter 9, “Wellness and Healing,” takes a closer look at the National Inquiry’s own health and
wellness approach for family members and survivors, and what we have learned from families
and survivors who participated in the National Inquiry who discussed their own healing journeys.
In Chapter 10, “Commemoration and Calling Forth,” we turn to the National Inquiry’s efforts to
raise awareness and engage in public education through our Legacy Archive, art outreach, and
youth engagement guide. Altogether, we assert, these actions, engagements, and interactions will
help reclaim the role of women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people as powerful cultural carriers
and sacred knowledge holders who are capable of shaping a safer future for the next generation
of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
In Chapter 11, “On the Front Lines: Valuing the Insight of Front-line Workers,” we provide a
summary of four Guided Dialogue sessions, held in the fall of 2018. These dialogues brought
together people of diverse perspectives to discuss best practices and solutions for change. These
were not aimed at gathering individual testimony, but instead aimed to bring together front-line
service providers, organizers, people with lived experience, Elders, academics, and outreach
support to fill in gaps and discuss best practices related to their own backgrounds within specific
Inuit, Métis, 2SLGBTQQIA, and Quebec contexts. Over the course of three days, participants
identified barriers and discussed what best practices and solutions look like through the lenses of
culture, health, security, and justice.
Calls for Justice
We end with our Calls for Justice. These Calls are anchored in human and Indigenous rights in-
struments, Indigenous laws, and principles shared through the testimonies of family members,
survivors, Knowledge Keepers, and Expert Witnesses, along with the National Inquiry’s advisory
groups, both internal and external. These Calls for Justice, as their name implies, demand action
that reflects, respects, and actively works to create relationships where Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people are recognized as rights bearers and have those rights upheld – work-
ing to address where justice, seen in the larger context of dispossession and marginalization,
has failed.
These Calls for Justice are based on the findings of fact found at the end of each chapter and in
the Deeper Dives, where applicable, as well as the overarching findings we lay out at the begin-
ning of Section 4. In addition, they are undergirded by important Principles for Justice – lenses
through which all Calls for Justice must be interpreted, applied and implemented, for change to
materialize.
Restoring safety for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people is an urgent responsi-
bility for us all. These Calls are not simply moral principles; they are legal imperatives.

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Summary of the Forensic Document Review Project

In this annex, we summarize the important work of the Forensic Document Review Project,
which examined 174 police files consisting of 136,834 documents and 593,921 pages. While the
Project's important work has been limited by the time frame of the National Inquiry’s mandate,
our examination demonstrates the important reasons that this kind of work and re-examination
must continue, to find justice for those families and survivors still desperately searching for
answers.

Conclusion: An Invitation
One of the things that makes this National Inquiry unique is that we are not investigating a past
wrong, but one that is still ongoing and that is getting worse. Acts of violence stemming from the
structures of colonization and coupled with racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia are not
few and far between, but pervasive, immediate, and urgent.
However, this violence is also preventable – if Canadians are willing to change. The National
Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls gave Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people a national platform to speak their truths, but the real work is only
getting started. Ending violence against Indigenous women and girls will require fundamental
realignment and transformation of systems and society as they currently exist. The investment
into solving this crisis must be equal to or better than the over five hundred years of deficit that
have preceded it.
The rights of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are violated or upheld every
day, in small ways and large. The National Inquiry believes that the restoration of these rights is
a pressing priority, as a way of transforming harmful encounters Indigenous Peoples have with
systems that impact their lives. In particular, governments have a responsibility to protect and
promote rights grounded in concepts of culture and identity, of health, of safety, and of justice,
which are key to ensuring overall progress in addressing the crisis of missing and murdered
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. They are also key to ending violence and
finding holistic solutions to help build the foundation that will restore Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people to their power and place.
Documenting these encounters is one way we insist on accountability and a realistic assessment
of the ongoing reality of violence in the lives of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people. This is critical to understanding how our society can be transformed from its very roots.

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 INTRODUCTION

There is a role in this transformation for government, for industry, for communities, for allies,
and for individuals – we all have a part to play. By focusing on specific moments of encounter –
moments that form relationships – we offer one path through all of these stories. We have chosen
this path because we believe it achieves the mission of the National Inquiry to document in
precise and exacting ways the root causes of violence and the ongoing human rights violations
against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. We also hope, however, that the
path this report leads to for you, the reader, is one that shows you that change is possible
right now.
As you follow this journey through the testimony, you might find you have other questions or
that there are other routes you are interested in exploring in more detail yourself. You might find
that when you hear about a particular encounter, you want to know more about that family’s
entire story, or about how certain issues play out in the health care system, the justice system, or
other institutions. We encourage you to follow that path and incorporate what you learn into
relationship within your own lives, communities, and societies. Your relationship with the stories
included in this report and available online is an encounter – a transformational moment of
relationship – of the utmost importance in itself.

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 INTRODUCTION

Notes
1 Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, 79; 82-89; 89. 26 TAKEN, “About the series.”
2 Ibid., 79. 27 TAKEN, “Infographic.”
3 Ibid. 28 Boyce, “Victimization of Aboriginal People in Canada,
2014.”
4 Feierstein, “Defining the Concept of Genocide,” 15.
29 Bruser et al., “Nearly half of murdered Indigenous
5 Ibid.
women.”
6 United Nations, Convention on the Prevention and
30 Blaze and McClearn, “Prime target.”
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article II.
31 Anaya, “Statement upon Conclusion of the Visit to
7 Schabas, Genocide in International Law, 46.
Canada.”
8 Bjørnland, Markuson, and Mennecke, “What Is Geno-
32 Boyce, “Victimization of Aboriginal People in Canada,
cide?” as cited in Feierstein, “Defining the Concept of
2014.”
Genocide,” 12.
33 Conroy and Cotter, “Self-reported Sexual Assault in
9 Semelin, “Around the ‘G’ Word,” 27.
Canada, 2014.”
10 Feierstein, “Defining the Concept of Genocide,” 14.
34 Canada, Public Safety Canada, National Action Plan to
11 Ibid. Combat Human Trafficking.
12 Krotz, “A Canadian genocide?” 35 National Aboriginal Consultation Project, Sacred Lives.
13 Woolford and Benvenuto, “Canada and Colonial 36 Native Women’s Association of Canada, “Boyfriend or
Genocide,” 375. Not.”
14 Ibid. 37 Bucik, “Canada: Discrimination and Violence,” 4.
15 Krotz, “A Canadian genocide?” 38 Pyne et al., “Barriers to Well-Being.”
16 Palmater, “Sexualized Genocide.” 39 Boyce, “Victimization of Aboriginal People in Canada,
2014.”
17 Palmater, “The Ongoing Legacies.”
40 Kohkom (Piapot First Nation), Part 1, Statement
18 Fontaine and Farber, “What Canada committed against
Volume 122, Saskatoon, SK, p. 30.
First Nations.”
41 Bernice C. (Sagkeeng First Nation), Part 1, Public
19 Woolford and Benvenuto, “Canada and Colonial
Volume 15, Winnipeg, MB, p. 51.
Genocide,” 380.
42 Tamara S., Part 1, Public Volume 15, Winnipeg, MB, pp.
20 Danny P. (Membertou First Nation), Part 1, Statement
51-52.
Volume 69, Membertou, NS, pp. 2, 4.
43 Danielle E. (Kawacatoose First Nation), Part 1, Public
21 Native Women’s Association of Canada, “What Their
Volume 31, Saskatoon, SK, p. 117.
Stories Tell Us.”
44 Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern
22 Pearce, “An Awkward Silence.”
Affairs Canada,”Terms of Reference for the National
23 Royal Canadian Mounted Police, “Missing and Inquiry.” See also, National Inquiry into Missing and
Murdered Aboriginal Women.” Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Legal Path,
24 Ibid. Rules of Respectful Practice, available at www.mmiwg-
ffada.ca/files/legal-path-rules-of
25 Mahony, Jacob, and Hobson, “Women and the Criminal -respectful-practice.pdf.
Justice System.”

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 P R E FA C E

We acknowledge the survivors of violence who shared their experiences

with us. You have illustrated pure strength, courage and resiliency in
sharing your truth as many of you are still experiencing trauma and
systemic violence. We are extremely touched you entrusted us with your
experiences.
We cherish the submissions of artistic expressions, including, songs, poems
and art, that have been shared with us. Thank you to the artists, family
members, survivors and those across the nation who have been impacted
or inspired to take action through their submission. Your art will continue
to serve as powerful commemoration and legacy tools to share truth and
knowledge and serve as a means to heal and inspire action in others.
We offer our sincerest gratitude to the Elders and Grandmothers Circle
who worked alongside us, offering their support, wisdom, encouragement,
advice, protection and love to us and all who worked with the National
Inquiry. Our inspiration came from our Grandmothers who motivated us to
always work to the highest standards. One of the ways we will be able to
express our gratitude is to always live by the lessons and wisdom they
shared.
We want to acknowledge and thank the families and survivors who guided
and assisted us as members of the National Family Advisory Circle. For
many years, you fought to be heard and acknowledged in seeking justice
for your loved ones and your fellow Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people. You fought for a national investigation into the
injustices and violence experienced by Métis, Inuit and First Nations
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. We were not provided with the

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 P R E FA C E

time, tools and powers to do all that we had hoped we could do, but you
walked with us every step of the way, and we are beyond humbled to have
walked alongside you, and to have received your truth and your trust.
We have been honoured with the support of Elders and Knowledge Keepers
across the nation who offered their guidance, knowledge, wisdom, prayers,
traditions, and ceremonies to the National Inquiry at our hearings, state-
ment-gathering events and other community events. In sitting with us, tend-
ing to the qulliq and sacred fires, offering ceremonies, songs, prayers, and
words of wisdom, you have helped us navigate through the very challeng-
ing task of engaging in a legal inquiry process, while incorporating
distinctive First Nations, Inuit, and Métis cultures, languages, spirituality,
and creating opportunities for healing. You remind us that every step in our
process had to be with heartfelt intention and purpose and grounded in
relationships and reciprocity.
We want to acknowledge the communities across the country that
welcomed us into their territories and homes. You helped us create safe
spaces filled with culture, language, spirit and compassion at each hearing.
In these safe spaces, difficult truths were brought to light, and for some,
healing began.
We offer gratitude to the members of our Métis, Inuit, 2SLGBTQQIA and
Quebec Advisory Committees, who offered their time to us in exploring
issues and positive solutions. Your expertise, advice and guidance has
contributed to the development of this report and recommendations for
the elimination of violence against Inuit, Métis and First Nations women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
munities and Nations, and actively sought to disempower women through the application of
state-sanctioned violence on a number of different levels. In addition, laying down these impor-
tant roots helps to convey how the structures and processes of colonization, which are often rele-
gated to the past, are very much factors today.

This wooden star blanket is a collaborative community art

piece. It is a mosaic made up of 128 individual tiles, each
one hand-painted by survivors of violence and families of
missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people during a statement-gathering event
in British Columbia. It is a symbol of the importance of
centring the voices of survivors and of families who
shared their truths with the National Inquiry.

This framework also provides insight into how

Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people experience discrimination and violence in
a way that is intersectional. In other words, this means that the structure of oppression, for those
who are targets of violence, includes many factors that influence the outcome of their lives and
those of their families.
We look to the past, and to these intersectional systems of oppression as they were developed,
as a way to look toward how to transform the present and the future, engaging with tools that
promote basic human rights in key areas such as culture, health, security, and justice, within
Indigenous understandings. These understandings are not uniform, and neither are they static.
Instead, they develop in relationship to those rights-bearers – Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people – to whom this report is devoted. The themes we address through a rights
lens are those most represented in the various systems and institutions people reported dealing with,
as well as those systems, institutions, and people perceived to have most contributed to harm.

Commissioner Audette hugs a participant

during hearings in Regina, Saskatchewan.

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 P R E FA C E

now because of years and years of decisions and actions that built Canada, all while robbing
Indigenous Peoples, and especially women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA peoples, of their humanity,
dignity and ultimately their lives. It is genocide.
We must be active participants in decolonizing Canada. We must challenge all institutions,
governments and agencies to consciously and critically challenge the ideologies that govern
them. We must critically examine our systems of laws and governance to identify how they
exclude and oppress Indigenous Peoples. We must challenge and call on all leaders to protect and
uphold the humanity and dignity of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA peoples. And
when they fail to do so, we must hold them accountable.
Finally, ending the genocide and rebuilding Canada into a decolonized nation requires true and
equal partnership with Indigenous Peoples. I hope that the Final Report of the National Inquiry
into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls can be a tool to do just that.

Martha Kyak designed and sewed this amauti. Sewing this

amauti was a healing process for her. Martha has dedicated
this amauti in memory of her sister Lily.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 CHAPTER 1

Centring Relationships
to End Violence
Introduction: Building a Solid Foundation
Throughout the National Inquiry, we heard stories of loss and grief. We listened to what happens
when an Indigenous woman, girl, or 2SLGBTQQIA person goes missing or is murdered, and
heard about the impact of that loss on those who surrounded them. These people mattered. They
were mothers, daughters, sisters, aunties, grandmothers, nieces, cousins, and families of the heart
– and their absence has left scars that no amount of time can ever heal.
We honour the brave families and loved ones and those who survived to tell their stories, just as
we honour those who no longer walk among us, by sharing the truths they have gifted to the
National Inquiry in the following pages. These truths offer powerful teachings from those who
know best the steps that must be taken to end violence in the lives of Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people: the Indigenous families, survivors, Knowledge Keepers, Elders,
grandmothers, and activists who have learned these teachings through experience.
In her presentation to the National Inquiry, Knowledge Keeper Mavis Windsor, a member of
the Heiltsuk First Nation of Bella Bella, British Columbia, and the social development director
of her community, made clear a message delivered many times over the course of the Truth-
Gathering Process: “We are the legacy. Despite the trauma our communities continue to live
through, we are capable of addressing the violence against women in our communities. The
solution is within us – within our communities.”3
Over the course of our work, the National Inquiry learned much about the distinct ways
violence shapes the lives of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA
people across the country, and the creative and courageous strategies these same people are using

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to fight for change. While their stories demonstrate the importance of understanding the ways
that geography, culture, tradition, and many other factors must be accounted for in devising
meaningful recommendations and community-led change, the stories of those who shared their
truths also gave voice to one shared teaching over and over again: in order to understand the
causes of violence and to make the changes necessary to ending violence, we must recognize the
power and responsibility of relationships.
In the words of Expert Witness Sandra Montour, a Mohawk woman and executive director
of Ganohkwasra Family Assault Support Services, where she has worked for over 30 years in
providing support to Indigenous women and their families experiencing violence:
[We] hav[e] to build relationships, and we have to because our livelihood depends on it.
Our livelihood depends on it and the lives of our women in our community depend on it,
so we have to be incredible fighters, we have to be incredibly diplomatic, we have to be
able to problem solve and develop relationships.4

“WE ARE THE LEGACY. DESPITE THE TRAUMA OUR COMMUNITIES CONTINUE TO LIVE
THROUGH, WE ARE CAPABLE OF ADDRESSING THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN OUR
COMMUNITIES. THE SOLUTION IS WITHIN US – WITHIN OUR COMMUNITIES.”

Mavis Windsor

In the following pages, we follow these two important teachings. We centre the voices of First
Nations, Métis, and Inuit families, survivors, and others whose truths contain wisdom and guid-
ance on ending violence that has been ignored or actively silenced for far too long; and, as we
listen to this wisdom and guidance, we focus specifically on those teachings about how, through
relationships, we can come to understand the underlying causes of violence and identify and
implement the steps that must be taken to end violence.
We all have an opportunity to transform relationships that continue to harm Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, but this work is not easy, and it is especially difficult for those
like Mavis, Sandra, and the many other strong Indigenous people we will hear from in the fol-
lowing pages who work to create change within relationships that continually deny their agency
and rights.
As Marilyn W., a First Nations woman who shared her story about losing her sister to violence,
observed:
Each and every one of us as individual people, every morning we wake up, we have a
choice that we could bring light into this world or we can feed that – that darkness that
we have to live with every day. And I’m trying, and it’s real hard not to sit here and be
angry. It’s really hard not to have hate in my heart because my culture is about equality
and love. This is about the genocide of our people. This just isn’t about Indigenous
women. This is a spiritual battle.5

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
To emphasize the seriousness of this battle, and the importance of the solutions and recommen-
dations offered by the families, we look to the protections afforded to Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people as bearers of inherent Indigenous and human rights. Framing the
teachings about relationships offered to the National Inquiry in terms of Indigenous and human
rights in the recommendations at the end of this report reminds us that change can no longer rest
on the political or moral good will of governments. Implementing the changes demanded through-
out this report is the legal responsibility of Canadian governments, their institutions, and their
representatives in ensuring that the rights of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people
are no longer abused and ignored. These changes also require the full engagement of Indigenous
communities and service providers, working in partnership to achieve better outcomes.

Why Start with Relationships?

Guiding our approach to analyzing the many truths collected by the National Inquiry is a teach-
ing that was shared over and over again during the Truth-Gathering Process: relationships are
key to both understanding the causes of violence and to making changes to end violence in the
lives of Indigenous girls, women, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Shawn Wilson, an Opaskwayak
Cree researcher from northern Manitoba, explains that relationships are central to Indigenous
ways of knowing. In this world view, we are each our own person, but we are also defined by our
relationships to others. We are one person’s mother, another person’s daughter, and a third per-
son’s family of the heart. We are connected to our ancestors, to the land where we come from,
and to future generations. In short, Wilson argues, we are not just one person; we are the sum of
all the relationships that shape our lives.6
The importance of relationships to the families and survivors who shared their truths with the
National Inquiry is evident in the way many chose to begin their story about a missing or
murdered loved one by naming the many relationships they shared with others, as in the case of
Percy P., who began his story about his 37-year-old daughter, Misty P., who has been missing
since 2015, with the following words:
[Misty] was raised around the drum, songs, ceremony, traditional living off the land.…
And so, Misty walked that road. She was a pipe holder, Sundance pipe holder. She
danced Pow-Wow. She was a good daughter, sister. She was a decent human being.…
Wherever she was at, she found people…. She had a lot of promise. She brought us to
the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, and we won the top hand drum for the year, and
it was quite an honour for us. And, she was the one that was orchestrating all of that.
Nothing like that has happened since she’s been gone. Our organizer is gone;
taken away.7

In an Inuit context, as well, Inuit telling their truths spoke of their loved ones with loving
memories, usually beginning with “My sister, beautiful sister…” or “My daughter, my beautiful

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
daughter…” and loving memories of their personalities and of their lives. The death of loved
ones and the experience of violence and tragedy brought out a great sense of loss, for which the
consequences meant ongoing struggles for personal health and well-being. The experiences that
missing and murdered Inuit women and their families had, and the encounters they had in their
attempts to regain control of their lives, to become healthy and well, to gain justice and safety,
determined the outcome of their lives.

Elder Rebecca Veevee lights the qulliq at a hearing in

Quebec City, Quebec.

Like Percy P. and the many others who shared

their truths with the National Inquiry, family
members insisted that to begin to understand
and honour those whose lives were cut short
because of violence requires a careful account-
ing of all the relationships that shaped a per-
son’s life and that they, in turn, played a part in
shaping. Talking about the love, care, wisdom,
and happiness Misty brought to her relation-
ships with her family and friends helps others
see what was lost when she went missing; it also, however, puts in stark contrast those other rela-
tionships where, instead of being cherished and loved, Misty and others like her were controlled,
ignored, and abused by those who chose to act violently toward her or those who responded to
her calls for help with indifference and judgment rooted in racist and sexist beliefs about her
worth as an Indigenous woman.
The truths that family members and survivors shared also pointed to the relationships that shaped
the lives of their missing and murdered loved ones as opportunities for learning, understanding,
and transformation. They emphasized the importance of strengthening bonds and developing
strong ties with one another to be better able to protect each other. In his writing about Indige-
nous–settler relations, Cree researcher Willie Ermine talks about relationships as “spaces of
engagement” to emphasize the opportunities that exist within relationships to work out the simi-
larities and differences between the various ways of knowing that may be held by those involved.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
When we consider relationships as spaces of engagement, Ermine explains, we pay attention to
the words, actions, and behaviours that exist on the surface. These words, actions, and behaviours,
however, also tell us something about the attitudes, beliefs, and contexts that run below the sur-
face and that function as a “deeper level force” in shaping the ways of knowing and being that
may be present in relationships. To make lasting change to relationships so that they reflect a par-
ticular set of values – for instance, those that respect the rights of Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people – requires doing the more difficult work of confronting and changing the
“deeper level force” so that the underlying context also reflects these values.8
In their testimonies, family members and survivors talked about the need to change the underly-
ing beliefs and contexts that are the systemic or root causes of violence and that allow that
violence to happen.
Another reason we centre relationships in the following pages is that they reveal to us how these
underlying or systemic beliefs translate into the day-to-day realities of the lives of Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in troubling ways. As many of the relationships de-
scribed by families and survivors illustrate, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people
are denied the power to participate as equals in defining the terms upon which the relationships
that shape their lives are built.
In her testimony, Cheryl M. talked about how, after months of activism and effort to secure a
review of the investigation by the Office of Police Complaints Commissioner into the death of
Victoria P., it was only when she was accompanied by a well-respected and connected university
professor that government officials responded to her concerns, despite her own position as then-
president of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association.9
In her testimony, Jamie L. H.’s description of the violent, racist, and transphobic treatment
she was confronted with from the police demonstrates how, for Indigenous women and
2SLGBTQQIA people, inequality in relationships is often reasserted and expressed not only by
dismissive attitudes but also by threats of violence and harm.
It was right near Halloween…. And they [the police] began throwing off firecrackers,
and I was sort of jumping around; I didn’t know what was going around. I imagine they
were trying to frighten me, and they were making disparaging jokes about me; they did
a strip search, including, you know, me taking off my brassiere. And of course, I had
falsies on, and they were making horrible jokes about that, and tossing them around. And
it was just a very humiliating experience.10

To challenge the terms of this encounter would be to put oneself at considerable additional risk.
These examples offered by strong and resilient women who have gone on to be powerful advo-
cates for the rights of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people demonstrate how
their ability to shape relationships and to engage in relationships on their own terms is limited

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
by an undercurrent of colonial, patriarchal, racist, and heteronormative beliefs and institutional
practices that deems them as unworthy partners in that relationship. For Indigenous women and
2SLGBTQQIA people, inequality in these contexts does not simply mean being ignored or being
prevented from participating in a debate; it often means becoming targets for violence within
relationships that are forced upon them.

Encounters That Make a Difference

In describing those relationships that were important to understanding the violence experienced
in their own life or the life of their missing or murdered loved one, families and survivors drew
attention to specific moments in those relationships that they felt were especially important for
understanding the circumstances, causes, impacts, or details of their loved one’s disappearance
or death or of the violence they themselves had experienced – what we have characterized as
“encounters.”
We use the concept of “encounter” to reference a broad range of moments where relationships
are formed. These encounters represent a time and space through which the vision, values, and
principles that shape families, communities, and individual lives are created. We see these as
transformational moments, too; in other words, these encounters can lead the way to harm or to
healing, depending on the context. To engage in encounters like these represents an important
responsibility and an opportunity to shape the terms of a relationship in a good way.
In sharing her experience as a survivor of violence, Anni P. pointed to a “pivotal moment” when
her partner’s actions stopped Anni from harming herself, and in doing so also fundamentally
shifted Anni’s belief about the possibility of relationships being loving rather than violent.
There was a pivotal moment when I wanted to do myself in. She [Anni’s partner, Kim]
stayed with me, she would not let me leave the house, because if I got out of the house, I
would – that was it. Because she’s bigger and stronger than me, thank God, she didn’t let
me out. When I woke up in the morning, Kim was laying in front of the door because she
didn’t want to let me out of the bedroom. She was protecting me like a sentinel, waiting,
like you’re not getting out of here. And, in that moment, it was pivotal for me. Someone
loved me with everything they had.11

For Darlene G. – a First Nations woman and survivor of childhood abuse and sexual violence
who shared her truth at the Community Hearing in Membertou, Nova Scotia – a conversation
with her uncle in which she learned about her mother’s history of abuse within the residential
school system is the point at which her “life really alters,” because it is in this conversation with
her uncle that she is given a new way to understand both her own and her mother’s struggles
with addiction – an understanding that helps her down a path of healing. She explained:

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 My life really alters at [Uncle V.]. He’s been my rock, you know. He sat at a table one
day. At my Auntie [R.]’s funeral, we were all sitting out in the back of my Uncle [L.]’s
house and we’re around the table and I was clean and sober. I was five years. And he
looked at me, and he says, “Do you want to know why your mother was the way she was
with you? Do you want to know why your mother was the way your mother was, no
feeling, cold? Because she was raped by the priests.” I couldn’t understand that, but I
could understand why she was the way she was, why she drank, she – the way she drank.
Why I used and drank the way I used, it’s because of systemic abuse, generational abuse,
the government trying to change who we are.12

In sharing these significant moments in relationships important to them, Anni and Darlene
offered teachings on ways of engaging in relationships that had a profound impact on their own
healing journey from violence. In the following pages, we include similar accounts of specific
moments within relationships that families and survivors pointed to as important teachings about
what healing relationships can look like, and how a single conversation or action may be a pow-
erful opportunity to shape the terms of a relationship in a good way. These teachings provide
models upon which many of our Calls for Justice are based.

Commissioner Eyolfson shares a hug with

Charlotte Wolfrey in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Unfortunately, the encounters that many family members described during the National Inquiry
show that the responsibility to shape a relationship has been used to harm, rather than to honour,
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Most often, when families, supporters, and
survivors drew attention to specific interactions within relationships that they saw as holding dis-
tinct significance for understanding violence in their own or their loved ones’ lives, they pointed
to moments that, in their view, made violence more likely to happen. In many cases, these mo-
ments took place during a first encounter with someone to whom they or their loved one had
turned for support.

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Not surprisingly, it is these examples that families stressed because – as we will see throughout
the report – they provide compelling information about what led to the violence or other harm
they or their loved ones endured, as in the case of the truth shared by Barbara H., regarding the
death of her 17-year-old daughter, Cherisse H. In her testimony, Barbara drew attention to an
encounter she had with Cherisse’s child welfare worker a few weeks before Cherisse’s death.
She [Cherisse] was – on the street and she was addicted to drugs. And, there was one
time there when she said to me, “Mommy, I need help.” This was after she had her son.
She was still doing drugs, and then she finally realized that she wanted to get the help
she needs so she could be a good mom.

So, she said to me that she needed help, if I could phone her CFS [Child and Family
Services] worker so they could place her in a locked facility so she doesn’t have to run to
the streets to do drugs. I guess she used drugs, too, to cope because they took her son
right at birth.

So, I phoned her worker, and her worker said to call back. So, I called back and she said
there’s no facilities that could take Cherisse, and I guess that she – I guess she felt let
down or – you know?

So, she went back to the street, and a week after that, that’s when – couple weeks after
that, that’s when they found her body.13

After being missing for a few weeks, Cherisse’s body was discovered in July 2009 by a
construction crew. Barbara is still looking for answers to understand what happened to her
daughter.
For Barbara, an important part of understanding the violence that later took her daughter’s life
rests in knowing why she was not able to access the services she needed to address her drug and
alcohol addiction at the crucial moment when Cherisse reached out and was ready for help.
Barbara reflects on a much different fate for her daughter, had such services been available. “I
know if she would have got the help she needed, she would have been a really, really good mom
to her son because she loved that little boy so much.”14
As you will see in the following pages, many families are keenly aware of similar moments such
as that shared between Barbara and the CFS worker, where a single encounter that holds the
potential of preventing or at least decreasing the likelihood of violence is squandered or lost –
often with significant consequences.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
In her testimony, Carol W., a First Nations woman who is deaf, talked about the harm caused by
her first encounter with the police when she reported her 20-year-old daughter, Karina W.,
missing.
July 20th, 2010, is the day I went to the police station by myself without an interpreter. I
knew I needed help to locate my daughter. When I arrived, I took a picture and a note to
give to the police. I handed my note to the officer. He just looked and acted like it was
not important. He ignored me. I was so angry as he was not helping me. I banged my
hand hard on the counter. This is when he looked at me and handed me a witness
statement.

I had no idea what I was to do with that paper. No one explained what I needed to write
on that green paper. I looked for the officer to help me, but he was back on his computer,
acting like I was not important or what I needed was not important. Once again, I
slammed my hand hard on the desk. Finally a big man in a white shirt came and tried
to help me. Once I was done with the paper, I gave it to the big man in the white shirt
and I left.

I left the police station very angry and upset. The next day, I went back to the police
station with an interpreter and filled out and completed my statement. Without an
interpreter, communication was difficult.15

In failing to provide Carol with an interpreter, deliberately ignoring her as she stood at the
counter in the police station, and handing her unfamiliar paperwork to complete without provid-
ing instruction, the officer used this initial meeting with her to establish a relationship in which,
as Carol put it, “I was not important or what I needed was not important.”
Rather than recognizing the significance of this moment to respond to Carol in the ways most
helpful to a woman desperate to find her missing daughter and to establish a relationship that
could help facilitate an effective investigation, the officer asserted his position of authority and
power over Carol as if to remind her that, ultimately, Indigenous women do not matter to the
police and are not worthy of the police’s time and effort. As Carol says, “I felt unheard and
dismissed simply because they chose not to hear me [or] help me to locate my daughter.”16

“I WAS NOT IMPORTANT OR WHAT I NEEDED WAS NOT IMPORTANT.… I FELT

UNHEARD AND DISMISSED SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY CHOSE NOT TO HEAR ME
[OR] HELP ME TO LOCATE MY DAUGHTER.”

Carol W.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Initial encounters that establish a relationship wherein Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people, family members, survivors, and others are met with derision, racism,
and dismissal by those to whom they reach out for support permeate the stories shared with the
National Inquiry. In many cases, these encounters occur at moments when Indigenous people are
most vulnerable, as in Cherisse’s case. Almost always, these encounters demonstrate the ways
those involved take advantage of that vulnerability to further their own ends or to reassert a
system that devalues the lives of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. They
occur when Indigenous women, like Barbara or Carol, engage with someone in a position of
authority, such as a police officer or a social worker; and they occur in situations in which, like
Cherisse, they are targets of violence. They also occur implicitly when an Indigenous woman is
confronted for the first time with a policy, a rule, or a belief built into a particular institution she
must navigate that punishes rather than helps her.
Again, in all these situations, the consequences of the actions of those involved are nearly always
the catalyst for further violence and harm.
In the following chapters, we follow the lead of families and similarly highlight these important
teachings. We often use the word “encounter” to describe these moments in order to signal their
importance as a pivotal or distinct moment, which family members or survivors have detailed as
the precise conversation, meeting, or event that took place at the beginning of a relationship
and that went on to shape that relationship in ways that hold significant consequences for how
violence continues within their own or their loved ones’ lives. In her testimony, Dr. Robyn
Bourgeois, a Cree professor at Brock University and a survivor of sexual violence and traffick-
ing, offered another way of asking this same question in even clearer terms: “What is the source
of the ideas that [make] i[t] okay to murder Indigenous women and girls?”17

An Intersectional Approach to Encounters

All of the stories of encounter we heard took place within relationships that created a particular
context or situation. As a result, these relationships must also be conceived broadly, to go beyond
the interpersonal and to engage the different systems, institutions, laws, and policies that struc-
ture these interactions. To understand how these situations are different for different people, and
the potential solutions to issues created within these situations, we draw on the importance of an
intersectional approach.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 INTERSECTIONALITY: A SUMMARY OF OVERLAPPING OPPRESSIONS
AND IDENTITY MARKERS

• Colonization • Racism • Indigeneity and

(historic and "Status"

Types of Discrimination
Structural Forces

Aspects of Identity
• Sexism
ongoing) • Socioeconomic
• Transphobia and
• Patriarchy status
homophobia
• Social, political • Family status
• Exploitation
and economic • Educational level
marginalization • Economic,
political and social • Geographic
• Media and exclusion location
sterotyping
• Cultural violence • Gender
• Institutions and
structures that • Physical, emotional, • Ability and
harm rather than and spiritual disability
heal (e.g. health, violence • Sexual orientation
justice) • Family dislocation • Spirituality
and separation
• Denial of adequate
financial resources

Centring the lived experience of those who shared their stories with us represents the core of our
analysis. As scholars Olena Hankivsky, Renée Cormier, and Diego de Merich argue, “Centering
stories is consistent with any intersectional approach that prioritizes lived experience as a neces-
sary theoretical foundation for the pursuit of social justice.”18
American civil rights advocate and leading scholar of critical race theory Kimberlé Crenshaw
first coined the concept of “intersectionality” in the late 1980s, and it has gained an important
following since. Crenshaw suggested that comparing the lived experiences of Black women in
the United States with those of Black men or of white women minimized the level of discrimina-
tion that they faced. When people failed to understand how multiple systems, both visible and
invisible, oppressed Black women, they also failed to address the ongoing mistreatment of Black
women. She recommended a more integrated approach, which she called “intersectionality,” to
expose the reality of sexism and racism pervasive in Black women’s encounters with the people,
systems, and institutions supposedly developed to help them.19
Definitions of “intersectionality” vary, and have evolved to reflect the unique learnings and
experiences of Indigenous Peoples. In its broadest terms, however, intersectionality examines
more than a single identity marker and includes a broader understanding of simultaneous interac-
tions between different aspects of a person’s social location. For example, rather than using a
single-strand analysis of sexual orientation, gender, race, or class, intersectionality challenges

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 FOREWORD

Melanie Morrison
I’ve been fighting for years to have change, and one of the focuses of Native Women’s Associa-
tion of Canada was to have an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
We wanted the concerns about our experiences and our files to be heard. It was important to our
family that change happens. I saw it as an opportunity to expand our families’ cry out for change
to police protocols on Indigenous missing and murdered women’s and girls’ cases.
My sister went missing June 18, 2006. My mother did an initial search by talking to all of my
sisters’ friends and people who usually knew where she was. It was unlike my sister to not come
home because she was a young mother. She told my mother she was coming home early that
night. When my mom went to the police, she was met with the stereotype that because she was
only 24, she was probably just out with friends and would show up. Unfortunately, my sister’s
remains were found four years later. It was devastating because where she was found was less
than a kilometre from her home. Local police were in charge up to that point. Then, after follow-
up with the case, it was handed over to the Sûreté du Quebec and the file remains active. My
niece was left to be raised without a mother. My daughter and I were very close to my sister, and
my youngest never got to know her aunt. My mother hasn’t recovered from the loss. My father
passed in 2015. He passed without answers. She was very outspoken and a ball of energy. When
her life was taken, the light fizzled and things are not the same.
Being part of the National Family Advisory Circle is healing in the prospect of having real
change. It’s another ray of light that I hope will burn. The way our women’s files are treated is
wrong, and my hope is that our reality won’t be someone else’s reality. These women and girls
were important. They never got to fulfill their purpose because someone was able to take their
life. I would love for all Canadians to think of our women as important because they were impor-
tant to us. When this happened to my sister, she was in a good place. She had just finished an
entrepreneurial course and she had a dream to build a house for her and her daughter. It was
painful because she was doing all these great things and then this happens.
My hope would be that there is an immediate change of how the police handle Indigenous files
on- or off-reserve so there’s no delay in pursuing every possible option to find that missing or
murdered loved one. There was such a divide in my personal experience. On-reserve, my sister’s
case wasn’t considered important, and off-reserve, people didn’t think they had to be responsive.
If the local police and off-reserve police had communicated with each other, we could maybe
have had closure.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 FOREWORD

Darlene Osborne
Tansi, Kitatamiskatinawow, I am a member of the National Family Advisory Circle and have
attended five hearings across the country in Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, and Quebec
City. My husband, John, often attended with me as my support.
For John and I, there was truth in the words and tears of the families who shared their stories and
experiences about their loved ones. While this National Inquiry represents a start, there is so
much more to do. The limitation of the process, and its structure, could not shine enough light on
so many dimensions of truth we had hoped the Inquiry’s noble mandate would illuminate. In the
end, we as family members, because of the Inquiry, are able to stand strong together and united
in the singular message that there cannot be any more violence against women and we must find
a way as a nation to end these shameful and preventable deaths and murders.
There are many solutions that were offered by families and by survivors. While the National
Inquiry’s mandate was limited to Indigenous women and girls, we heard from many other fami-
lies who lost Indigenous men and non-Indigenous women; families who felt their grief and loss
but who did not have a voice or a way to contribute to the National Inquiry. Their stories need to
be heard, too.
We also feel there is a need to further investigate policing in this country; we are concerned that
the truth around how police departments treated the investigations of our loved ones at the time
will be lacking. We need this information to truly tackle the problems; to make changes so that
our women and children do not go missing or, if they do, these crimes no longer go unpunished.
We realize that as we seek the truth, we must also focus on healing. Healing needs to happen to
address violence that still occurs today. Our community of Norway House Cree Nation has many
members who have lost loved ones to senseless violence. We need true healing centres where
there is long-term aftercare, particularly for the children of the murdered and missing women.
Many of these children are now young teens and adults. They are lost and angry for what has
been stolen from them. A healing centre would recognize the lasting legacy these crimes have
had on our community; a healing centre would also allow our community to offer a place to heal
that addresses each family member’s needs.
We are honoured that we could be part of the National Family Advisory Circle. We hope our
words and reflections are taken in the spirit with which we intend: a sincere desire for change,
rooted in an honest reflection on the achievements and failings of this process, and on the diffi-
cult task of finding truths and answers that end the loss of our sisters’, mothers’, and daughters’
lives. The losses of our loved ones have profoundly affected those of us who were there when
our loved ones went missing – and who are still here now, looking for answers. We demand more
from this nation called Canada.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 FOREWORD

Priscilla Simard
Verna Mae Simard-Shabaquay was born to Charles and Tina Simard in Red Lake, Ontario.
Together they raised their children Cecil, Verna, and Mitchel. She was born into a warm and
loving family. As a child, she was happy, kind, and full of spirit. Her father affectionately called
her Fawn for her gentle nature. Her mother died when Verna was a very young age. Her father
was grief-stricken. Children’s Aid Society (CAS) took the children and placed them in a Men-
nonite home in Red Lake. They were placed in foster homes where physical and sexual abuse
occurred.
Verna married, but it did not last long. She raised her children, but they were taken into CAS. To
compound that loss, her oldest son died. Verna became a grandmother, and Verna doted, cared
for, loved, and lived for her granddaughter. Verna’s life was difficult and tragic, as she was un-
able to deal with her traumatic history, the grief and loss of her mother, the tragic death of her
father, the loss of her brother, and the loss of her oldest son. We believe these factors contributed
to her high-risk lifestyle: alcohol/drug addiction, multiple partners, and intimate partner violence,
which resulted in her death.
Verna had allegedly fallen from a sixth-floor window of Vancouver’s Regent Hotel on Hastings
Street. The circumstances surrounding her death remain suspicious, unsolved but ruled “no foul
play” by Vancouver City Police. This case can be reopened pending any new information
brought forward by any person. We, as a family, believe the intimate partner violence contributed
to her death. We believe she was thrown out of the window.
At the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls hearing in
Thunder Bay, Ontario, December 2017, the family put forward several recommendations for
change, including on issues such as the investigative process of the Vancouver City Police, police
reports, coroners’ reports, police response and protocols, credible witnesses, and a preponderance
of evidence based on environment. As well, the family had specific recommendations on child
welfare, domestic violence, intimate partner violence resulting in death, and the need for holistic
healing strategies.
We honour the memory of Verna and seek justice. We look to the National Inquiry to advocate
for and advance the recommendations for women like Verna. These recommendations cannot be
downplayed, ignored, or shelved. When the recommendations are implemented, we avert suffer-
ing, justice can be served, and her spirit can rest!
Miigwech!

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Jennifer H. and Julia H.
Sisters much missed
Cindy H. came to the National Inquiry to share the story of her two sisters, Jennifer and Julia.
While she told the Inquiry the difficult details of their deaths, she also shared what made them
special and loved.

Cindy was close with both of her sisters. She remem- When I got thrown out of my apartment with a
bers when Jennifer turned 18, and started to spend couple of my kids, she kept me in that — in that
more time with Cindy and her mother, sitting outside apartment block, what the shelter gave her. She
in their backyard. gave us a bed on her floor for a couple months
and then I found my own place with my kids.
We had a great time, you know? She used to al- She was a good woman. She would have been a
ways make us laugh all the time…. She used to good grandma. I wish she was still alive.II
always curl her hair like my mom, eh, back in the
day. They had these big roll curling irons, big Most of all, Cindy told the Inquiry how much she
curls like this, and she’d be way more hair, you missed them, and how things need to change.
know. She used to always like to look nice with
her hair. That’s all I remember her as, just having They were good; they were good women at
a good old time with her all the time, and I used heart when they were alive…. Julia used to
to always stick up for her all the time, or she’d always listen to me and Jennifer used to always
stick up for me.I hang around with me all the time…. I wanted to
be here for my two sisters, and for myself, and for
Cindy’s sister Julia, who passed away six years ago, my sisters’ kids, you know? I’m happy I came, and
had been trying to escape a violent relationship and my daughter is here. I just hope people will listen
stayed for a while at a housing unit for abused to my story and maybe, maybe they make a
women. Despite her own struggles, she took Cindy in change.III
when Cindy needed it most.
– Cindy H., sister of Jennifer H. and Julia H.
From the statement gathered in Winnipeg,
October 20, 2017.

I Cindy H. (Métis), Part 1, Statement Volume 53, Winnipeg, MB, p. 12.

II Cindy H. (Métis), Part 1, Statement Volume 53, Winnipeg, MB, p. 21.
III Cindy H. (Métis), Part 1, Statement Volume 53, Winnipeg, MB, pp. 21, 22.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
In a second example, Métis witness Cindy H. shared how entrenched poverty and marginaliza-
tion made her sisters Julia and Jennifer into targets.
Julia H. was just shy of 21 when she was found naked and unresponsive on Maryland Street in
Winnipeg, Manitoba. Someone had mixed diabetic pills into her drink the night before, and
she was brain dead by the time her sister Cindy and her mother arrived at the hospital the
following day.
Twelve years later, Cindy’s other sister Julia was also found on Maryland Street in the middle of
winter. She was outside her abusive partner’s apartment, frozen to death. She had been dragged
outside in the night, and her body was covered in bruises. Despite this, in both situations, police
said there wasn’t much they could do. No one was charged in either case.
As we will discuss later in this report, both federal and provincial governments have historically
refused responsibility for the Métis. This has entrenched many Métis families in poverty. Many
Métis women and girls have been forced into some of the most dangerous parts of cities, with
almost no resources for support—and in this case, no justice for their families left behind.

Metis Moccasins, Lorraine Richard, AF A2019-0007.1

These moccasins were made by the late Irene Richard,
who was taken from her family too soon. Lorraine
remembers the time she spent learning this master craft
with her mother and grandmother: “The connection
made with these two strong women came with stories and
using our language.... [These] are times I remember with
love and calmness.”

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Michelle S.
“The one I looked up to”
When Michelle first went missing, the newspapers didn’t even use her name. Her family came to the National
Inquiry to tell us about the strong, loving, driven person Michelle really was.

“My daughter, Michelle, she was 24 when she went “My oldest sister, Michelle, it’s hard to put into words
missing and she was a beautiful child. Like, from what she was and what she meant to my family
when she was a baby, she was just always smiling. and I. She was intelligent, caring, persistent, resilient,
And then when she got used to being a big sister, she beautiful, kind, and extremely soft-hearted. She was
just – she loved Dani to pieces and same with Tony. also so much more than that.
She was like the second mom when I wasn’t there,
you know…. She was my second mother. She was the one who
gave me haircuts, the one who made me dinner
She deserved better, you know. And you can’t ques- when I was hungry, the one who I looked up to, the
tion fate. I know that. I guess I’m just – I’m here also one who made my birthday special, the one who
just to remind [you] my daughter wasn’t just a work- loved and looked after me when no one else was
ing girl…. She was loved, you know. She has a lot of around to. She loved butterflies and the Little Mer-
people that still cry for her, you know.”I maid. She wanted to be a stylist. She wanted to be
somebody.
– Mona S., mother to Michelle S.
From the National Inquiry’s Around my 10th birthday my mother succumbed to
Community Hearing in Metro Vancouver,
April 6, 2018. the pull of addiction once more. She was not around
much during this time and it was up to Michelle to
take care of me. She did the best she could. She did a
fantastic job…. Michelle [S.] was my sister. I miss her
every day.”II

– Anthony S., brother to Michelle S.

From the National Inquiry’s Community
Hearing in Metro Vancouver,
April 6, 2018.

I Mona S. (Wuikinuxv Nation), Part 1, Public Volume 98, Metro Vancouver, BC, pp. 7-8.
II Anthony S. (Wuikinuxv Nation), Part 1, Public Volume 98, Metro Vancouver, BC, pp. 38 and 40.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 FOREWORD

It takes so much time to heal our wounds and scars and transform oneself because of the status
quo. We have to heal not only ourselves, but also the trauma of our ancestors over generations.
But until we can move away from the status quo, break the cycle and gather our strength, we will
continue to have negative and hurtful relationships in this world and in our lives. By transform-
ing ourselves we can stop this cycle and instill within those coming faces yet unborn the values
and beliefs that will enhance our attitudes and behaviours for a more balanced future.

Our Values and Principles

Adenidao shra: Compassion and Kindness

Dewadadrihwa noh Kwa:k: Respecting One Another
Degayenawako:ngye: Working Together
Dewagagenawako:ngye: Assisting One Another
Esadatgehs: Self-Reflection on Actions
Gaihwaedagoh: Taking Responsibility
Gasgya:nyok: Encouragement
Gasasdenhshra: Strength & Supporting One Another
Drihwawaihsyo: Honest Moral Conduct
Oihwadogehsra: Being Truthful and Consistent
Sgeno: Peaceful Thoughts and Actions
Ongwadeni:deo: “Taking Care of Our Own”

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 FOREWORD

Rebecca Moore
I am an l’nu woman who was born and raised in the Kjipuktuk district of Mi’kma’ki (so-called
Halifax, Nova Scotia).
As an l’nu woman, I have been taught by my Elders that it is our inherent duty, as l’nu women,
to take care of the water and to protect the water for the future seven generations. I feel that this
is imperative for Canadians to understand. I take my inherent duty very seriously, which requires
much of my time, effort, care, and attention.
Our inherent duty and responsibilities as an l’nu woman places us as a direct target for violence,
harassment, police violence, misinformation by mainstream Canadians, criminalization, and in-
carceration. You see, it is not only Indigenous women who are living “at-risk” lifestyles or are on
the streets who are being targeted, it is Indigenous women as a whole. Because non-Indigenous
society benefits from settler-colonialism.
Being an Indigenous woman means living under a society and “civilization” that benefits from
your voicelessness, invisibility, disappearance, non-existence, and erasure. Because if we don’t
exist, then Canadians – while claiming to live an earnest and honest living – are free to steal and
exploit what is rightfully ours by loosening the “Rule of Law” for themselves and tightening it to
extinguish our existence and resistance.
Indigenous matriarchs – being the life-givers, grandmothers, clan mothers, and steering decision
makers – are not affirmed or recognized by the colonial courts and systems for their significant
place in Indigenous societies.
The Canadian government strips Indigenous women of their rightful place within Indigenous
societies and the outside world. By imposing their colonial structures, Canada removes the
decision-making power from the women and displaces it to corrupt government departments,
agencies, and service providers, etc.
Being l’nu in theory isn’t illegal, but in practice, living in action as one is. We have Treaty rights
under the Peace and Friendship Treaty, but good luck asserting them because the government is
going to tell you, “No, you can’t do that.” When it comes to hunting, fishing, or “earning a
moderate livelihood” with our own initiatives, we, as individual inherent rights holders and
descendants of the land itself, are treated by the state as criminals.
The Canadian government prevents Indigenous women and their families from having the auton-
omy to earn a moderate livelihood and achieve their own safety and security. Until Indigenous
women are given the power and authority to self-determine what happens within their own
territories, we will always be at risk under Canada’s “Rule of Law.”

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 FOREWORD

Lorraine Clements

I woke this morning to a soft but inviting snow covered mountain,

A mountain of my childhood
A mountain I returned to this week to move forward speak my truth and
continue the healing within
A mountain of pain
A mountain of learning
A mountain of Hope.
My mountain has been a hard one to climb,
In my time have never reached the top.
Now with this day, my day of truth telling,
My mountain is not too high.
My mountain seems easier to climb.
My mountain now has hope.
My climb is just the beginning as with
many others this week.
Our mountain will be conquered.
With love, kindness and always together,
fighting the systems for Justice.

Photo submitted by Lorraine Clements; no copyright

infringement intended.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
In describing encounters that led to violence, almost all of the witnesses described a surrounding
context marked by the multigenerational and intergenerational trauma of colonial violence. This
trauma was inflicted through the loss of land, forced relocations, residential schools, and the
Sixties Scoop, and ultimately set the stage for further violence, including the ongoing crises of
over-incarceration and of child apprehension, along with systemic poverty and other critical
factors.
Witness Carol B. shared her perspective about the impact of intergenerational trauma on her
relationship with herself and others: “The intergenerational trauma brought on by the residential
schools has really impacted our families in a negative way. How can you possibly learn to love
and value yourself when you’re told consistently — daily, that you’re of no value. And that we
need to take the Indian out of you. How could you value or love yourself?”36
As Bombay pointed out,
After generations of children … experienced … this residential school context, children
went back to their community with neither traditional skills nor access to dominant
group resources. Victims and perpetrators were sent back to the same communities, and
the effects of trauma and altered social norms also contributed to these ongoing cycles
that were catalyzed in residential schools.37

As the National Inquiry listened to the voices of the sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, sisters,
brothers, parents, and grandparents who have lost loved ones, it became clear that the crisis of
missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGLBTQQIA people is yet another way
in which the historic and collective trauma of Indigenous Peoples continues. In her testimony,
Eva P. described the trauma she carries following the disappearance of her older sister:
You know, I’ve been going to counselling for the past two years. I’ve been seeing two
different therapists. I go through my ups and downs. I isolated myself for six months
after Misty went missing. I almost – I almost died. It’s tough. And, I can’t even imagine,
like, this is a … Canada-wide issue, and there’s more people. Like, there’s a lot of people
in my situation.38

“THE INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA BROUGHT ON BY THE RESIDENTIAL

SCHOOLS HAS REALLY IMPACTED OUR FAMILIES IN A NEGATIVE WAY. HOW CAN
YOU POSSIBLY LEARN TO LOVE AND VALUE YOURSELF WHEN YOU’RE TOLD
CONSISTENTLY — DAILY, THAT YOU’RE OF NO VALUE. AND THAT WE NEED TO
TAKE THE INDIAN OUT OF YOU. HOW COULD YOU VALUE OR LOVE YOURSELF?”

Carol B.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 FOREWORD

Our Women and Girls Are Sacred:

Reflections from the National Inquiry
Elders and Grandmothers Circle

Introduction
Early on in the National Inquiry process, the Commissioners’ Elder
Advisors, or “Grandmothers,” gathered in a sweatlodge in Quebec. They
went into this ceremony asking themselves, what should the National
Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls look
like? What is the best way to do this work?
The sweatlodge was part of the Missinak Community Home, a safe house
in Quebec City co-founded by Elder Pénélope Guay, Commissioner
Audette’s spiritual grandmother. As Pénélope shares, “We all got together
there. And we came up with a plan, in our own way. We came up with a
plan to see how the National Inquiry would proceed. For the Grandmothers
[and Elders], for the Commissioners. What will our work be? That’s how
it went. We decided on everything you see. Our role, our involvement.
That was when we decided on how it would all be done.”1

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 FOREWORD

Members of the Elders and

Grandmothers Circle. Left to right:
Leslie Spillett, Laureen “Blu”
Waters, Audrey Siegl, Louise Haulli,
and Bernie Williams. Not pictured:
Kathy Louis and Pénélope Guay.

Elder Laureen “Blu” Waters, Grandmother to Commissioner Brian Eyolfson, was there as well:
“When we came out of that sweat, one of the most important and profound things that came to
being was that we needed to have something that showed our Indigeneity and that blanket idea
came out of that. Those blankets that are hung up around the rooms [at the hearings]. Those
blankets that identify people, identify their Nations, their names, their land masses, the things
that they used for their cultures…. That was one of the most important things that I remember, is
doing that sweat and coming out with that idea. And, that helped shape us and to make sure that
we never forget about ceremony, to incorporate ceremony into everything that we do.”2
Ceremony, whatever it looks like, is deeply rooted in a people’s cultural identity. Incorporating
ceremony into such a legal structure as a public inquiry is a way of reminding Indigenous
families and survivors that this National Inquiry is to honour the sacred in them and in their lost
loved ones. As a National Inquiry, we have faced criticism for a seemingly rigid and legalistic
structure. Yet, within the limitations of our mandate, these words from the Grandmothers who
have led us through the process remind us of the National Inquiry’s guiding principle: that our
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are sacred.
To honour their work, the National Inquiry asked the National Inquiry Elders and Grandmothers
to sit down with the Research team, to include their reflections of this journey in the Final
Report.3 This is one small way to acknowledge their incredible contributions, which often
happen behind the scenes, as well as the work of mothers, grandmothers, aunties and caregivers
guiding similar work across this land.
The National Inquiry Elders and Grandmothers Circle
The idea for an Elders or Grandmothers Circle first started in the fall of 2016. The Commission-
ers decided to each seek an Elder from their community to provide them with advice. Blu recalls
that when Commissioner Eyolfson first offered tobacco to Blu, he explained that “he needed

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 FOREWORD

somebody to be there as support for him, to help him with this important work that’s being done
and to make sure that we incorporate spirituality.”4
The Commissioners decided to use the term “Grandmother” to represent the closer, kinship
relationship that was developing between themselves and their Elders. While not all the Elders
are biological grandmothers, they fill those traditional roles.
The current members of the Elders and Grandmothers Circle are: Pénélope Guay, French-
speaking Innu Grandmother to Commissioner Audette; Louise Haulli, Inuk Elder to Commis-
sioner Robinson; Kathy Louis, Cree Elder to Chief Commissioner Buller; Laureen “Blu” Waters,
Cree/Métis/Mi'kmaw Grandmother to Commissioner Eyolfson; and Bernie Williams, English-
speaking Haida/Nuu-chah-nulth/Coast Salish Grandmother to Commissioner Audette. Leslie
Spillett, Cree/Métis Grandmother to Executive Director Jennifer Rattray, joined the National
Inquiry in the spring of 2018, and Audrey Siegl, Bernie’s niece and a member of the National
Inquiry’s health support team, also supports the Elders and Grandmothers Circle.
As Indigenous women who are survivors and family members themselves, the Elders and
Grandmothers are witnesses to the many ways Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA people
have been devalued and dehumanized, making them prime targets for violence. Working with
the National Inquiry has given the Grandmothers another way to do the same work they were
already doing, but in a new way. Each of the Commissioners’ Grandmothers bring deep commu-
nity knowledge and practical expertise to their roles.
Grandmother Pénélope is a proud Innu woman from Mashteuiatsh in Quebec, who strongly
believes in the power of reconnecting with your culture to heal the wounds of history. Her
Innu mother was deprived of her First Nations status when she married a métis man, as stipulated
by the Indian Act. As an adult, Pénélope has had to recover her culture through healing and
reclaim her identity as an Indigenous woman.
Pénélope co-founded the Missinak Community Home (la Maison Communautaire Missinak),
a safe house for Indigenous women in Quebec City, with her daughter 20 years ago. There she
sees many young women who are deeply affected by the trauma of residential schools, as well
as by substance use and homelessness, the consequences of residential schools today. With
nowhere to go, many of them end up being exploited on the streets. However, Pénélope also gets
to witness what she calls “miracles”5 – the extraordinary change that can happen when you give
people time and space to heal.
Elder Louise lives in Igloolik, Nunavut, a small community of less than 2,000 people. Much of
Louise’s work in the past has been focused on strengthening Inuit traditional values and making
Inuit knowledge and skills more accessible to the Nunavut government. She has worked as the
Inuit Societal Value Project Coordinator for Igloolik, where she offered traditional Inuit coun-
selling and did radio shows on Inuit family values. She worked on community wellness projects
for Igloolik and Nunavut, and was a Nunavut Human Rights Tribunal member from 2004 to
2013. She was also an Inuktitut language specialist in elementary schools and visits Elders in
Igloolik to make sure they get some help around the house.

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 FOREWORD

Louise shares that violence is a significant issue in the Arctic, just as it is for so many First
Nations and Métis communities, although the culture of silence is even stronger: “For those of us
living in the Arctic, we have experienced this, but we are less vocal…. Indeed, Inuit too have
gone through exactly the same experience of mistreatment.”6 She emphasizes how much she has
learned from hearing the stories of so many other Indigenous women in Canada, and how impor-
tant it is not to feel that we know it all, but to really pause, listen to the families and survivors,
and learn from what they have to share.
Elder Kathy says: “My name is Kathy Louis. My views as an Elder from Samson Cree Nation
are mine and those of my Ancestors who were Leaders and Healers. Growing up on the reserve
was a lived experience throughout my life.” She was raised by parents and ancestors steeped in
strong traditional values. She is a residential school survivor and has spent her life helping her
people heal, especially men and women involved in the criminal justice system. Kathy was the
Pacific Regional Vice-Chair of the National Parole Board, where she served for many years, and
successfully helped introduce Elder-assisted parole hearings in Canada along with two male First
Nations Elders. She has also been awarded Canada’s Meritorious Service Medal and the Order of
British Columbia. In her work, Kathy saw many women who had acted violently in their lives,
but: “I observed that as the way they may have been treated as children and young adults grow-
ing up, and this was their lived experience in adult relationships. All this stems from racism,
oppression and colonization.”7
When she isn’t working with the National Inquiry, Kathy volunteers with several urban Aborigi-
nal organizations in Vancouver. In particular, she is working on the development of an Aboriginal
Family Healing Court Conference project. This is an Elder-driven project that focuses on helping
families involved with the child welfare system develop healing plans, to re-connect with their
own Indigenous cultural values and keep families together.
Grandmother Leslie (or Giizhigooweyaabikwe, Painted Sky Woman, White Bear Clan) is a
Cree/Métis woman from northern Manitoba. She began her career as a journalist and photogra-
pher before dedicating herself to what some people call “community development,” but she calls
Nation-building.
Leslie was one of the principle founders of Mother of Red Nations Women’s Council of Mani-
toba, sat on the Native Women’s Association of Canada Board of Directors, and is the founder of
Ka Ni Kanichihk, a Winnipeg organization that provides Indigenous-led programming, including
for family members of missing and murdered women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Leslie,
who has been raising awareness on this issue since the early 2000s, says: “One of the most ex-
treme forms of the colonial project has been about violence against Indigenous women and girls.
So that includes all kinds of violence, including state violence and discrimination, which has
caused so much trauma. And at its most extreme is, of course, the missing and murdered women
who just have been murdered because they were Indigenous, or who have disappeared, again,
because they were Indigenous.”8

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
This message is woven within our approach to analyzing the encounters and relationships that
are significant to understanding violence: encounters not only teach us about the causes of
violence, they also show us how Indigenous women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s
Indigenous and human rights are either protected or denied.
As we will develop throughout the Final Report, positioning our discussion of these encounters
and their root causes in relation to the inherent Indigenous and human rights we will explore re-
veals significant historical and ongoing rights violations in four areas: the right to culture, the
right to health, the right to security, and the right to justice. These themes are prominent ones
within both human and Indigenous rights contexts, and affirm the importance of addressing the
crisis of violence. They are not presented in order of priority or of importance: in fact, what our
testimony demonstrates is the interconnectedness of all of these ideas and priorities, and the need
to look at these as interdependent and indivisible.
For each of these four areas of rights violations, we consider both international human rights-
based and Indigenous-based understandings of the rights of women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people. These rights encompass the full range of socio-economic and political rights that signifi-
cant and meaningful change requires. When we talk about culture, we are also talking about all
of the necessary tools, supports, and resources required to enable the full realization of these
rights – including social, economic, and political rights. These rights areas are also necessarily
broad because of the great diversity of Indigenous Peoples who shared their truths concerning
the need for basic rights in addition to specific supports in key areas like education, housing,
standard of living, and health services. Indigenous Peoples have their own understandings of
rights based on their own laws, traditional knowledge systems, and world views, which are often
expressed through stories. These rights are not determined by international agreements, Canadian
legislation, or Supreme Court rulings. These are expressions of Indigenous women’s, girls’and
2SLGBTQQIA people’s proper power and place.
At the same time, a variety of human rights instruments dealing with these themes can offer a
tool for accountability and decolonization, if the solutions are placed within the context of the
four root causes of violence: intergenerational trauma through colonization, marginalization, lack
of institutional will, and the failure to recognize the expertise and capacity of Indigenous women
themselves.
While we will look in depth at what family members’ and survivors’ testimonies reveal about
each of these rights in later chapters, here we will provide a brief overview of how looking at
encounters and the relationships they engender, in relation to human rights, Indigenous rights,
and Indigenous laws and ways of knowing as expressed through stories, offers a new and power-
ful way to address the historic, ongoing, and current root causes that lead to violence against
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people today.

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Right to Culture
Cultural rights are inseparable from human rights, as recognized in the 2001 UNESCO United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Declaration on Cultural Diversity,
as well as from Indigenous rights, as articulated in various instruments including, most recently,
the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). They are also
inseparable from the social and political rights necessary to their full enjoyment.

A young jingle dress dancer dances for those in

attendance in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is the
cousin of Nicole Ashley Daniels, an MMIW family
member. Used with permission from the family.

Generally, the right to culture and identity can

be defined as the right to access, participate in,
and enjoy one’s culture. This includes the
right of individuals and communities to know,
understand, visit, make use of, maintain,
exchange, and develop cultural heritage and
cultural expressions, as well as to benefit from
the cultural heritage and cultural expressions of
others. It also includes the right to participate
in the identification, interpretation, and devel-
opment of cultural heritage, as well as in the design and implementation of policies and programs
that keep that culture and identity safe. Other human rights, such as the right to freedom of
expression, the right to information, and the right to education, are also key to fully realizing
cultural rights. As the testimonies reveal, the right to culture and identity relates directly to the
crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people through the
separation of families, the historical and contemporary realities of assimilationist and genocidal
colonial policies, and the lack of culturally appropriate services in healing, justice, and other
areas that continues to put Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people at risk. Racism,
along with the attempted disruption of culture, promotes violence against Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
As we will examine more closely in the next chapter, most Indigenous societies place cultural
knowledge at the heart of Indigenous world views. Within our framework, women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people’s right to culture and identity connects to their roles and responsibilities
as leaders and teachers within communities. Traditional stories from Nations across Canada
show us that women and 2SLGBTQQIA people have leadership and teaching roles as those
who pass on culture and identity to their people. They help strengthen and maintain collective
identity. This role is placed in jeopardy in many instances, as we heard much about how
contemporary child welfare practices, for example, directly work against this important task,
whereas understanding one’s culture can directly contribute to safety.
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have the inherent right to their own culture
and identity, and to foster culture and identity within their families and communities through the
full implementation of economic, social, and political rights that can help protect these practices
and this knowledge.
Right to Health
When rights to culture and identity are in jeopardy, the right to health is also under threat. We
define “health” as a holistic state of well-being, which includes mental, emotional, physical, and
spiritual well-being, particularly within Indigenous world views. In this way, health is not simply
an absence of illness or disability.
The right to health is linked to other fundamental human rights, such as access to clean water and
adequate infrastructure in communities. On a more general level, however, the right to health
speaks to preventing harm to others, to protecting the health of children and families, and to
fostering mental health. We recognize that an absence of services, or a lack of culturally appro-
priate services in communities, as well as other factors linked to health place women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people in vulnerable situations where they become targeted for violence.
For many groups, Indigenous understandings of women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s
right to health are based on their roles, responsibilities, and related rights as healers. Stories
show us that women and gender-diverse people have critical responsibilities in creating healthier
communities. As healers and medicine people, they have specific expertise in addressing physical,
mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. This includes addressing their own unique needs as
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and bringing much-needed perspectives to keep
communities healthy and whole.
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have the inherent right to their own health
and well-being, and the right to use their expertise, and the tools necessary for health, to con-
tribute to the health and well-being of their families and communities, within the full spectrum
of human rights in the areas of health.

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Right to Security
Many encounters we heard about concerned the basic right to security. We understand the right to
security as a physical right, as well as a social right.
Physically, the right to security includes the right to life, liberty, and personal safety. This includes
control over one’s own physical and mental health, as well the protection of one’s own psycholog-
ical integrity. In Canada, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects individuals from
grave psychological harm perpetrated by the state. On an international level, in the area of social
security, the right to security means that the state must ensure protective services or social serv-
ice assistance and guarantee the protection of the entire population through essential services
such as health, housing, and access to water, food, employment, livelihood, and education.
Because of its redistributive nature, the right to social security is an important factor in commu-
nity health and harmony and in reducing poverty.
Indigenous women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s right to security connects to their roles,
responsibilities, and rights as providers and defenders. Traditional stories show us that Indige-
nous women, girls, and gender-diverse people have critical responsibilities in fostering a safe,
secure community. They do this by providing for themselves and their communities, by protect-
ing the vulnerable, by managing and redistributing resources as necessary, and by being the
keepers and defenders of the water, land, plants, and animals on which we depend.
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have the inherent right to security in their
own lives as well as the right to directly participate in maintaining that security for themselves
and others, within their own understandings and within the full spectrum of economic, social,
and political rights that can contribute to increasing security.
Right to Justice
As many of the testimonies demonstrate, the problematic relationships between Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people and the judicial system are also very significant. Barri-
ers to justice take many forms, including the isolation of victims through inadequate victim serv-
ices, the failure to accommodate language barriers, and the way Indigenous victims are either
portrayed or ignored in the media. Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are also
overpoliced and overincarcerated as potential offenders, yet under-protected as victims of crime.
All of these barriers demonstrate important moments of disconnection between Indigenous
Peoples and the Canadian justice system, between the promises of blind justice that the system is
meant to deliver and the actual functioning of this system. In the upcoming chapters, we will
bring forward transformational encounters Indigenous people have had with the justice system,
as well as ongoing issues with access and institutional constraints that present barriers to justice
for Indigenous Peoples and that threaten the legitimacy of the process for Indigenous communi-
ties.
Indigenous women’s, girls’, and gender-diverse people’s right to justice also connects to their
roles in protecting their communities. Stories show us that they fought to keep themselves and

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
others safe from violence. Many women, girls, and gender-diverse people in stories are also sur-
vivors and heroes – those who put themselves in danger to save others.
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have the inherent right to live free from
violence or injustice. If this does not happen, they have the right to have this violence stopped
and condemned, with others’ support as they confront it as needed. These rights exist both in
Indigenous Peoples’ own terms, as well as within the basic human rights framework that exists to
eliminate violence against women in general and Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people in particular.

Promoting and Maintaining Healthy Encounters

All of these themes – along with the encounters that Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people have in the areas of culture, health, safety, and justice – show how
imposed solutions created by governments or agencies that don’t prioritize the knowledge of
Indigenous Peoples don’t work. Rights to culture, health, security, and justice are based
on another foundational right: the right to self-determination. We understand the right to self-
determination in Indigenous terms, in terms specific to Nations, communities, and, most
importantly, to women themselves.
That’s why this report will also address how, embedded within these stories of the encounters
that families and survivors see as significant, are also the strong voices and acts of resilience and
strength – the encounters and relationships leading to healing. In sharing their stories of these
encounters, as well as the broader relationships that are an important part of their identity,
witnesses also reminded the Commissioners of, or provided teachings that assert, the strength,
resistance, creativity, and power of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people even
within a system of relationships that makes every effort to deny them those qualities.
We can return to Carol’s description of her initial encounter with the police to witness this resist-
ance. When faced with the officer’s indifference, Carol, in fact, did not simply walk away, as
the officer may have hoped. Instead, as she stated, “I banged my hand hard on the counter,”
demanding attention. When he continued to ignore her, Carol said, “Once again, I slammed my
hand hard on the desk.” The next day, she returned to the police station with an interpreter, and
went on over the next five years to become a powerful and vocal advocate for the families of
missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Her resistance and strength do not diminish the pain of losing her daughter to violence, or the
anger she expresses at the officer’s refusal to act during that crucial first meeting. However, her
story shared with the National Inquiry does send a powerful message to those who may choose to
act in a similarly dismissive way: relationships in which those in authority or power abuse that
power to silence Indigenous women or prevent them from protecting themselves and their loved
ones from violence will no longer be tolerated. Transforming these relationships will no longer
be left in the hands of those who have for too long done nothing to create change.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
As Fay Blaney, a Xwémalhkwu (Homalco) Knowledge Keeper, asserts, “I fully believe in the
power of Indigenous women working together and being able to come up with solutions.”45
She continues:
Whenever … we talk about women’s issues, they bring up, “Well, what about balance?” And
I think that we really need to look at the fact that there is zero balance in our community.
Somebody’s got to open their mouth and say that, but there is no balance right now.

It’s – men control the private sphere and the public sphere, and the private sphere is the
family unit where, you know, we have our Indian Status because of the men in our lives. I
have Status because of my husband, and before that, I had Status because of my father. And
so, in our world, men hold all the cards and we hold none.

So I think it’s really important to look at what are we talking about when we say balance, and
let’s bring balance back, I say. Let’s decolonize by bringing our matriarchal traditions back.46

As Fay’s testimony reveals, part of understanding the right to self-determination is understanding

how patriarchal institutions have worked, over the course of colonization and today, to keep
women and 2SLGBTQQIA people out of the decision-making process.
In the sphere of rights, the right to self-determination can take several forms. It includes, among
many other things, the authority to keep hold of one’s culture in the face of threatened assimila-
tion, and right of children to be raised in their own language and culture. The right to self-deter-
mination also includes the ability to make choices in the interest of one’s own group and within
one’s own group, and includes socio-economic and political rights. For women, self-determina-
tion also means that women themselves should be able to actively construct solutions that work
for them and are according to their own experiences. This doesn’t mean that men aren’t a part of
this conversation – to the contrary – but it does mean, as Fay Blaney shared, that solutions must
come from the women themselves.
Within our framework for building better encounters, self-determination also means that we
must fundamentally reconsider how to frame relationships that embrace the full enjoyment of
rights in ways that go beyond simple state structures and a simple “us–them” approach, and that
can extend to all aspects of community and individual life. In many of the testimonies, witnesses
talked about work that needs to happen in communities and within Indigenous governments, as
well as within settler governments.
Because of this, finding self-determined solutions for addressing the crisis of missing and
murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people means conceptualizing rights as
founded in all relationships, rather than in contracts, and understanding that at the centre of it all,
we begin with our relationships to each other.
Understanding the crisis of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people
as one based in key relationships provides a new way to look at how systems, structures, poli-
cies, and people work to target Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The frame-
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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
work of encounter and of relationship also emphasizes the potential for change at all levels, not
just at the state or government level. At the same time, it also provides a powerful lens – a call
for justice – through which we can imagine a new and brighter future, with safety, health, and
healing for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people and the families who have lost
those most important to them.
Encounters and relationships, within the right to self-determination, present potential for change
at all levels. While state-supported human rights can be helpful in keeping governments account-
able, a full understanding of both Indigenous and human rights concepts is important to also
understanding how solutions must be based in new relationships that are reciprocal and renew-
ing, and that acknowledge how we are all connected. This is where we find power and place.

“I FULLY BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN WORKING

TOGETHER AND BEING ABLE TO COME UP WITH SOLUTIONS.”

Fay Blaney

Conclusion: Bringing It All Together

This chapter has outlined the National Inquiry’s framework and approach for understanding the
truths we heard throughout this process. This includes understanding that Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are holders of rights, as human beings and as Indigenous
Peoples, in key areas that relate to their safety and to justice and that also link to Indigenous ways
of knowing, understanding, and engaging in relationship. This framework has identified four root
causes of violence, including intergenerational trauma; social and economic marginalization; a
lack of institutional and political will; and the failure to recognize the expertise and capacity of
Indigenous women themselves in creating self-determined solutions.
But understanding all of these causes in relation to only one aspect of government or service
delivery won’t fully address the targeting of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people. Of all of the threads that run through the truths the National Inquiry heard, one that
remains extremely powerful in understanding every story is that relationships matter.
Relationships matter because they can contribute to health or to harm – relationships can be the
difference between life and death. And when they are formed – in the moments of encounter that so
many people identified as harmful or damaging – there is also a new opportunity to create some-
thing better, and to improve outcomes for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
Indigenous girls, women, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are targeted by colonial violence embedded
within institutions, structures, and systems, as well as interpersonal violence, where these
encounters occur. In many cases, this violence was forced on people in unexpected ways. In
other cases, a combination of oppressive systems and actions created circumstances that ulti-
mately targeted women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. As a family physician specializing in

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 FOREWORD

Leslie sees these challenges in Winnipeg, as well – particularly how women are blamed for the
violence they experience: “We know that they’ve been called prostitutes, drug addicts. And then
there’s always the polite terminology, which is coded, racially coded, like ‘at-risk,’ or those kinds
of things. There’s ways of people washing their hands as if to say, ‘Well… that has really noth-
ing to do with us.’ They’ve caused their own disappearances. They’ve contributed to their own
disappearances, and/or rapes, and/or murders, by their personal behaviours – by the way that
they are dressed, by what they were doing, by being Indigenous, and by being women. Many
people don’t see the system as violence. But in fact, missing and murdered Indigenous women
and girls is the result of imposed poverty, legal and individual racism, discrimination and the
patriarchy.”48
However, the Grandmothers also recognized some of the changes already starting as a result
of this National Inquiry. For Louise, one of the biggest impacts has been that more and more
Inuit are speaking out: “Recently we have broken the silence, given the recent ability to tell our
stories. Through the First Nations’ willingness to open their stories by sharing them, our stories
are being heard. The Commissioners’ Inquiry is what opened this.”49
Pénélope sees these commonalities between our stories, too: “It’s striking too, all their stories.
They show how fragile we are, and at the same time, how strong we are. And it still continues
today. That’s what strikes me, and how resilient we are.”50
She sees that we are at a critical juncture: “With the National Inquiry, that’s what I say. We’re at
a turning point here in Quebec just as we are in every community in Canada. Every Indigenous
person in the country knows now that it’s not normal to be second-class citizens in your own
country. This will make us stronger. That’s what the National Inquiry will produce.”51
Most important is the support, comfort and healing the National Inquiry has been able to provide
to families and survivors – work the Grandmothers will carry on past the life of the National In-
quiry. As Bernie says, “Being asked to be part of the National Inquiry has been one of the biggest
responsibilities of my life, and one of the hardest. I’ve met amazing Elders, family members and
survivors all across our beautiful nation and it’s given me the opportunity to walk shoulder to
shoulder with families and be part of the change. I’m amazed at how resilient we all are –
through our journey, we still have a sense of humour and we’re still standing together. This has
been a healing journey for me…. It’s been tough sometimes, but that’s what made us stronger
and closer through the process.”52
Bernie also makes a point to single out the Commissioners. “I have never seen a group of four
more incredible human beings, who have taken on so much starting with nothing. They are the
true warriors. They have put in long hours, long days, time spent away from their families. The
Creator doesn’t make mistakes, and he knew exactly who was fittest for this journey. Now, I’ve
going to support them right to the very end.”
As Elder Kathy says, “Right from the start of the National Inquiry it appears to have been held
to a different standard by the government and mainstream society. However, I strongly believe
that our Spiritual ancestors have guided us in powerful ways to attain what our Creator and our

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Notes
1 Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women 13 Barbara H. (Ebb and Flow First Nation), Part 1, Public
(IAAW) and the Women’s Legal Education and Action Volume 10, Winnipeg, MB, p. 114.
Fund (LEAF), “Submission: Independent Review of
14 Barbara H. (Ebb and Flow First Nation), Part 1, Public
Circumstances Surrounding the Treatment of ‘Angela
Volume 10, Winnipeg, MB, p. 114.
Cardinal’ in R. v. Blanchard,” 15 October 2017, 1.
Accessed September 8, 2018. https://www.leaf.ca/wp- 15 Carol W. (Muskeg Lake Cree Nation), Part 1, Public
content/uploads/2017/11/Cardinal-Inquiry-IAAW Volume 31, Saskatoon, SK, pp. 55-56.
-and-LEAF-Final-Submission-Oct-15.pdf
16 Carol W. (Muskeg Lake Cree Nation), Part 1, Public
2 First Nations, Métis and Inuit societies have their own Volume 31, Saskatoon, SK, p. 56.
understandings of gender and sexual diversity that are
17 Dr. Robyn Bourgeois (Cree), Part 3, Pubic Volume 17,
different from Western ones. Because there is such a
St. John’s, NFLD, p. 37. During her testimony,
wide range of understandings within Indigenous
Dr. Bourgeois explained that this question is one she
Peoples, the National Inquiry uses the umbrella term
has adapted from an article by Sharene Razack called
“gender-diverse people” for examples of gender
“Race, Space, and Prostitution: The Making of the
diversity across different time periods, contexts, and
Bourgeois Subject” in which Razack asks: “What is the
Peoples. The term “Two-Spirit” comes out of a Native
source of the ideas that make it okay to abuse people
American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference in
involved in the sex trade?” (See Razack, “Race, Space,
1990, and was chosen to be a culturally appropriate
and Prostitution.”)
umbrella term for First Nations that could replace the
more derogatory term of “berdache.” The National 18 Hankivsky, Cormier and de Merich, “Intersectionality,”
Inquiry uses the acronym of 2SLGBTQQIA (Two- 3.
Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer,
19 Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the Intersection.”
questioning, intersex and asexual) to refer to a modern-
day community of gender diverse people across all 20 Hankivsky, Cormier and de Merich, “Intersectionality,”
Indigenous people groups, including gender-diverse 3.
Inuit, while recognizing the limitations of any acronym.
21 Hancock, “When Multiplication,” as cited in
3 Mavis Windsor (Heiltsuk Nation), Part 1, Public Hankivsky, Cormier, and de Merich,
Volume 90, Vancouver, BC, p. 21. “Intersectionality,” 3.
4 Sandra Montour (Turtle Clan, Mohawk), Part 2, Public 22 Dhamoon, “Considerations,” as cited in Hankivsky,
Volume 4, Calgary, AB, p. 211. Cormier, and de Merich, “Intersectionality,” p. 6.
5 Marilyn W. (Cree), Part 1, Public Volume 30, 23 Morris and Bunjun, “Using Intersectional Feminist
Saskatoon, SK, p. 18. Frameworks,” 1.
6 Wilson, Research Is Ceremony. 24 See, for example, Browne and Fiske, “First Nations
Women’s Encounters” and Smye and Browne,
7 Percy P. (Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation), Part 1, Public
“‘Cultural Safety’.”
Volume 31, Saskatoon, SK, pp. 15-16.
25 Alaya M. (Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation), Part 1,
8 Ermine, “Ethical Space,” p. 195.
Public Volume 13, Winnipeg, MB, pp. 8-9.
9 Cheryl M. (Mi’kmaq), Part 1, Public Volume 18,
26 Beverly Jacobs, quoted in University of Alberta Faculty
Membertou, NS, p. 17.
of Law Blog, “Intersectional Marginalization.”
10 Jamie L. H. (Indigenous/Irish), Part 1, Public Volume
27 Clark, “Perseverance, Determination and Resistance,”
78, Vancouver, BC, pp. 12-13.
135–36.
11 Anni P. (Cree), Part 1, Public Volume 80, Vancouver,
28 Fanon, Les Damnés de la terre, 9–12.
BC, pp. 16-17.
29 Bourdieu, Masculine Domination, 23, 34–35, 83;
12 Darlene G. (Annapolis Valley First Nation), Part 1,
Bourdieu and Thompson, Language and Symbolic
Public Volume 18, Part 1, Membertou, NS, pp. 54-55.
Power, 239–43.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
30 Duran, Transforming the Soul Wound. 39 Marlene J., Part 1, Public Volume 6, Smithers, BC,
pp. 42-43.
31 Dr. Amy Bombay (Ojibway, Rainy River First
Nations), Mixed Parts 2 & 3, Public Volume 10, 40 Connie Greyeyes (Bigstone Cree Nation), Mixed Parts
Winnipeg, MB, p. 148. 2 & 3, Public Volume 6, Quebec City, QC. p. 50.
32 Linklater, Decolonizing Trauma Work, 34. 41 Connie Greyeyes (Bigstone Cree Nation), Mixed Parts
2 & 3, Public Volume 6, Quebec City, QC, p. 60.
33 “Multigenerational” trauma “points to the multiple
types of trauma understood as current, ancestral, 42 Delores S. (Saulteaux, Yellow Quill First Nation),
historical, individual or collective experiences” (Ibid., Part 1, Public Volume 26, Saskatoon, SK, p. 28.
23). “Intergenerational” trauma looks more to the way
43 For a thematic list of all previous recommendations
trauma is “passed from one generation to the next,
made on this issue, see the “Master List of Previous
behaviourally and observationally and through
Recommendations” at http://www.mmiwg-
memory” (Ibid., p. 23).
ffada.ca/publications/. For an overview of culturally
34 Dr. Amy Bombay (Ojibway, Rainy River First relevant gender-based analysis, see Native Women’s
Nations), Mixed Parts 2 & 3, Public Volume 10, Association of Canada, “Culturally Relevant.”
Winnipeg, MB, p. 147.
44 National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered
35 Dr. Amy Bombay (Ojibway, Rainy River First Indigenous Women and Girls, Interim Report, p.13.
Nations), Mixed Parts 2 & 3, Public Volume 10,
45 Fay Blaney (Xwémalhkwu of the Coast Salish), Part 3,
Winnipeg, MB, p. 141.
Public Volume 4, Quebec City, QC, p. 110.
36 Carol B. (Ermineskin Cree Nation), Part 1, Public
46 Fay Blaney (Xwémalhkwu of the Coast Salish), Part 3,
Volume 20, Edmonton, AB, p. 75.
Public Volume 4, Quebec City, QC, p. 135.
37 Dr. Amy Bombay (Ojibway, Rainy River First
47 Dr. Barry Lavallee (First Nations/Métis), Part 3, Public
Nations), Mixed Parts 2 & 3, Public Volume 10,
Volume 9, Toronto, ON, pp. 62-63.
Winnipeg, MB, p. 158.
38 Eva P. (Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation), Part 1, Public
Volume 31, Saskatoon, SK, p. 27.

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 CHAPTER 1
2

Indigenous Recognitions of
Power and Place
Introduction: Women Are the Heart of Their Communities
In the beginning, there was nothing but water, nothing but a wide, wide sea. The only
people in the world were the animals that lived in and on water.

Then down from the sky world a woman fell, a divine person. Two loons flying over the
water happened to look up and see her falling. Quickly they placed themselves beneath
her and joined their bodies to make a cushion for her to rest upon. Thus they saved her
from drowning.

While they held her, they cried with a loud voice to the other animals, asking their help.
Now the cry of the loon can be heard at a great distance over water, and so the other
creatures gathered quickly.

As soon as Great Turtle learned the reason for the call, he stepped forth from the
council.

“Give her to me,” he said to the loons. “Put her on my back. My back is broad.”1

Women are the heart of their Nations and communities.

Through countless testimonies to the National Inquiry, we heard how the absence of women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people has a profound and ongoing impact on communities, and how
their gifts, as shared in distinctive roles and responsibilities, are crucial to community wellness,
to help communities thrive. As a whole, these roles and responsibilities are linked to various
systems of Indigenous laws and rights that flow from them.

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 INTRODUCTION

The RCMP report also stated that Indigenous women made up roughly 16% of all female homi-
cides between 1980 and 2012, despite making up only 4% of the female population.24 Statistics,
however, can be misleading: this number represents an average over a long time span, which
obscures the increasing severity of the problem – namely, that Indigenous women and girls now
make up 24% of female homicide victims.25
Lisa Meeches, an acclaimed Anishinaabe filmmaker from Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba,
co-created the true crime documentary series TAKEN a few years ago to help resolve the tragic
reality of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.26 As part of their advocacy,
Meeches’s production company, Eagle Vision, partnered with Maryanne Pearce and Tracey Peter,
an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Manitoba, to
transform an updated (2016) version of Pearce’s data into an odds ratio. They found that the
odds were much higher than previously imagined.
According to their calculations, Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be
murdered or missing than any other women in Canada, and 16 times more likely than Caucasian
women.27 Sharing these statistics – as well as the truths of families and survivors behind
them – has been another of their advocacy tools.
As more and more studies show, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are being
targeted from all sides, from partners and family members, acquaintances, and serial killers.
Rates of domestic and family violence are extremely high,28 but so is stranger violence. Indige-
nous women are also more likely to be killed by acquaintances than non-Indigenous women,29
and are seven times as likely to be targeted by serial killers.30 In the words of James Anaya,
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the rates of missing and
murdered Indigenous women and girls are “epidemic.”31
Other than murder, statistics also reveal how Indigenous women consistently experience higher
rates and more severe forms of physical assault and robbery than other groups in Canada.32
Sexual violence is a huge problem in all its forms: Indigenous women are sexually assaulted
three times more often than non-Indigenous women,33 and most of the women and children
trafficked in Canada are Indigenous.34 According to researchers Cherry Kingsley and Melanie
Mark, in some communities, sexually exploited Indigenous children and youth make up more
than 90% of the visible sex trade, even where Indigenous people make up less than 10% of the
population.35 The majority of Indigenous women who are later sexually exploited or trafficked
were sexually abused at an early age, making them easy targets for traffickers who prey on this
vulnerability and count on society’s turning a blind eye.36

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 You know, every stage of life has a gift, has a purpose, has a role. You know, little
babies, they bring joy to the world. Little kids, they have curiosity. They teach us about
safety. You know, every single age group has a gift…. If we recognize all of those gifts
and all of those responsibilities and all of those roles in every age group, then every child
will have the kind of life that will allow them to share their gift of joy and to keep that,
because it’s meant for the world.4

Inuk mother gives her child a kunik, or

kiss, n.d. Source: Library and Archives
Canada/Department of Indian Affairs and
Northern Development fonds/e006609837.

Because these responsibilities are relational and reciprocal, they tell us what people should be
able to expect from others. They are also rooted in certain underlying values or principles within
Indigenous laws and value systems that are shared across Indigenous communities, such as re-
spect, reciprocity, and interconnectedness. Understanding how these values shape the roles and
responsibilities of Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA people is particularly important be-
cause we can use these values to create healing encounters today. In addition, understanding the
distinctions among Nations and communities in key areas is important in understanding that
there is no one solution to implementing measures to promote safety and justice.
Each testimony we heard provided unique perspectives of roles and responsibilities in various
Nations and communities, and, in doing so, demonstrated how women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people hold rights, within diverse Indigenous laws, related to culture, health, safety, and justice.
These rights come from the knowledge and wisdom of distinct Nations and Peoples. In predomi-
nantly oral Indigenous traditions, this wisdom is most often shared through stories like the one
that begins this chapter.

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 INTRODUCTION

Tamara’s observation that Jennifer’s death – and the violence, disappearances, and deaths of
many other Indigenous women – was not a “random act” points to another important part of the
story that Indigenous families, friends, and loved ones told about the relationships and encoun-
ters that violated the safety and security of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
In her testimony, Danielle E. described how even in their daily lives when physical or sexual
violence may not be immediately present, Indigenous women and girls experience a constant
threat of violence and the fear that accompanies this.
I have hope that something good will come out of this, that as an Indigenous woman,
I don’t have to walk on the street and be afraid because, today, when I go somewhere,
I’m afraid, and it’s a fear that we all carry every day and you get so used to it that it’s
like it’s part of you, and it shouldn’t have to be because not everybody in society today
has to walk around and be afraid the way Indigenous women are and girls. I have seven
daughters and lots of granddaughters that I worry about constantly all day. I don’t want
them to become a statistic.43

As these testimonies demonstrate, the normalization of violence – or, put another way, the nor-
malization of the loss of safety and security – becomes another way in which Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are targeted for further violence. The fact that there is little, if
any, response when Indigenous women experience violence makes it easier for those who choose
to commit violence to do so, without fear of detection, prosecution or penalty.

Interpreting the Mandate

As these testimonies suggest, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous
Women and Girls heard about a huge range of issues that impact the safety and wellness of
Indigenous women and girls. The National Inquiry itself is the result of mounting pressure from
grassroots family members and survivors, community organizations and national Indigenous
organizations, international human rights organizations, and the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada to launch a public inquiry into the disproportionate levels of violence
against Indigenous women and girls. After pointed resistance from the previous federal govern-
ment, a new federal government announced a public inquiry into missing and murdered
Indigenous women in 2015, and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous
Women and Girls formally began its work in September 2016.
The terms of the National Inquiry’s mandate (what we are meant to accomplish) is set out in our
Terms of Reference. Specifically, the National Inquiry is mandated to report on:
i. Systemic causes of all forms of violence – including sexual violence – against Indige-
nous women and girls in Canada, including underlying social, economic, cultural,
institutional and historical causes contributing to the ongoing violence and particular
vulnerabilities of Indigenous women and girls in Canada, and

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
An important component of this work is understanding that there exist other legal orders in
Canada, beyond those that most people know. Indigenous laws include principles that come from
Indigenous ways of understanding the world. They come from relationships and understandings
about how societies can function that include rights and responsibilities among people and be-
tween people and the world around us.
Relationships are the foundation of Indigenous law. As Val Napoleon explained, “It’s tools for
social ordering; it’s problem-solving; and it’s the way that we resolve conflicts and we manage
conflicts. And when our legal orders failed or we didn’t properly adhere to our own legal orders,
we can look at our oral histories and see what happened in our societies during those times.”7
In other words, as legal scholars Emily Snyder, Val Napoleon, and John Borrows explain, Indige-
nous law and Indigenous societies are linked, as a “specific set of ideas and practices aimed at
generating the conditions for greater peace and order.”8
As they relate to the expression of rights, Indigenous laws and the ideas upon which they are
based are also linked to the idea of inherent rights. They are inherent because they are not West-
ern-based or state-centric. This means they can’t be taken away by provinces and territories, by
the government of Canada, or by the United Nations.9
Inherent Indigenous law belongs to all Indigenous communities and Nations. As Dawnis
Kennedy notes, a fundamental principle of Indigenous law is the idea that: “All peoples were
given a language, all peoples were given a law, all peoples were given songs. All peoples were
given gifts to live into the world, and those are gifts from spirit and they are necessary in the
world and they are necessary in building good relationships with each other.”10 Individually, too,
“a fundamental precept of our law is that everyone has a place. We might not know that but
everyone belongs. Everyone is here for a purpose. Everyone is here for a reason. Everyone
matters as much as the next, a fundamental law.”11

“AN ISSUE HAS TO BE LOOKED AT FROM TWO DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES: THE

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE AND THE INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVE, SO THAT THIS
PROVIDES THE WHOLE PICTURE FOR WHOEVER IS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND
THE PARTICULAR ISSUE.”
Tuma Young

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 INTRODUCTION

Sharing their truths in-camera, or privately, at a Community Hearing was another option. In this
case, families and survivors shared directly to a Commissioner with their supports, National
Inquiry staff members, and Parties with Standing present, but without any access by the general
public. This was for the safety of the people sharing their truth, in some cases, as well as within
the trauma-informed approach where people might have difficulty describing their stories in pub-
lic. Whether it was for physical safety, mental safety, or cultural safety, holding private hearings
was crucial to ensure we could hear the true stories of family members and survivors of violence.
Confidential transcripts of these sessions were created to help contribute to the National
Inquiry’s findings of fact and recommendations, and identify overall trends, but they will not be
released to the public and will not be made available after the life of the National Inquiry. While
truths shared in-camera have helped shape the National Inquiry’s findings and conclusions, no
direct quotes are used from in-camera testimony in this report to respect that person’s confiden-
tiality, except in exceptional circumstances where permission was granted by the witness for
portions of the testimony to be used.
Sharing with a Statement Gatherer was another option. In this case, Statement Gatherers
travelled to the family member or survivor and conducted an in-person, videotaped interview
with them, which would later be reviewed by one of the Commissioners in all jurisdictions but
Quebec, which required review by three. The person sharing could request that their transcripts
be made public or kept private. There were also statement-gathering events, where multiple
statements were collected from participants at one location.
Another option was to submit an artistic expression that represented that person’s response to,
or experience of, violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to the
National Inquiry’s Legacy Archive. Commissioners welcomed people’s testimony in more than
one form.
Another decolonizing and trauma-informed decision made was to include chosen families, or
“families of the heart,” in all of our definitions of “family members.” This includes a broad sense
of family that goes beyond a person’s nuclear, biological, or extended family to include others
who consider themselves family. These “families of the heart” have chosen to stay closely in-
volved and support each other out of mutual love and respect. This is especially important for
many 2SLGBTQQIA people, women who have had to leave their biological families and/or
communities due to violence, or those who have been separated from their birth families through
child welfare, adoption, and the Sixties Scoop.
Parts 2 and 3 of the Truth-Gathering Process involved Institutional Hearings and Expert and
Knowledge Keeper Hearings. Institutional Hearings inquired into the systemic causes of
institutionalized violence, as well institutional responses to violence, while those who shared as
part of the Expert and Knowledge Keeper Hearings – Elders, academics, legal experts, front-line
workers, young people, specialists, and others – provided their recommendations on systemic
causes of violence and possible solutions. As part of the hearing process, National Inquiry
lawyers and Parties with Standing had the opportunity to examine Parts 2 and 3 witnesses. The
topics covered during the Institutional and Expert and Knowledge Keeper Hearings grew out of

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 INTRODUCTION

Reclaiming Power and Place

The result of research conducted through the Truth-Gathering Process that privileges the voices
of those with lived experience, and that focuses on the sacred place of Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people in their families, communities, and Nations, is a report that insists on
self-determined solutions distinctive to the needs of those most affected as rights bearers. And
while it is far from the first report released on violence against Indigenous Peoples, and it likely
won’t be the last, we maintain that the framework behind Reclaiming Power and Place: The
Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is
both powerful and empowering in its calls to focus on rights and relationships at every level –
from the individual day-to-day encounters that feed violence and discrimination, to those larger
institutional and systemic structures that need to change.
In its presentation of findings, this report connects the testimony collected nationally during
the Truth-Gathering Process to violations of Indigenous women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people’s human and Indigenous rights. By applying a human and Indigenous rights lens, as well
as a gendered lens, to the truths shared during the Truth-Gathering Process, we argue that the
violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people – as well as all
forms of violence experienced by Indigenous Peoples – is a human rights issue. In sharing their
truths, families, loved ones, and survivors were not only sharing stories about the violence they
or their loved one endured but also sharing stories about human rights abuses and violations.
Making the changes required to end violence against them is not a matter of public policy but
one of domestic and international law.
Based on the findings from our Truth-Gathering Process and our analysis of previous reports, the
National Inquiry finds that the main reason these changes and recommendations haven’t been
implemented yet is that they rely on governments and bureaucracies to want to change their own
laws, contracts, and policies. While many of these should indeed be changed, they miss the
fundamental role of relationship. After all, Canadian laws are not set in stone; they are based
on the values and relationships of the people who write them.
In sharing their truths with the National Inquiry, family members and survivors told not only
stories about violence but also stories about the relationships through which violence takes place.
In this report, we focus on the role of relationships, and the significant encounters within rela-
tionships, that family members and survivors described as leading to or lessening harm, violence,
and suffering. Taking a basic lesson offered through the testimony – that relationships matter –
this report presents many examples that illustrate how relationships – whether those as small as
the relationship shared between two people or as large as the relationship between two world
views – offer important ways of understanding how violence continues and how violence may be
prevented. While the report and its recommendations argue for changes to the relationships that
colonial systems and structures are built on, it also strives to provide examples of the way indi-
vidual people and their day-to-day interactions can make a difference in ending violence.

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 INTRODUCTION

To date, this has been partially implemented, and we recognize that the National Inquiry into
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is in itself a fulfilled TRC Call to Action.
Other actions include endorsing and passing New Democratic MP and reconciliation critic
Romeo Saganash’s Bill 262, a private member’s bill aimed at ensuring that Canada’s laws are in
harmony with those rights set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples – a declaration that Saganash himself helped to create. At time of this writing, the Bill
was in its second reading, in Senate. In 2018, the federal government had also agreed to work
toward the equivalent of Jordan’s Principle for Inuit children, to ensure health care for them
would not be delayed. In addition, Bill C-91, An Act Respecting Indigenous Languages, which
would establish measures for long-term and sustainable funding for the support and promotiong
Indigenous languages, was unveiled in early 2019.
Collectively, these are important pieces of work, which will require careful implementation and
reporting. In particular, ensuring that the principles that animate them are applied to all services
that can help to promote security and safety for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people is a complicated process, but one that we argue needs to move more urgently and quickly.
2. Full compliance with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling (2016) that found
that Canada was racially discriminating against First Nations children.
This has not been implemented. Canada has now received seven non-compliance orders from
the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT).55 The First Nations Child and Family Caring
Society is back in court against Canada, which is now rejecting First Nations children’s claims
based on their lack of Status as determined by the Indian Act. Aside from the many problems
with assigning First Nations identity through colonial legislation such as the Indian Act, which
we cover in more detail elsewhere in this report, the CHRT decision makes no distinction be-
tween Status and non-Status First Nations children, and the Supreme Court of Canada recently
ruled that Ottawa has a fiduciary duty to non-Status First Nations people, and to Métis. As of
February 19, 2019, the tribunal issued interim relief orders for Jordan’s Principle in favour of the
Caring Society, stating that non-Status First Nations children in urgent situations will be covered
under Jordan’s Principle until the evidence has been heard regarding the definition of “First
Nations.”56
Given that the Canadian Human Rights Act forbids discrimination based on race, it is the Caring
Society’s position that Jordan’s Principle also applies to Inuit children where public services
have been delayed or denied.
The National Inquiry heartily agrees with Dr. Cindy Blackstock when she says: “When I look at
the wealth of this country, I think that equality for First Nations children should come in a leap,
not in a shuffle. And just frankly, if they can afford to spend five billion on a pipeline, they can
afford to eradicate inequalities in education and other areas for their kids.”57

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Reciprocity is about give and take. When a relationship is reciprocal, both sides actively partici-
pate in giving what is needed and taking what is needed. Within many Indigenous world views,
the principle of reciprocity isn’t time-bound, because it exists not on a timeline but in a circle;
everything is linked and connected. This means that in everything, there is an exchange of ideas,
and one idea or gift leads to another. Social reciprocity is about obligations to other members of
the group, and is connected to reciprocity with the environment and the land. It creates rights and
obligations for people toward each other.
Interconnectedness is the idea that the rights of individuals and of the collective are connected
to rights of the land, water, animals, spirits, and all living things, including other communities or
Nations. Interconnectedness recognizes that everything and everyone has purpose and that each
is worthy of respect and holds a place within the circle of life. These roles and responsibilities, as
well as the principles of law within them, can be expressed in language, use of land, ceremony,
and in relationships.

Understanding How Laws Are Lived, in Community

Professor Jean Leclair, from the Faculty of Law at the University of Montréal, testified in Que-
bec City, pointing out, “For thousands of years, Aboriginal people had legal orders that worked
very well, thank you. So how is it that for 150 years they would not be able to do it anymore?”13
A key feature of understanding Indigenous laws is also understanding that these were important
in a very practical way within the lives of community members.
Speaking of Onaakonigewin, or Anishinaabe law, Dawnis Kennedy noted:
Our law we carry in our hearts and we live into the world through the decisions that we
make. That’s how we live our law. But our law is not human-made. I’m glad it wasn’t
left up to us. Our law is a law of life and how life flows, and it’s up to us as humankind
to look at all of our relations to figure out that law, to know that law, to connect that law,
to live that law.14

Examples of living the law can be found in many different places, including the natural world.
Some family members and survivors told the National Inquiry about drawing legal principles
from the animal world, from the rain, from the movement of river water, and from the cycles of
the moon. In her presentation to the National Inquiry, Val Napoleon said: “Natural law is also a
source of law and John Borrows gives examples of his mother watching butterflies and milk-
weed. And she would observe that there would be fewer butterflies if the … land wasn’t being
taken care of. So she was drawing lessons about that.”15
Drawing from the lessons of the natural world, as well as from necessary rules about social order
and organization, Indigenous laws served to promote safety and justice. Val Napoleon continued:

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 Indigenous law has to be accessible, it has to be understandable, and it has to be
applicable. It can’t just exist in people’s talk. It has to be a part of how we manage our
behaviour with one another…. And when we look at oral histories or we look at stories,
the different kinds of oral histories that people had, those formed a public memory. They
formed legal precedent from which we can draw on to solve present-day problems.16

In many cases, obeying Indigenous laws was a matter of life and death. These laws were not
crucial just in terms of cultural knowledge, but at a basic level of survival. This is especially
evident within stories shared by Inuit, whose environment strongly dictated the importance of
the laws. As Sandra Omik, legal counsel at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., explained:
The people, the community, there were couples, children, and grandparents, a sister,
brother, an Elder, grandfather, grandmother; they would help each other elaborately so
that they survive. So it’s the same thing. Every day, daily they would help each other and
it’s part of their society in the North to survive the day so they work together. They live
in harmony.… If something happens or if a terrible thing happens or if there is a problem
they would – they would get closer and resolve it and just to try to survive, for survival if
somebody is stingy or if somebody is hungry. And the same with their minds. With their
minds there is also peace and that was very collaborative.17

Collaboration, planning for the future, and being prepared were not necessarily laws, according
to Sandra Omik, but were principles that were always followed, because “if the plan was not
followed, we could have famine. We could freeze to death. We could not have seal to heat our
lamps and therefore freeze.”18
Laws were also important when dealing with behaviour that wasn’t accepted by the community,
including violence. Communities’ and Nations’ own stories, both traditional and oral histories,
feature key moments of violence, as the next section of this chapter will show, where members
were banished, punished, or otherwise held to account for violence inflicted on other members
of the community.
As Snyder, Napoleon, and Borrows argue, the failure to acknowledge that violence did exist
within Indigenous communities in the past, and that sexism also existed, is dangerous. It disem-
powers Indigenous societies’ ability to deal with these issues by insisting they are all new and all
flow from colonization. While a great deal of the violence has links within the history of colo-
nization, the tendency to sanitize the past makes the existing resources in the area of Indigenous
laws seem invisible and irrelevant. Snyder, Napoleon, and Borrows explain, “It is possible to
work with the idea that colonialism has negatively impacted gender norms and is reliant on gen-
dered violence, without necessarily having also to claim that gender relations prior to contact
were perfect.”19

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Indigenous laws recognize that society is dynamic, and that every person is an individual whose
role is also to contribute to the community. As Elder Kunuk Muckpalook explained, “Not every-
one was perfect but in the old days we had … sayings that we had to live by that were the beliefs.
We had customs to live by. We were asked to help our people. Those who were in need, our job
was to help them.”20 Despite the changing circumstances of life in the North, as Sandra Omik
points out, these principles are still important today.21 Dr. Hadley Friedland explains, “Rebuild-
ing Indigenous laws is about rebuilding and strengthening conditions of peace, safety, dignity,
and justice.”22

Carolyn Kaye, Dene, carrying her son Selwyn, in a

beaded baby belt, 1947. Source: Library and Archives
Canada/Department of Indian Affairs and Northern
Development fonds/a185627.

This is why, in part, the conditions for peace, safety, dignity, and justice can be found in under-
standing some of these principles. Dawnis Kennedy states:
We need to know ourselves and who we are as Anishinaabe so that we can show
mino-bimaadiziwin to all of our relatives in creation and the other sacred colours of
humankind that life is about life. It is about life. And honouring one life is about
honouring all life. Protecting one life is about protecting every life and all life.23

Indigenous laws, and the rights articulated within them, can also provide concrete paths forward
for communities and for Nations. Val Napoleon argues, “The issue of missing and murdered In-
digenous women and girls is not only a legal issue within Canadian law. It’s an issue within our
different Indigenous legal orders. And the work of Indigenous law includes that of rebuilding

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 INTRODUCTION

Successes and Challenges of the National Inquiry

In reflecting on where we are today, the National Inquiry recognizes it has had many successes
as well as many challenges.
One of the most important successes of the National Inquiry is how many people entrusted us
with their stories. We see these stories as sacred. The National Inquiry made some mistakes
along the way, but family members and survivors of violence were able to work one-on-one with
our Health and Legal teams to share their stories, and continued to receive support through the
National Inquiry’s aftercare program for several months after they shared their truths. We are
humbled by the sheer number of people who shared their stories in order to help others truly
understand the levels of violence in this country.
Having so many people break the silence has already created a momentum much bigger than the
National Inquiry, and has continued to build. Trauma has widespread effects, but so does healing.
As one Inuk Elder told the members of the National Inquiry’s internal Inuit Working Group, their
work was “already saving lives.” These healing effects are still rippling gently through families
and communities. It is one of Canada’s most important jobs in the months and years ahead to
ensure that these ripples build into waves of change.
One of our biggest challenges was working under the federal government’s rules and procedures,
which are designed for government departments with long lifespans, not two-year public in-
quiries working in a culturally safe and trauma-informed way. Finding ways to navigate these
rules designed for a completely different context was particularly critical, given our other biggest
challenge: the lack of time.
The two years and four months’ mandate given to the National Inquiry at its outset was not
enough. With the broadest mandate of any public inquiry in Canadian history, and given the time
required simply to hire staff, get the infrastructure in place, and begin to build key relationships,
this time frame significantly hampered our ability to fully work according to families-first,
decolonizing, and trauma-informed approaches. Processes that would normally take months in a
government department needed to be compressed into weeks to fit our schedule. Many of our
hearings were held back-to-back, and we were never able to give as much notice for hearings and
events as we would have liked. It was very difficult to get the appropriate systems and policies in
place until well into our mandate. It was also very difficult to build relationships with Indigenous
communities with enough lead time to allow them to report back to, and work collectively
within, their families, communities, and governance structures. In some cases, family members
felt rushed, and received short notice for when they were scheduled to testify.
From an organizational perspective, National Inquiry staff members experienced delays in
receiving computers, phones, Internet connections, email access, and access to a central shared
drive – extremely important for a National Inquiry working from coast to coast to coast. Many
staff members worked from home, across all time zones and in remote locations, or spent a great
deal of time on the road. Ongoing technology and IT problems, along with the complex require-

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
As many testimonies demonstrated, accessing adequate housing, food, employment, and oppor-
tunities within both community and urban settings can be complicated by assumptions that are
made about Indigenous Peoples generally and women in particular. Stories can help ground the
perceptions of Indigenous rights as historical and contemporary understandings about the rela-
tionships upon which traditional and contemporary roles and responsibilities of women depend.
They help anchor the testimony that we have analyzed in a context that is relevant to witnesses,
and that can help us understand how very far we have departed, as a society, in our understand-
ings about women and girls.
For Dawnis Kennedy, regardless of their origin, stories also animate an understanding of power
and place. As she explains, “Our stories are – oral history tells us, you know, there was other
times that we almost lost all of who we were, some of it just all by ourselves. And the spirit loves
us so much that they will always find a way to answer our request to find our way back to life.”29
In this next section, we will look at key stories from a diversity of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis
Peoples as a way to demonstrate some general principles, articulated within the testimonies as
well as within some stories, that can help to promote safety and justice in Indigenous terms. For
Indigenous societies, the point is not whether or not the events in a story actually happened. First
Nations, Métis, and Inuit societies rely on stories to illustrate lessons, values, and laws in a way
everyone can understand. Indigenous stories teach local history and land-based science,30 provide
examples of how to live out traditional values in real life,31 and act as case studies for law.32 As
Val Napoleon explains, “We have to make sure that our laws are accessible in this so that all of
our members – women, children, people from different sexual orientations, and trans and so on –
that all of us can see ourselves as mattering within that legal order.”33
Stories aren’t made this way without hard work and careful thought – both for the storyteller
and the person listening. They may have a lesson, but they don’t come with a rule book. Val
Napoleon and Hadley Friedland, who are using stories to explore Indigenous law, point out that
stories are not “passively passed on by infallible elders in some immaculate … form. Rather,
stories are part of a serious public intellectual and interactive dialogue involving listeners and
learners, elders and other storytellers – as they have been for generations.”34

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
“Yamozha and His Beaver Wife”
through a Dene Woman’s Perspective
Cindy A. originally came to the National Inquiry to speak about her grandmother, Mary Adele D., a strong
Dene woman who was killed in a violent attack. However, Cindy also came to share the importance of reviv-
ing Dene laws to help address the crisis of missing and murdered women and girls: “We have our Indigenous
laws, and we need to revive those, talk about them, teach them to our children and our families. Through col-
onization we have lost a lot of those teachings. People don’t understand what they mean, our Dene laws.
And I think that needs to happen.” I

Cindy is Weledeh, a Yellowknives Dene Tlicho woman need to be here speaking about it, because we’d
originally from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She all be around the campfire. We would be in the
is also a lawyer with a degree in Indigenous Law from circle. You’d have men and women together,
the University of British Columbia. She advocates that standing together.II
as part of reviving Dene laws, we need to pay partic-
ular attention to Indigenous women’s stories. She In the story Cindy shares, Yamozha asks a beaver
offers a Dene woman’s perspective on the well- woman to be his wife. She agrees, on the condition
known story of “Yamozha and His Beaver Wife” as an that he never let her feet get wet. He agrees as well,
example. and for many years, they live happily together.

Yamozha (also known as Yamoria, the Lawmaker) is Then, one day, he breaks his promise. She leaves him
one of the most important figures in ancient Dene and returns to her beaver form. This enrages Yamozha
stories. He travelled widely when the world was new, so much that he chases her across the land, kills and
killing giant monsters, making the land safe, and eats their beaver child, and eventually turns her into an
teaching the Dene their sacred laws. island when she makes one last escape into the ocean.

At one time, everyone would have known these laws, Cindy points out that this story, and most other sto-
which include sharing what you have, and helping ries recorded by anthropologists and published in the
and loving one another. Now, mostly due to assimila- Northwest Territories, are “men’s stories” that focus on
tive policies like residential schools, many Dene peo- the male perspective. She emphasizes the need to
ple are missing these critical tools. “Some Dene “widen our gaze”III and uncover more stories showing
people, they just implicitly practice our Indigenous Indigenous women’s perspectives:
laws, our Dene laws,” Cindy said.
Because if you look at it with a critical eye, an
They do share, they do care for other peoples, Indigenous woman perspective, a Dene woman
they do help, and they are respectful. But then, perspective, you’ll see that the stories condone
as we know, this Inquiry is here to tell the story violence, death, murder.... I would really like for
of Indigenous women and girls. There’s a break our Indigenous women’s stories, our Indigenous
in the laws. There’s a break in the traditions. laws as women come forward and be taught.
Things are unbalanced, because if people fol- And that those teachings, those teachings will
lowed these laws from Yamozha, then we’d not help us live in the future.IV

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Cindy then offers her interpretation of “Yamozha and critical eye to gender can actually lift up women and
His Beaver Wife”: 2SLGBTQQIA people facing violence today.

If you look critically at it, Yamoria had a marriage Cindy’s example shows us what the ongoing work of
contract, a marriage promise to his beaver wife. law-making can look like for different Indigenous
He broke that. He did not put the branches down Peoples. This work is underway in many communities,
for her. One of the roles that I understand Dene but federal, provincial, and territorial governments
men have actually is for breaking trail. And to rarely recognize that Indigenous Peoples have
take care and protect your wife. He did not do distinct legal systems. As Cindy said:
that. He broke his marriage contract with her. So
she had a right to leave. But when she stood up We should embrace our Indigenous laws, as we
and said, no, you broke my promise, he became are Nations, and we have our own laws as Indige-
violent. He stalked her, chased her all over the nous people. We were here first. This is our coun-
country, all over Denendeh [Dene land]…. try, this is my land, and we should have that
recognition. As we move towards self-govern-
What is missing is the Indigenous and Dene ment in land claims, Indigenous governments
teachings that go along with this, that would will have the right to pass their own laws. I’d like
give context to the story and would inform those laws to be informed by Indigenous teach-
about the teachings … and the importance of ings, our Dene laws. Because that will help guide
the Dene laws. My view on this in part about this us in a good way in the future.VII
story is that Yamozha, besides being our law-
maker for Dene people, he also was a man, a Cindy closed her testimony on this subject by under-
human man with failings.V scoring her call to uncover, revive, and share widely
the stories of Indigenous women. “I would strongly
Cindy argues that looking at these stories with a crit- encourage that we start telling our stories as women
ical eye does not mean we can’t use Dene law to ad- and girls,” Cindy said.
dress violence against Indigenous women and girls.
She uses the example of talking circles with Elders to I’m very grateful to be here, and the Inquiry
address family violence. “The parties would be given starting that process. We are telling our stories of
traditional teachings to bring them back into har- trauma, but we have to move beyond the stories
mony and balance,” she explains. “It’s maybe by talking of trauma into stories that give us guidance and
to an Elder and grandmothers and grandfathers that hope into the future. And it’s by including not
you learn the teachings that you’re supposed to know, only the men in the circle, but the women and
and then you’ll realize the error of your ways and go the girls, that that will happen. Then you’ll have
on a right path.”VI Looking at stories, traditional teach- the community behind you, if you include every-
ings, and other sources of Indigenous law with a body around the fire, and I encourage that.VIII

I Cindy A. (Dene), Part 1, Public Volume 43, Yellowknife, NWT, p. 54.

II Cindy A. (Dene), Part 1, Public Volume 43, Yellowknife, NWT, p. 58.
III Cindy A. (Dene), Part 1, Public Volume 43, Yellowknife, NWT, p. 64.
IV Cindy A. (Dene), Part 1, Public Volume 43, Yellowknife, NWT, pp.56, 66.
V Cindy A. (Dene), Part 1, Public Volume 43, Yellowknife, NWT, pp. 65, 66.
VI Cindy A. (Dene), Part 1, Public Volume 43, Yellowknife, NWT, pp. 70-71.
VII Cindy A. (Dene), Part 1, Public Volume 43, Yellowknife, NWT, p. 71.
VIII Cindy A. (Dene), Part 1, Public Volume 43, Yellowknife, NWT, p. 67.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
This central idea – the notion that appeals to the past must be contextualized within the context
of ongoing violence against Indigenous women and girls – is key, as well as the need for meas-
ures and teachings that affirm, rather than deny, rights. As Indigenous Studies scholar Emma
LaRocque argues:
Culture is not immutable, and tradition cannot be expected to be always of value or
relevant even in our times. As Native women, we are faced with very difficult and
painful choices, but, nonetheless, we are challenged to change, create, and embrace
“traditions” consistent with contemporary and international human rights standards.35

In some cases, appeals to what is “traditional” are still used to question women’s demands for a
place in modern discussions about their own lives. As Canada Research Chair in Indigenous
Relationships Kim Anderson asserts, any call to the concept of “tradition” must recognize that
traditions are created within and adapted to a particular place and time, and do not exist in a
vacuum: “As we begin to reclaim our ways, we must question how these traditions are framed,
and whether they are empowering to us.”36
This is why, in our selection of stories, we include those that demonstrate harmful encounters
and those that demonstrate healing ones, drawing on the strength and resilience of Indigenous
women themselves.
A few comments on our interpretation of the stories is in order. We do not claim that these stories
contain traditional teachings that are common to all Indigenous societies, and neither do we view
tradition as static or unchanging. Our interpretation isn’t focused on identifying the lessons or
morals intended by the storytellers. Instead, we use stories as illustrative metaphors to help
explain the roles, responsibilities, and rights of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people in their communities in a dynamic sense. Within this work, we have included stories
featuring violence, understanding that these stories can show us how Indigenous Peoples resist
violence and find important solutions to problems within their own communities and Nations.37
Like the languages and Peoples they reflect, these stories represent dynamic encounters between
storyteller and listener, and offer important insights into respecting the rights of Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people as sacred.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Indigenous Expressions of the Right to Culture,
Health, Safety, and Justice
As the previous chapter outlines, the National Inquiry has heard testimony that connects to
four broad categories of rights, and to women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people as rights holders.
In our analysis of Indigenous stories from across Canada, we identified several key areas in
which rights are manifest for Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA people: as teachers, leaders,
healers, providers, and protectors. These labels aren’t intended to trap people in static ideas about
culture; they aren’t labels at all. Instead, we acknowledge, as Snyder, Napoleon, and Borrows
have pointed out, that “Indigenous women deserve the right to safety and bodily integrity
simply because they are human.”38 We don’t offer these stories to burden women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people, either; we look to highlight ways in which their own strengths are
brought forward in stories, and within the spectrum of Indigenous law, as ways to imagine
decolonizing the path forward.
In addition, we believe that understanding some of these ideas can help in moving beyond the
idea of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls as being simple “victims,” and be-
yond other labels that many people have rejected. As Eva P. shared about her loved one: “I don’t
like how they always talk about that substance abuse. She was much more than that. Misty was
an amazing person. She was the organizer of our family, but she was also a leader back home in
Alberta. She did a lot of great things.”39
Rather, these roles – teachers, leaders, healers, providers, protectors, and so many others – are
therefore brought forward as sites of power and of healing that were shared with the National
Inquiry and that carry across diverse Indigenous groups, including First Nations, Métis, and
Inuit. Toni C., survivor and family member, told us that what really helped her was “starting to
know who I really am … as a woman, as a First Nations woman – that I am a gift. And I do have
gifts to offer.”40 It is for these reasons that we embrace the importance of stories in defining
Indigenous rights and understanding what meaning they might hold in the context of addressing
violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. In this case, stories offer
both instruction and medicine, helping us to see the inherent Indigenous rights women hold and
how we might ultimately achieve safety and justice for families.
We apply these ideas in nuanced ways that bring forward many of the elements that those who
testified shared in relation to their loved ones. As Ann M. R. said:
Our people, our community want to heal, they want to learn their culture. They want to
go on the land. That’s where they want to be. That’s where they want to heal…. Culture
has to be lived. There is nothing that makes us happier than seeing our children dance.
Nothing makes us happier than seeing our children sing. Nothing makes us happier than
seeing our children speak and hearing them speak our language. Our parents are so
proud. It brings us to life. And that’s what we need is life and culture does that. Culture,
culture, culture. I cannot emphasize that enough is culture.41

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
As Fay Blaney explained, “Our rights and responsibilities are really important to us as Indige-
nous Peoples. It’s not just about individual rights. It is about our responsibility to community.”42
These stories illustrate rights as manifest in roles and responsibilities, to self and to community,
that come together to create safety, or can offer solutions to enhance safety.
Women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s place in culture connects to stories about women
and gender-diverse people as teachers and as leaders. Ann M. R. shared:
My mom lived on land and she would live at Simpson Creek, dry fish. Every summer
when we came out of that prison camp [residential school], she was drying fish, making
dry meat, making moose hide. I would sit in the little mosquito tent and read my True
Confessions and my mom would be working very hard to feed me. And people would
come on the highway and she taught us how to be generous. She gave. She gave fish.
She gave dry meat…. They stopped for coffee, they stopped for tea. She’d feed them,
she’d cook them bannock. That’s who we are as Dene. You don’t teach these things, you
live these things.43

Within families and within communities, women and 2SLGBTQQIA people have held roles as
mothers, grandmothers, and caregivers who work to educate future generations, and to preserve
knowledge and traditions, alongside but distinctive of men. In many societies, women’s roles in
governance roles as chiefs, Elders, clan mothers, and advisors help strengthen and maintain
collective identity.

“OUR PEOPLE, OUR COMMUNITY WANT TO HEAL, THEY WANT TO LEARN THEIR
CULTURE. THEY WANT TO GO ON THE LAND. THAT’S WHERE THEY WANT TO BE.
THAT’S WHERE THEY WANT TO HEAL … CULTURE HAS TO BE LIVED. THERE IS
NOTHING THAT MAKES US HAPPIER THAN SEEING OUR CHILDREN DANCE. NOTHING
MAKES US HAPPIER THAN SEEING OUR CHILDREN SING. NOTHING MAKES US HAPPIER
THAN SEEING OUR CHILDREN SPEAK AND HEARING THEM SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE. OUR
PARENTS ARE SO PROUD. IT BRINGS US TO LIFE. AND THAT’S WHAT WE NEED IS LIFE
AND CULTURE DOES THAT. CULTURE, CULTURE, CULTURE. I CANNOT EMPHASIZE
THAT ENOUGH IS CULTURE.”
Ann M. R.

For many of our witnesses, this connection to identity also offers protection and strength. It re-
lates to some of the various roles that women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have with respect
to security, within stories and in life, and also relates to their roles as providers and protectors.
Women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people contribute to a safe, secure community in many ways,
including by providing physical necessities, by protecting those in need through the management
of resources or their redistribution, and as defenders of the water, land, plants, and animals.
The National Inquiry’s Audrey Siegl shared the following about her work in Vancouver’s Down-
town Eastside: “When we walk down through the Downtown Eastside just with the sage, just
with the cedar, with a drum…. You see they’re dying for it, they’re starving for it, they don’t

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 9, “Wellness and Healing,” takes a closer look at the National Inquiry’s own health and
wellness approach for family members and survivors, and what we have learned from families
and survivors who participated in the National Inquiry who discussed their own healing journeys.
In Chapter 10, “Commemoration and Calling Forth,” we turn to the National Inquiry’s efforts to
raise awareness and engage in public education through our Legacy Archive, art outreach, and
youth engagement guide. Altogether, we assert, these actions, engagements, and interactions will
help reclaim the role of women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people as powerful cultural carriers
and sacred knowledge holders who are capable of shaping a safer future for the next generation
of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
In Chapter 11, “On the Front Lines: Valuing the Insight of Front-line Workers,” we provide a
summary of four Guided Dialogue sessions, held in the fall of 2018. These dialogues brought
together people of diverse perspectives to discuss best practices and solutions for change. These
were not aimed at gathering individual testimony, but instead aimed to bring together front-line
service providers, organizers, people with lived experience, Elders, academics, and outreach
support to fill in gaps and discuss best practices related to their own backgrounds within specific
Inuit, Métis, 2SLGBTQQIA, and Quebec contexts. Over the course of three days, participants
identified barriers and discussed what best practices and solutions look like through the lenses of
culture, health, security, and justice.
Calls for Justice
We end with our Calls for Justice. These Calls are anchored in human and Indigenous rights in-
struments, Indigenous laws, and principles shared through the testimonies of family members,
survivors, Knowledge Keepers, and Expert Witnesses, along with the National Inquiry’s advisory
groups, both internal and external. These Calls for Justice, as their name implies, demand action
that reflects, respects, and actively works to create relationships where Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people are recognized as rights bearers and have those rights upheld – work-
ing to address where justice, seen in the larger context of dispossession and marginalization,
has failed.
These Calls for Justice are based on the findings of fact found at the end of each chapter and in
the Deeper Dives, where applicable, as well as the overarching findings we lay out at the begin-
ning of Section 4. In addition, they are undergirded by important Principles for Justice – lenses
through which all Calls for Justice must be interpreted, applied and implemented, for change to
materialize.
Restoring safety for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people is an urgent responsi-
bility for us all. These Calls are not simply moral principles; they are legal imperatives.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 National Inquiry Grandmother Pénélope Guay speaks
to those in attendance in Quebec City, Quebec.

National Inquiry Grandmother Pénélope Guay

explained, “It’s really important for Indigenous
women to speak up. I tell myself the more they
speak, the more they regain their strength. The
more of us women who speak up, it’s strength.
It also shows our place. We have to take it, this
place.”46
These roles in teaching, in leadership, in health, in provision, and in protection are not mutually
exclusive. They are fluid, interdependent, and interconnected. Women and 2SLGBTQQIA people
may be leaders and healers, providers and protectors. They may take up different roles and re-
sponsibilities at different stages of life, and end up taking on them all.
What is most important, though, is that, like the human rights to which they are connected, these
roles and responsibilities are indivisible. For example, Indigenous women’s right to health cannot
be upheld without their culture and identity. Similarly, access to justice may be compromised in
the absence of culturally appropriate victim services to support mental health or because of the
lack of ability to file a complaint safely.
As a National Inquiry, our vision has always been to help build a foundation for Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to reclaim their rights as Indigenous Peoples – to
reclaim their “power and place.” This is based on a common principle we take to heart: “our
women and girls are sacred.” This is not a place beyond human understanding, but a reflection of
what every single life we heard about meant to those who testified. We use these stories to bring
together some of these ideas, and some of why, to those families who shared their truths, these
lives are sacred, and why there is such a void in the absence of loved ones.
These stories and some of the principles therein show us how the underlying principles of
Indigenous laws across many communities – respect, reciprocity, and interconnectedness – shape
the roles, responsibilities, and manifest rights of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 INTRODUCTION

Notes
1 Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, 79; 82-89; 89. 26 TAKEN, “About the series.”
2 Ibid., 79. 27 TAKEN, “Infographic.”
3 Ibid. 28 Boyce, “Victimization of Aboriginal People in Canada,
2014.”
4 Feierstein, “Defining the Concept of Genocide,” 15.
29 Bruser et al., “Nearly half of murdered Indigenous
5 Ibid.
women.”
6 United Nations, Convention on the Prevention and
30 Blaze and McClearn, “Prime target.”
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article II.
31 Anaya, “Statement upon Conclusion of the Visit to
7 Schabas, Genocide in International Law, 46.
Canada.”
8 Bjørnland, Markuson, and Mennecke, “What Is Geno-
32 Boyce, “Victimization of Aboriginal People in Canada,
cide?” as cited in Feierstein, “Defining the Concept of
2014.”
Genocide,” 12.
33 Conroy and Cotter, “Self-reported Sexual Assault in
9 Semelin, “Around the ‘G’ Word,” 27.
Canada, 2014.”
10 Feierstein, “Defining the Concept of Genocide,” 14.
34 Canada, Public Safety Canada, National Action Plan to
11 Ibid. Combat Human Trafficking.
12 Krotz, “A Canadian genocide?” 35 National Aboriginal Consultation Project, Sacred Lives.
13 Woolford and Benvenuto, “Canada and Colonial 36 Native Women’s Association of Canada, “Boyfriend or
Genocide,” 375. Not.”
14 Ibid. 37 Bucik, “Canada: Discrimination and Violence,” 4.
15 Krotz, “A Canadian genocide?” 38 Pyne et al., “Barriers to Well-Being.”
16 Palmater, “Sexualized Genocide.” 39 Boyce, “Victimization of Aboriginal People in Canada,
2014.”
17 Palmater, “The Ongoing Legacies.”
40 Kohkom (Piapot First Nation), Part 1, Statement
18 Fontaine and Farber, “What Canada committed against
Volume 122, Saskatoon, SK, p. 30.
First Nations.”
41 Bernice C. (Sagkeeng First Nation), Part 1, Public
19 Woolford and Benvenuto, “Canada and Colonial
Volume 15, Winnipeg, MB, p. 51.
Genocide,” 380.
42 Tamara S., Part 1, Public Volume 15, Winnipeg, MB, pp.
20 Danny P. (Membertou First Nation), Part 1, Statement
51-52.
Volume 69, Membertou, NS, pp. 2, 4.
43 Danielle E. (Kawacatoose First Nation), Part 1, Public
21 Native Women’s Association of Canada, “What Their
Volume 31, Saskatoon, SK, p. 117.
Stories Tell Us.”
44 Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern
22 Pearce, “An Awkward Silence.”
Affairs Canada,”Terms of Reference for the National
23 Royal Canadian Mounted Police, “Missing and Inquiry.” See also, National Inquiry into Missing and
Murdered Aboriginal Women.” Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Legal Path,
24 Ibid. Rules of Respectful Practice, available at www.mmiwg-
ffada.ca/files/legal-path-rules-of
25 Mahony, Jacob, and Hobson, “Women and the Criminal -respectful-practice.pdf.
Justice System.”

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
In some testimonies, many family members discussed the lessons they learned from their female
family members, or the gap that was left when they were taken. As Grace T. shared about her
mother: “She was so proud. She – she created me, and this is the person that I am because of her
– articulate, beautiful, smart, educated, fearless – is because of her.”48
First Nations and Inuit stories of how the world began, or how people came to be, often show
mothers and grandmothers in leadership roles.49 These are powerful stories that show how
women are instrumental in shaping the actions, beliefs, and values of their people’s culture,
including their earliest relationship with water or land.
One of the most widely known Indigenous Creation stories is that of Sky Woman, or Awe(n)ha’i’
(“mature blossoms”). This is the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) story of the pregnant woman who
fell from the sky.50 In this story, many animals of the world help cushion her fall, with the great
Turtle giving her a place to land on his back. After she turns a tiny bit of mud into vast land all
along the Turtle’s back, Sky Woman takes seeds from her hair and dances, sings, and drums the
first plants and medicines into creation. She does this as an act of reciprocity, to show thanks to
the animals who treated her with kindness and respect.
The fact that Sky Woman is pregnant can symbolize the critical role life-givers continue to play
in shaping Nations. But Sky Woman also sets in motion, as Kim Anderson explains, “a creative
process that results in the completion of our first mother, the earth,”51 which creates a mother–
child bond between people and the land. Sky Woman’s daughter, She Who Always Leads, then
gifts the Haudenosaunee with their three staple foods: corn, beans, and squash.52 These are criti-
cal formative encounters that tie the Haudenosaunee cultural identity firmly to the leadership of
their women, beyond a simple “giver of life” biology, but within the context of complete provi-
sion for the world the people face.
Another origin story, this time from the Inuit world, is that of Nuliajuq, the Mother of the Sea
Mammals. She is also known as Sedna, Uinigumissuitung, and Avilayoq.53 This story takes place
when the world was very new, and people lived by eating rocks and dirt because there were no
animals to eat.
In one version of the story, she is a young woman trapped in a bad marriage to a bird. When
her father attempts to rescue her and bring her home, her bird husband causes large waves that
threaten to capsize their boat. Fearing for his life, he throws his daughter into the sea. She tries to
climb back into the boat, but her father, still fearful for his life, chops off her fingers.
In another version, she is an orphan girl who gets pushed into the sea. Her limbs are transformed
into the sea mammals, and she becomes their keeper.

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 That wickedness turned her into a great spirit, the greatest of all spirits. She became
Nuliajuq and made the animals that we hunt. Now everything comes from her –
everything that people love or fear – food and clothes, hunger and bad hunting,
abundance or lack of caribou, seals, meat, and blubber. Because of her, people have to
forever think out all the taboos [prohibitions] that make life difficult. For now people can
no longer live eating rocks and dirt. Now we depend on timid and cunning animals.54

Across different versions, Nuliajuq subsequently becomes the mother of the sea animals that
form the basis of the Inuit diet. She lives under the sea, and, when angered, will withhold game
from Inuit, causing hardship. As a result, Inuit went to great lengths to honour and show their re-
spect for Nuliajuq and the animals that belong to her, lest they starve.55

Naulaq Ledrew performs a traditional drum dance in

Toronto, Ontario.

The story of Nuliajuq is a challenging one, in

that Nuliajuq survives many forms of violence
or neglect before finding her place of leader-
ship. Similarly, her gifts to the Inuit are mixed:
the sea mammals provide food, clothing, and tools, but with these gifts come responsibilities –
rules Inuit would traditionally follow to show Nuliajuq respect.
In this way, we can see this story as a powerful metaphor for the position many Indigenous
women are in today: survivors of violence, but in the process of re-establishing themselves as
respected leaders who have their own solutions to share, with the many rights and responsibili-
ties that entails.

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Women in Leadership
Dawnis Kennedy shared:
I think one of the first things that I could share is that women are life-givers and from
that flows so much. It is women who carry life, women who give life. Women are – it is
upon women that all life depends. And for Anishinaabe Onaakonigewin, that carries
many different consequences. You know, because women are the life-givers in our
Nation it is the women who carry the water. It’s our grandmother, the moon, who
governs the water, but it’s the women who carry the water and who work with the water,
who work for the water. And so any decision that impacts the water or impacts life is a
decision that requires women. And that’s a huge consequence and that’s a huge thing
because that means that any decision that we make that will affect life, we must ask
women.56

In many stories, women are also the bringers or keepers of sacred ceremonies.57 Ceremonies are
meant to strengthen people’s relationship to the Creator, to each other, and to the natural world
around them. They also help guide people through important transition points in their lives, and
provide a way for communities to recognize each other’s accomplishments. In these stories, such
as the one of White Buffalo Calf Women, who brings the Sacred Pipe and the Sundance, women
as leaders and as teachers are essential to an Indigenous People’s identity as a people.58
Women in stories can also be seen to have important roles in negotiating rights for their commu-
nities through cross-cultural marriages between a human and a non-human being (such as an
animal, plant, star, or other being from the natural world). Many women in First Nations, Inuit,
and Métis stories become diplomats or ambassadors for their communities by marrying
one of these non-human beings. In these roles, they either bring their people’s knowledge to
other cultures, or bring new skills back home – sometimes with great difficulty.

“INUIT WOMEN LEADERS ARE ALL AROUND US. THEIR LEADERSHIP STARTS IN THE
HOME, WITH THE MOTHERS AND GRANDMOTHERS, AND OF COURSE MANY INUIT
WOMEN AND GIRLS VOLUNTEER THEIR TIME IN THE COMMUNITY.”
Okalik Eegeesiak

The Métis story “The Fiddle I Give” emphasizes the enduring power of the skills and knowledge
of Indigenous mothers, while also recognizing the new gifts cultural exchanges can bring. In this
story, a young man from the Red River Colony (also known as the Selkirk Settlement) sets out
on a journey to find a cow with glowing horns (i.e., cattle). Along the way, he runs into three
grandmothers, found in traditional tipis. The first grandmother offers him a tiny thimble with a
kernel of corn and a pinch of pemmican, which, at first, he thinks will never fill him up.

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 His grandma gave him the thimble and said, “My grandson,” she said, “You eat. Eat this
until you get full.” By gosh, he took that thimble and he emptied it in his mouth, chewed.
By gosh, again that thing refilled, keep on refilling, all the time. When he got full, “Ah,
grandma,” he said. “I’m full,” he said. “You’re full,” she said. “Yeah, I’m full.” He gave
it to his grandma. Grandma took that little thimble and dumped it in her mouth. “It’s
empty, empty.” Didn’t refill no more.59

The next morning, the first grandma gives him a flint to help him on his journey. The second
grandmother gives him a rope, and the third, a fiddle. With all three items and the wisdom of the
grandmothers, the hero succeeds in his quest.
In this story, the kernel of corn and pinch of pemmican offered represent the “unending and ever
sustaining … substance of Indigenous culture.”60 It’s this nourishment, as well as the grandmoth-
ers’ knowledge, that ultimately saves his life. But this story also includes the fiddle, something
that was originally a piece of European technology, but has now become associated with the
Métis. The gifts that come from those connections, grounded in Indigenous matrilineal lines, are
at the heart of the Métis identity.

Mrs.Oman, a Métis cook with the Hudson’s Bay

Company, pictures in the Northwest Territories, 1926.
Source: Library and Archives Canada/ Department of
Indian Affairs and Northern Development
fonds/a099520.

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As these brief examples demonstrate, and as our testimony highlights, these and many other sto-
ries emphasize women’s Indigenous rights and roles as cultural carriers of their communities and
as the centre of their families. This provides the foundation for individual and group leadership
across many Indigenous cultures. As Inuk leader Okalik Eegeesiak explains, “Inuit women lead-
ers are all around us. Their leadership starts in the home, with the mothers and grandmothers, and
of course many Inuit women and girls volunteer their time in the community.”61
Métis women Audreen Hourie and Anne Carrière-Acco assert similar leadership roles: “Métis
women, together with their spouses, always considered the well-being of the whole commu-
nity…. A strong and healthy Métis community will always have women in decision-making
roles.”62
The inclusion of women in the direct or indirect leadership of their people is an important key-
stone in the protection and promotion of safety and justice for Indigenous women and girls.
Women as Healers
In many testimonies we heard, the inability to access adequate or culturally appropriate health
services was a key cause of violence against women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people, particu-
larly in more remote communities where women were transported to receive treatment into
locations unfamiliar to them and, as a result, unsafe.
In many understandings within Indigenous storytelling, however, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit
women are the healers themselves; without them, healing is placed in jeopardy in families, in
communities, and in Nations. As Trudy S. shared,
My mother was a very beautiful lady…. She fought the system to bring back all the First
Nation children that were adopted, and she reunited a lot of families together and
brought their kids back to their biological family, and she had taken a lot of – she had
12 of us kids, but she took a lot of other kids in the house that didn’t have family. So, she
always had different kids that we called brother and sister, because she didn’t want to see
them put into foster homes, you know? She’s a great lady, my late mom.63

One of the important roles that Indigenous women and gender-diverse people have most consis-
tently played across Indigenous societies is in healing and medicine. This includes as “Indian
doctors,” midwives, medicine people, counsellors, and shamans. In these roles, healers generally
care for all aspects of a person’s health: physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional. Physical ail-
ments are often understood as an outward symptom of a problem with any of these four aspects
of self. This means that healers are not limited to addressing aches and pains, but also provide
teachings and support to address what they understand to be the root of the disease itself.64

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As we heard from Heiltsuk leader Joann Green:
Medicine gathering is such an important part of who we are…. We open our back door
and we have our pharmacy. That’s where we get all of our medicine, you can walk up in
the bush and you can pick … salal berry leaves, those are medicine. You can go up into
the forest and you can get cedar bark, you go in there and you get the hemlock branches
… we’re very rich. We’re very rich.65

Stories like the Seneca story “How the Real People Got Medicine” show that Indigenous women
have long been regarded as experts in this field.66 In this story, Ha-wen-nee-yoh (the Great Spirit)
takes pity on the Ongweh-onh-weh (Real People), who did not know how to heal sickness. He
sends one of his messengers to take the form of a sick old man. He goes door to door, looking
for someone who will take him in, but everyone refuses except one old woman of the Bear Clan,
who “was kind to everyone, and always helped those who came to her in trouble.”67 When she
takes him in, he begins to instruct her on what kind of roots and bark to gather.
The woman did as he asked and she remembered what he had told her to gather for him.
When she returned to her house, the old man told her how to prepare the things which
she had brought, which she did. He said, “This is On-noh-qua-se (medicine)” and told
her what illness it would cure.

The woman asked him to remain with her until he was well enough to travel again, and
he agreed. The old man stayed many moons with the woman and during this time
became ill many times. Each time, the illness was different, and each time the old man
told the woman what to get that would cure the illness and how to prepare it. All these
things the woman remembered.68

At the end of the story, the old man declares that the Bear Clan People will become the healers of
the people in her honour, since she was the only person who would help.
This story is an example of Indigenous women’s historical and contemporary attachment to the
land. Women in most First Nations and Métis societies worked most closely with plants, berries,
and roots. For example, Naskapi men had some plant knowledge, but would acknowledge that
“that knowledge belonged to women, and it was their authority to dispense and apply it.”69

“MÉTIS WOMEN, TOGETHER WITH THEIR SPOUSES, ALWAYS CONSIDERED THE WELL-
BEING OF THE WHOLE COMMUNITY…. A STRONG AND HEALTHY MÉTIS COMMUNITY
WILL ALWAYS HAVE WOMEN IN DECISION-MAKING ROLES.”
Audreen Hourie and Anne Carrière-Acco

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munities and Nations, and actively sought to disempower women through the application of
state-sanctioned violence on a number of different levels. In addition, laying down these impor-
tant roots helps to convey how the structures and processes of colonization, which are often rele-
gated to the past, are very much factors today.

This wooden star blanket is a collaborative community art

piece. It is a mosaic made up of 128 individual tiles, each
one hand-painted by survivors of violence and families of
missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people during a statement-gathering event
in British Columbia. It is a symbol of the importance of
centring the voices of survivors and of families who
shared their truths with the National Inquiry.

This framework also provides insight into how

Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people experience discrimination and violence in
a way that is intersectional. In other words, this means that the structure of oppression, for those
who are targets of violence, includes many factors that influence the outcome of their lives and
those of their families.
We look to the past, and to these intersectional systems of oppression as they were developed,
as a way to look toward how to transform the present and the future, engaging with tools that
promote basic human rights in key areas such as culture, health, security, and justice, within
Indigenous understandings. These understandings are not uniform, and neither are they static.
Instead, they develop in relationship to those rights-bearers – Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people – to whom this report is devoted. The themes we address through a rights
lens are those most represented in the various systems and institutions people reported dealing with,
as well as those systems, institutions, and people perceived to have most contributed to harm.

Commissioner Audette hugs a participant

during hearings in Regina, Saskatchewan.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 He then took his snow knife and strongly hit the bedding skins to scare her. But due to
her [angakkuq] power, Arnatsiaq pushed the blow against him and he went out. In the
morning, someone came to tell her: “The man who tried to scare you with his knife hit
himself and is dead.” It was she who, through her magic power, had caused him to hit
himself…. Arnatsiaq received many gifts, as she healed many a sick person. She was a
powerful [angakkuq].74

The National Inquiry’s testimonies reveal how one of the keys to healing is the requirement to
respect the needs of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people with respect to finding
their own path toward personal and collective health. This can, in turn, influence the whole
community. As Mi’kmaw Elder Miigam’agan shared:
We all know that when, when a mother, when a grandmother, when an auntie, when a
sister is in, in a healthy and a secure setting and that she is not stressful and not in crisis,
we can see immediately the influence and the shift of the children in the house. And the
whole household shifts. So when she is feeling worthy, and that worthiness can only
come from if you have a secure solid cultural foundation and our identity, a positive
identity about ourselves, then we have a sense of self, a sense of pride.75

Women as Providers
Families and survivors told us over and over again about the profound lack of security in their
lives. This includes everything from poverty to food insecurity to personal safety. When they have
advocated for themselves, their families, or their communities, many government authorities,
Indian agents, and sometimes their own band councils or communities have ignored their needs.
In fact, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have long had critical rights and re-
sponsibilities in creating safe communities by contributing to the provision and distribution of
resources, creating social security nets, and through their special connections to water and land.

First Nations women scraping and

stretching deer hide, Northwest
Territories, n.d. Source: Library and
Archives Canada/ Department of the
Interior fonds/a047987.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
In many communities, one of the most important responsibilities related to women is food pro-
duction. Having a full store of food guards communities against hardship, which can come in
many forms: illness, natural disaster, famine. Many Indigenous Peoples clearly understood the
close ties women had to providing for their communities’ socio-economic security. This comes
out strongly in stories where the most important natural resource to that Indigenous society is
conceptualized as female.
For the Tsimshian, the most sacred source of sustenance, both nutritional and spiritual, is
oolichan oil. This is made from the fish that is the first major food source to arrive in the spring,
ending the long and lean winter months – sometimes ending a famine. This sacred oil is
portrayed as a woman in Tsimshian epic narratives.
Giant [Raven] camped at a certain place. He did not know how to cook his olachen. A
woman came to the place where he had camped, and Giant spoke kindly to her, like a
brother to his sister. Her name was Tsowatz. She was the Oil Woman, of dark
complexion. Giant asked her, “Tell me, how shall I cook my olachen?”

[Oil Woman gives him detailed instructions that contain the proper protocol for
respecting the oolichan fish.]

Thus spoke the Oil Woman to Giant, and Giant was glad to receive the instruction of Oil
Woman. He took her gladly to be his sister.76

Raven treats Oil Woman with honour and respect, asking her to be his sister, in recognition of the
great value she brings to the world.
Gathering and preparing food creates wealth for an entire community, and it can be redistributed
as needed to make sure everyone survives. Several stories show that women often extended that
social security net to people others had given up on.77
In stories, these people have usually consistently broken the rules or failed to contribute to the
community. The community moves on to their next seasonal home and leaves the person who
isn’t contributing behind. But a grandmother or another woman will make the decision to leave
that person a last little bit of resources, offering them a way back into the community if they’re
willing to take it. Using these resources, the people left behind are able to survive and learn the
lessons they needed to learn to become a better person. They often then use their new skills to
bring wealth and food to their communities. This shows that the women who shared their re-
sources made the right decision. Not only does this save people’s lives, it makes the whole
community safer, too.
Women and girls also have distinct roles in providing for a community’s security in their rela-
tionships with the natural elements. Some First Nations have conceptualized this responsibility
as seeing women as “water keepers” and “land defenders.” The Métis/Anishinaabe story of the
four spirits of the water illustrates this intimate connection with the source of all life.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 I’ve been told that a long time ago, when water was first here … four beings stepped
forward – and I’m told that they were female – and they’re the ones who said they would
look after the different kinds of water. So one of them said [she] would look after the salt
water, and one of them said [she] would look after the fresh water, and one of them said
[she] would look after the fog, and one of them said [she] would look after the water our
babies grow in. So those are things I really believe in, and that we have to acknowledge
[and] ensure that those beings are honoured and thanked for stepping forward to look
after those four types of water.78

These water keeper roles may be formal or informal, but they are essential. Some women are
responsible for ceremonies on and with water.79 Others speak in front of the United Nations on
the rights of water, and its living spirit, which we need to protect.80 Water is life – nothing can
exist without it.
These stories of women as water keepers and land defenders are not universal to all Indigenous
societies, but women from all Indigenous communities have filled these roles. For example, there
are many Inuit women who have fought tirelessly for the land and water in Inuit Nunangat.
Prominent examples include activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier’s work on persistent organic pollutants
and climate change, leader Mary Simon’s protests of the militarization of Inuit Nunangat, organ-
izer Joan Scottie’s community organizing against uranium mining in Nunavut, and land protector
Beatrice Hunter’s resistance to the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project.
At their heart, women’s roles and responsibilities and related rights as providers are based on the
principle of reciprocity. Indigenous women who hunt, snare, fish, and prepare the food for their
families do so in a spirit of close relationship with these animals, who have given themselves up
to feed people. In return, women treat their bones, hides, and other remains with utmost respect.
In turn, within a community, women help govern the redistribution of resources to make sure
everyone has enough. You never know when you or your family will be in need. Protecting the
land and water is part of being in respectful relationship with them, but it also recognizes that our
fates are bound up together, and Indigenous women in particular can suffer when these relation-
ships are harmed.

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Women as Protectors
The final set of roles we will look at relates to Indigenous women’s and gender-diverse people’s
responsibilities as protectors. In stories about these roles, women survive very difficult experi-
ences of violence themselves, and they fight for their families and communities, even at great
personal risk.
Stories show that even the people perceived as the “weakest,” or with the odds stacked highest
against them, can succeed.
In the Nlaka’pamux (Interior Salish) story “Elk,” Elk kidnaps a woman, while she bathes in a
river, to become his wife. But she is too smart for him, cleverly tricking him into giving her the
clothes and moccasins she needs to escape.
After a while the girl felt cold, and said to herself, “I shall perish of cold.” Elk knew her
thoughts, and said, “Here are some clothes: put them on.” … Soon she said to herself,
“My feet are cold” and the Elk gave her moccasins to put on. After running fast a day
and a night, Elk began to slacken his pace.

Now the woman said to herself, “I will leave him.” So she broke off fir-branches as they
passed along through the trees. These she placed on Elk’s head, between his antlers.
When she had thus disposed of a sufficient number of branches, she caught hold of the
limb of a tree as they passed underneath, and swung herself up. Elk passed on, thinking
that the girl was still there, for he felt the weight of the fir-branches between his antlers.81

She uses her wits to escape her pursuer several more times, before finally getting back home.
Other stories show women and gender-diverse people going to great lengths to protect others. In
the Haida story “The One They Hand Along,” a young woman is kidnapped by the killer whale
chief and taken to his home at the bottom of the ocean. Multiple members of her family go to
rescue her. Before they leave, her two brothers, one of whom is a prepubescent boy, marry two
female supernatural beings so that the beings can help them. These are Mouse Woman and a
woman who is likely the mythical Xaalajaat, or Copper Woman.82
There are many aspects of Copper Woman’s gendered presentation that support understanding her
as a Two-Spirit, or gender-diverse, woman: she wears her hair short and wears copper armour, a tra-
ditional male dress. She is also described as someone who likes to do things “backwards.” And, of
the two brothers, she allies herself with the brother who is still too young to be properly married.
While Mouse Woman takes charge at first, and leads the girl’s family to the chief’s house with the
help of a supernatural needle, it is Copper Woman who turns the tide at the critical moment.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
When the family confronts the headman’s family under the sea, they begin to cower and lose faith.
Hwuuuuuuuuuuuu!
The house quivered, they say,
and the earth shook.
Together they all shied away.
No one looked upward.

But the youngest son’s wife raised her head

As the rest of them cowered, they say.
She looked to the rear of the house,
And she looked to the door.

“Raise yourselves up!

Have you no power?”
Those were her words.

The house quivered again,

And the earth shook.

Hwuuuuuuuuuuuu!
And again those in the house lowered their heads.…

As she lifted her chin,

Something powerful came to her,
And their heads rose like the tide.
“A powerful woman you are.”83

Copper Woman’s biggest gift to them was not a weapon, an item, or even secret knowledge. The
gift she gave them was to remind them of the power they had all along. Like the inevitable return
of the tide, their courage returned as well, and they were able to successfully negotiate their
daughter’s return.
Many Indigenous women continue to fill the role of protectors today. Gitxsan researcher
Dr. Cindy Blackstock’s advocacy for the rights of Indigenous children, Inuit leader and activist
Rosemary Kuptana’s work to end the sexual abuse of Inuit children, and Métis scholar Emma
LaRocque’s activism to fight violence against Indigenous women are all examples of
Indigenous women’s work as protectors.

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 Dr. Cindy Blackstock testifies at the National Inquiry’s
hearing on child welfare in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Existing Systems of Relationship, Governance, and Identity

Women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s disappearances or violent deaths have ripple ef-
fects that throw entire communities out of balance, and into further danger. This also takes away
some of the people who are fighting hardest for change. Restoring the balance, in these kinds of
encounters, means seeing the right to justice of women, girls, 2SLGBTQQIA people, and their
loved ones as a fundamental right.
The examples shared are stories connected to the violence that women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people face today through the process of colonization, but are connected also to the strength of
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. As Michele G. shared:
I’m facing a powerful tribe – another powerful tribe, and a vibrant culture with tradi-
tional institutions that are still intact, and I feel like it hits me like a wave. I feel like I
shed tears and say, okay, Creator I’ve got it, I know what it’s like to be an Indian because
you just – these Nations are so beautiful and amazing.84

These stories are rooted in experience. Prior to colonization, the teachings, rights, roles, and
responsibilities associated with culture, health, safety, and justice were also lived in a practical
sense. As Val Napoleon shared in her testimony, “I do believe and it is my opinion that the
foundational undermining of Indigenous legal traditions is connected to the undermining of
Indigenous Peoples’ humanity, and that is the bedrock of any genocide.”85

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
While all Indigenous Peoples had unique and dynamic traditions that changed over time, in many
groups, women maintained the right to live free from violence, or had recourse to justice. Their
power and place were seen in the leadership of their communities, as articulations of their rights
as Indigenous women and as human beings, living in community.
Scholar Paula Gunn Allen has pointed out, “Although our traditions are as diverse as the tribes
who practice and live within them, they are all earth-based and wilderness centered; all are …
concerned with sacred or non-political power.”86 In this section, we explore principles position-
ing women and 2SLGBTQQIA people as people of value, power, and place in their families and
in communities. We engage in this work as a way to show that the principles in the context of
Indigenous and human rights existed prior to the onset of devastating colonial processes. Kim
Anderson asserts:
We should be aware that every Indigenous society had a sense of a woman’s power and
position within the community…. It is also important to know that life was certainly not
always good for all Native women. Yet what we shared was a common sense of power, a
power that was not part of the European woman’s experience.87

The general principles outlined in the following section are not meant to romanticize or to fix
First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in time or space. They are, however, a reflection of the need to
focus on the lessons from the past – on establishing how communities were organized, and how
women within them lived, governed, and protected themselves. In combination with traditional
stories, these histories encourage us to consider how those principles might relate to the safety of
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in the present, within the context of rights.
Influence of Women on Lands and Economies
Kim Anderson has pointed out in her work that First Nations, from time immemorial, were land-
based peoples, whose relationships with other people, and with the land, structured the common
values that formed important principles for living. On the lands Jacques Cartier claimed for
France, many distinct First Nations were already living in societies. Their origin stories tell of
their existence on their lands since time immemorial, a history that was quickly discounted by
the explorers who came. Europeans colonized First Nations through interference in existing sys-
tems of land use and stewardship, and in trying to sever First Nations’ connection to the land.
As was explained in the previous section, some creation stories emphasize that the first human
being placed on the land was either a woman or a non-gendered person. However, many concrete
manifestations of the idea of the first human – living on the land since time immemorial – existed
in many First Nations. Because of this, understanding the principles of relationships between vari-
ous First Nations and the lands upon which they lived is an important part of understanding the
basis of rights rooted in both collectivity and individuality. In other words, women living on
the lands upon which their ancestors had lived had rights as a result of the relationship of their
people with the land, as well as a result of their individual relationship with the land as women
and gender-diverse people.

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The Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba pointed out, “When Europeans came to the Americas
they were considered outsiders…. Elders have told us that, in the eyes of the Creator, the Euro-
peans as outsiders could not enjoy the same rights as the original inhabitants.”88 For many First
Nations, land represented a mother figure. As professor and lawyer Aimée Craft has explained in
her study of Treaty 1, the view of the land as mother was also a part of the traditional governance
structure of many communities, a structure that included women. In her study, she points to an
Anishinaabe understanding of “Mother Earth – and Earth as a Mother.”89 Craft, as quoted in an in-
terview on Treaties and traditional governance, says this leads “to the understanding of the ability
we have to share in the bounty of Earth, but not make decisions for the Earth and not to sell the
Earth – but to live in relationship with it.”90 The responsibility for her care and stewardship fell to
the Nations already living on the land, with important implications for the roles of women.
On a concrete level, the time women spend gathering berries, digging for clams, setting traps,
and gathering medicines gives them a different knowledge of the land from that of men. They
were and are also deeply connected to the land: pollution and chemicals impact women’s repro-
ductive abilities and rates of breastfeeding. Because they are also the most closely connected to
caregiving for the most vulnerable populations (children and elderly people), they are the early
warning system when something in the water or the land is threatened.91
In addition, although men and women had their own areas of work, this did not necessarily pre-
vent them from working in each other’s domain. Many First Nations women hunted, trapped,
and harvested, as well as performed the labour to turn these raw materials into things that were
necessary to community life, as did Inuit and Métis women.92 Knowledge of each other’s roles,
for any gender, had important implications. As has been pointed out, “this knowledge allowed
each gender to have respect for the work that was typically done by the other.”93
Women’s participation in economic labour and in land-based labour had important impacts on
the influence of women in community life. In many First Nations societies, women were farmers
– among the Hurons and Haudenosaunee especially – and were responsible for the distribution of
food. Sto:lo writer Lee Maracle explains, “Goods coming into the village belonged to the
women. It was determined what was essential to the survival of the nation, and then the excess
was handed over to the men, to engage in trade.”94 In Plains societies, because women made the
tipis, the physical home and its contents belonged to them. If there was a separation or divorce in
the family, the former husband acknowledged this by taking only his hunting gear with him.95

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to fight for change. While their stories demonstrate the importance of understanding the ways
that geography, culture, tradition, and many other factors must be accounted for in devising
meaningful recommendations and community-led change, the stories of those who shared their
truths also gave voice to one shared teaching over and over again: in order to understand the
causes of violence and to make the changes necessary to ending violence, we must recognize the
power and responsibility of relationships.
In the words of Expert Witness Sandra Montour, a Mohawk woman and executive director
of Ganohkwasra Family Assault Support Services, where she has worked for over 30 years in
providing support to Indigenous women and their families experiencing violence:
[We] hav[e] to build relationships, and we have to because our livelihood depends on it.
Our livelihood depends on it and the lives of our women in our community depend on it,
so we have to be incredible fighters, we have to be incredibly diplomatic, we have to be
able to problem solve and develop relationships.4

“WE ARE THE LEGACY. DESPITE THE TRAUMA OUR COMMUNITIES CONTINUE TO LIVE
THROUGH, WE ARE CAPABLE OF ADDRESSING THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN OUR
COMMUNITIES. THE SOLUTION IS WITHIN US – WITHIN OUR COMMUNITIES.”

Mavis Windsor

In the following pages, we follow these two important teachings. We centre the voices of First
Nations, Métis, and Inuit families, survivors, and others whose truths contain wisdom and guid-
ance on ending violence that has been ignored or actively silenced for far too long; and, as we
listen to this wisdom and guidance, we focus specifically on those teachings about how, through
relationships, we can come to understand the underlying causes of violence and identify and
implement the steps that must be taken to end violence.
We all have an opportunity to transform relationships that continue to harm Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, but this work is not easy, and it is especially difficult for those
like Mavis, Sandra, and the many other strong Indigenous people we will hear from in the fol-
lowing pages who work to create change within relationships that continually deny their agency
and rights.
As Marilyn W., a First Nations woman who shared her story about losing her sister to violence,
observed:
Each and every one of us as individual people, every morning we wake up, we have a
choice that we could bring light into this world or we can feed that – that darkness that
we have to live with every day. And I’m trying, and it’s real hard not to sit here and be
angry. It’s really hard not to have hate in my heart because my culture is about equality
and love. This is about the genocide of our people. This just isn’t about Indigenous
women. This is a spiritual battle.5

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Influence of Women on Structures of Governance
As the previous section demonstrated, many Indigenous stories show mothers and caregivers as
the first leaders, who shape a people’s identity as a Nation is born. Many Indigenous societies
replicate those kinship principles in their governance structures: just as motherhood is a leader-
ship role, leaders may take on mothering roles.101 Colonization’s interference in governance
directly challenged the quality of the encounters that leaders foster with and between people
from those based on respectful role modelling and persuasion (as in an Indigenous kinship rela-
tionship) to those based on enforceable authority (as in a more formal, structured hierarchy).
By way of example, First Nations in western Canada structured the Treaty encounters through a
kinship relationship with Queen Victoria. This also made the arriving European settlers their
brothers and sisters – the “red children” and “white children,” to be treated equally by their
shared “Great Mother across the Salt Sea.”102 Another example is in the Haida language. In
Haida, the root word for “chief” or “headman” literally translates as “town mother.”103 In highly
decentralized Inuit governance, the connections to family, extended family, and community were
and remain very important to group identities.104 Kinship ties (both biological and non-biologi-
cal, through customary adoption and naming traditions) were and still are important to creating a
broader identity within a particular region.
In many communities, the role of women in decision making was not only related to their posi-
tion as mothers or as relatives. As Anderson explains, “Native women were not traditionally
excluded from decision making, as has been the case for women in western politics.”105 While
some of this inclusion was in the spirit of respect for all members of the community as well as
being tied to kinship principles, women’s roles in relation to land and to property – to community
wellness overall – also predisposed them to leadership and to making decisions in the best inter-
est of all. Many who testified shared their own stories of women’s leadership in their communi-
ties, as well.
As we heard from Joann Green, who testified as part of the Heiltsuk Women’s Community
Perspectives Panel,
“Women are known to be the backbone of the community and play a large role in
Heiltsuk leadership…. The omux are a society of women of high standing in the
community who give advice to our Humas, our Chiefs. Their advice centres on
maintaining the unity and well-being of the community, including advice on justice,
family, and cultural practices.”106

Joseph Tanner, a white man adopted into an Anishinaabe family in the 1800s, said that his
adoptive mother, Net-no-kwa, was a “principal chief” of the Ottawas.

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 Everything belonged to Net-no-kwa, and she had direction in all affairs of any
moment…. I have never met with an Indian, either man or woman, who had so much
authority as Net-no-kwa. She could accomplish whatever she pleased, either with the
traders or the Indians; probably in some measure, because she never attempted to do any
thing which was not right and just.107

Some communities also had male and female chiefs, some of whom were hereditary. In Kim
Anderson’s interviews with 12 modern-day female chiefs, half of them explicitly tied their expe-
rience of being mothers to the experience of being chiefs. Chief Veronica Waboose, of Long Lac
#58 First Nation, said, “It’s like looking after your kids; you want them to be better and that’s the
way I think a lot of the women chiefs feel about the community members. Although they’re not
their kids, they’re definitely looking to them for good leadership, to take them in a good
direction.”108
Even in communities with no direct or formal authority exercised by women, women were able
to influence decision making through their relationships and relative influence. Within an Inuit
camp, for example, there was usually an isumataq. This “camp boss” was often a middle-aged
man who made decisions about when and where to hunt, travel, and move camps. At the same
time, women then had authority over many aspects of camp life, and Elders of all genders were
important advisors who were consulted before major decisions were made.109
Of course, early First Nations dealt with community and gendered violence – as in any society.
No discussion about the principles of respect and connection can ignore the idea that, in every
time and place, members of society are targeted for harm, either individual or collective. But
violence, as many writers explain, was subject to strong taboos. For example, there are historical
accounts of Plateau women punishing rapists in various ways. In one case, a man was handed
over to a group of women who physically molested and humiliated him, before expelling him
from the community.110 Within some Plains communities, including Cree Nations, women could
leave their partners if they were ever beaten, and the man could never again marry, because his
assault on one woman was an assault on all. That person could also be banished or expelled.111
While traditions vary, what they have in common is that the strict level of social control exer-
cised by women through governance within their own communities meant that redress – and
justice – could be found.
As this brief examination has demonstrated, the principles undergirding the inclusion of women
in leadership and decision making foundationally are respect for her insight, role, and knowledge.
While not all communities had formal positions for women, women contributed to governance in
other ways, as well. Colonization sought to displace women from these roles and, in time, served
to silence their leadership through the transformation of community structures, attitudes, and
mechanisms for decision making, primarily through the Indian Act, the history of which is dis-
cussed in greater detail in Chapter 4. As this chapter will demonstrate, the silencing of women
through various colonial measures is a contributor to the lack of safety and justice today.

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Centrality of Women in Culture
Kim Anderson asserts, “Western culture has typically not promoted, documented, or explored the
culture(s) of its women.”112 On the other hand, First Nations cultures have generally contextual-
ized the existence of women in important and foundational ways. These cultural practices are
manifest in languages, in ceremony, and in the understanding of women as beings of power and
of place, who are instrumental to the literal and figurative lifeblood of their communities and
families. These practices, beliefs, and ways of being were fundamentally misunderstood or delib-
erately ignored within the context of colonization, which sought to erase and eradicate the power
of women and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
In many First Nations, creation was often understood within the context of childbirth. Birthing
traditions varied across Nations. Some Nations would, for example, bury the child’s placenta
as a way to keep the child’s spirit connected to Mother Earth. As Ininiw Elder Sarah Garrioch has
explained, youth should have “great respect for this gift of childbearing. I realize that it is our
responsibility as grandmothers to teach our young women about this thing. That is what my
grandmother used to tell me. That was what I was told. And today it is our turn to tell these to
our young women.”113

First Nations women with a baby in a cradleboard, Flying Post, Ontario, 1906.
Source: Library and Archives Canada/National Photography collection/a059608.

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Prior to the interference of missionaries and, later, the state, many Indigenous women – both
First Nations and Inuit – acted as midwives. The critical encounters involved in birth – between
mother and child, and among the mother, child, and the midwife who guided the journey – were
key to setting up a child’s life in a secure, loving, and connected way. This role was focused on
many aspects of holistic health, for which women were responsible. As Janet Smylie, quoting
Cheryllee Bourgeois, explained:
Indigenous midwifery is not just about providing pre-natal care and attending births.
Historically and currently, it’s about medicines to treat sick children, counselling people,
including counselling people who were fighting. So, midwives in Métis communities
were important interveners when we did have family violence. And, [they were] teachers
of culture through storytelling. And, actually, not only did they attend birth, they also
attended death and prepared bodies after death.114

As Pauktuutit, a national organization representing Inuit women, has documented, “Traditional

childbirth practices were intrinsic to the Inuit way of life and crucial to maintaining the social
fabric of Inuit communities.”115 The participation of Inuit women, and other members of the fam-
ily including grandparents, helped to bond the family unit, and the importance of the midwife,
particularly in remote communities, can’t be overstated. In addition, the respect due to the person
who had helped in the birth itself translated into practices later on – for instance, in the gifting of
the child’s “first piece of sewing or the first animal hunted” to the midwife. The centralization of
colonization, documented in further detail in Chapter 4, specifically threatened these important
practices, and Inuit midwives could be threatened with legal action if they continued to practise.
Women’s connection to life and to Earth was manifest in other ways, as well. Specifically, both
First Nations and, later, Métis women were often involved in the protocol and ceremony neces-
sary to show respect for the animals being hunted, both before and after the hunt. For both First
Nations and Métis, this knowledge was grounded in the traditions of their First Nations mothers
and grandmothers, as well as, in the case of the Métis, in how these traditions were manifest
within particular communities and geographies. Without this protocol, it was believed, the ani-
mals would refuse to allow themselves to be given to people for their food. Inuit women also
held a special connection to the animals; for example, Iñupiat women in Alaska would carry out
certain ceremonies to show the whales respect before and after the men went out to hunt them.116
Many Métis communities owed their existence to strong networks of female kinship, which en-
couraged people to live near their maternal relations. These were connections of which Métis, in-
cluding leaders such as Charles Nolin and Louis Riel, were accurately aware. Apparent divisions
within the community – Protestant vs. Catholic, French vs. English – were, in fact, overcome by
bounds of a “web of blood relationships” that united the community around women and their
Indigenous practices. Métis have always made sense of their place in the world through their kin
connections – what has been called wahkohtowin. At the heart of these webs of relationships
were the women and girls who helped to establish strong and vibrant communities grounded in
their Indigenous knowledge and traditions.117

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Women within Inuit societies also engaged in important and foundational cultural practices.
Lighting the qulliq (oil lamp) is an example of an important Inuit women’s ceremony. Although
it also serves the practical purposes of heating the igluvijaq (snow house), drying clothes, and
cooking food, Inuk Elder Sarah Anala explained at our Knowledge Keeper panel in Moncton that
“[Lighting the qulliq is] more a spiritual illumination that we pursue, and peace and harmony and
balance amongst all of us.”118 In addition, throat singing – the most complex human vocalization
on earth – is a game or competition between Inuit women. As Becky Kilabuk, who throat-sang
for the National Inquiry in Iqaluit, says, “You challenge each other. It keeps you sharp. It keeps
you alive.”119 It is also a different learning opportunity: because throat singing was almost lost,
more young people are now learning and teaching it to their parents and Elders in return.

Annie Bowkett tends the qulliq in Winnipeg,

Manitoba.

The link among cultural teachings, identity, and resilience was fractured through the process of
colonization – but not broken. The fact that ceremonies, teachings, and languages do survive
today is a testament to those women, those cultural carriers who, along with male, female, and
gender-diverse Elders, continue to carry the ancestors as a potential path forward toward healing
and safety.

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 My life really alters at [Uncle V.]. He’s been my rock, you know. He sat at a table one
day. At my Auntie [R.]’s funeral, we were all sitting out in the back of my Uncle [L.]’s
house and we’re around the table and I was clean and sober. I was five years. And he
looked at me, and he says, “Do you want to know why your mother was the way she was
with you? Do you want to know why your mother was the way your mother was, no
feeling, cold? Because she was raped by the priests.” I couldn’t understand that, but I
could understand why she was the way she was, why she drank, she – the way she drank.
Why I used and drank the way I used, it’s because of systemic abuse, generational abuse,
the government trying to change who we are.12

In sharing these significant moments in relationships important to them, Anni and Darlene
offered teachings on ways of engaging in relationships that had a profound impact on their own
healing journey from violence. In the following pages, we include similar accounts of specific
moments within relationships that families and survivors pointed to as important teachings about
what healing relationships can look like, and how a single conversation or action may be a pow-
erful opportunity to shape the terms of a relationship in a good way. These teachings provide
models upon which many of our Calls for Justice are based.

Commissioner Eyolfson shares a hug with

Charlotte Wolfrey in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Unfortunately, the encounters that many family members described during the National Inquiry
show that the responsibility to shape a relationship has been used to harm, rather than to honour,
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Most often, when families, supporters, and
survivors drew attention to specific interactions within relationships that they saw as holding dis-
tinct significance for understanding violence in their own or their loved ones’ lives, they pointed
to moments that, in their view, made violence more likely to happen. In many cases, these mo-
ments took place during a first encounter with someone to whom they or their loved one had
turned for support.

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Similarly, with reference to Algonquian societies, Kim Anderson writes that after menopause,
older Algonquian women were considered “both genders” and could enter into men’s spaces.126
In some First Nations, gender bending was a way to ensure the survival of the clan, because it
helped to address population imbalances between women and men, particularly in smaller com-
munities. For instance, if there weren’t enough hunters, a woman or girl could take on that work,
or vice versa, where men could take on the work traditionally done by women.
In Inuit societies, the division between genders was blurred by the role of names, as well as prac-
tically by the role a person took on. When an Inuk is born, they are usually given the atiq (name)
of a deceased member of the community. The atiq, however, is more than just a name. The con-
cept bears some similarities to the western concept of “soul.” Through the atiq, the child inherits
tastes, personality, and social relationships from the deceased person. People will usually refer to
the child with their kinship terms they used for the deceased. Naming in Inuit culture is therefore
a form of reincarnation, whereby deceased members of the community “come back” in the child
who is given their name.127
This relationship between names and identity could have implications for gender. Boys named
after deceased women were initially raised as girls, while girls named after deceased men were
initially treated as boys. This gender fluidity included being dressed in clothing and learning skills
that were appropriate for the gender of their name, rather than their biological sex. At the onset of
puberty, their clothing and labour would be realigned to be consistent with their biological sex.128
In whatever way Indigenous people understood their gender and sexuality, gender-diverse
ancestors and people living today have valuable perspectives to share. As McNeil-Seymour
shared, “As we know, culture isn’t static and it is constantly in motion, so we have to also evolve
with that.… I feel like us Two-Spirit people are here to bring back balance and to be the go-
betweens in all of those traditional roles and identities that we have.”129 McLeod similarly
affirms: “And so for a Two-Spirit people, we come to that circle with our understanding of
those teachings and our contribution. And so when we’re present, it means the whole circle is
complete.”130 For some witnesses, the importance of completing this circle means that
2SLGBTQQIA people need to be welcomed once again into ceremony, to try to share more of
these teachings with communities or community members who have been taught to reject gender
fluidity through colonization and Christianity. This circle includes transgender people, to bring
attention to the cases of violence that can be ignored when they are excluded.

“INSTEAD OF SAYING, ‘WHAT ARE THE TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES?’ AS IF THEY

ALWAYS HAVE TO BE THAT WAY AND ALWAYS WERE UNCHANGING IN THE PAST,
WE LOOK AT HOW DO OUR UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT GENDER AND SEXUALITY
TODAY SHAPE THE WAY THAT WE WORK WITH LAW AND SHAPE OUR LEGAL
INTERPRETATIONS?”
Val Napoleon

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As a whole, the process of colonization fundamentally tried to alter women’s and 2SLGBTQQIA
people’s identities and roles in their communities. Identity, as supported through language, story-
telling, ceremony, and connection, underwent assault from all sides through the processes of
colonization, including relocation, residential schools, and adoption, as well as the broader
processes of isolating Indigenous people and restricting access to traditional territories, as will be
explored in Chapter 4. The power and place accorded to women by virtue of their being women
– a “recognition of being,” to borrow the title of Kim Anderson’s book – were challenged by
encounters with colonizers who had little interest in according any privilege or protection to
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

Conclusion: Finding Solutions through New Relationships

This chapter has outlined the principles of respect, reciprocity, and interconnectedness that are
foundational to many systems of Indigenous law and that represent an important way of under-
standing various rights, as articulated in Indigenous terms. These roles, responsibilities, and
related rights aren’t meant to trap Indigenous women, girls, or 2SLGBTQQIA people in any pre-
scribed form of identity. As Val Napoleon shared, in her testimony before the National Inquiry,
“Instead of saying, ‘What are the traditional gender roles?’ as if they always have to be that way
and always were unchanging in the past, we look at how do our understandings about gender and
sexuality today shape the way that we work with law and shape our legal interpretations?”131

Young Inuk woman carrying an infant

in her amauti, ca. 1947-1948.
Source: Library and Archives Canada/
Richard Harrington fonds/a147049
Credit: Richard Harrington.

And, as Dawnis Kennedy expressed, “You know, I think that if women were taking up their role,
we wouldn’t be worried about protecting women. We’d just be watching the women do their
work protecting life.”132
Specifically, we hope to highlight a combination of stories and histories that demonstrate power
and place for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as represented in the National
Inquiry’s own testimony and in the diverse landscape of Indigenous ways of knowing. Val
Napoleon asserts:

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 Indigenous law hasn’t gone anywhere in Canada. And it exists in the ways that people
are trying to work in their communities, but that it’s been undermined, and that the work
before us all is to rebuild it, and that there are structured critical ways that we can do
that, and that we have to put in the time and the mental work as well as emotional and
spiritual work to do that, so that we don’t idealize Indigenous law and so that it is
capable of dealing with the realities that our communities are living with. Some of those
communities are very dangerous places for women and girls.133

As we have illustrated, a fundamental element of safety rests in understanding the roles, respon-
sibilities, and inherent rights conveyed by women and for women in their own terms. The Indige-
nous laws and human rights that contribute to the safety of Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people vary from group to group, but are represented in land, stories, ceremony,
and world views that emphasize the importance of relationships among people and between peo-
ple and their environments. These roles, responsibilities, and rights were both collective and indi-
vidual. Professor Brenda Gunn explains, “When I think about collective governance in many
Indigenous communities, how I understand it, it was never sacrificing individual identity or
being or rights for the collective.… But, it was how the collective was responsible for protecting
the individuals, and how the individual contributed and was part of the collective.”134
As an Inquiry, we have operated on the premise that our women and girls are sacred, and that, in
their absence, it is not only family members, but entire communities and Nations, who are placed
at further risk and who lose irreplaceable pieces of themselves. This sacred dimension isn’t oth-
erworldly, or ungrounded. Rather, as our testimony shows, women as teachers, leaders, healers,
providers and protectors were and remain indispensable parts of the equation to generating solu-
tions for the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. As Audrey Siegl, a
member of the National Inquiry’s team, shared:
For our women … for our young women, for our grandmothers, for our women who
travel with us, who guide us, who love us, who share strength to do this heartbreaking
work … we are sacred because we exist. We are sacred because we have survived. We
survived when many did not. We watch our women die every day here in Canada. I don’t
know when safety, peace and justice are going to come for us. Just know that we love
you and that we are doing our best to honour and represent our women and our
experiences. We are doing this hard and ugly and necessary work so others don’t have
to … so they don’t have to carry so much.
And, where we leave off with this work now, inevitably, some are going to have to pick
it up and carry it on. I hope that it’s easier for them. I hope that it’s lighter for them.135

Respect, reciprocity, and interconnectedness – these principles can hold the keys toward under-
standing what was threatened through colonial encounters, and the transformational power for
harm, or for health, of each and every person, process, and institution involved in the crisis of
missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

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In explaining why she chose to testify before the Inquiry, Dawnis Kennedy notes the contempo-
rary importance of Indigenous law:
It is those who consider themselves the most powerful in modern society that also need
our law, our Onaakonigewin, our knowledge about life and how to live a good life in
harmony with each other and with all of our relations, not just humanity, with all our
relatives: the plants, the animals, the stars, the birds, the fish, the winds, the spirit; our
mother, the earth; our grandmother, the moon; our grandfather, the sun; all of our
relatives in the universe. That is what our law teaches us, how to live life in relationship
and how to ensure the continuation of life into the future seven generations ahead.136

In the historical Cree story “Gift of the Old Wives,” the old women of a community must stay
behind and die at their enemies’ hands to keep the rest of their community safe. Before the chief
eventually accepts this gift, he says, “But who will teach our children and our children’s chil-
dren? ... Without your wisdom, how will our young people learn the Cree ways?”137
Stories are medicine.138 As writers and scholars Leanne Simpson and Kiera Ladner explain,
grandmothers and aunties tell us stories and keep us alive: “Warmth in our hearts and warmth in
our bellies.”139 Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have stories of strength and
resilience. They continue to pass on these teachings, by example or by story. They represent an
irreplaceable facet of being part of, and of building, communities and Nations. Stories can also
help us, as a society, find our way “home”140 – and in doing so, create safer spaces and places for
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

“FOR OUR YOUNG WOMEN, FOR OUR GRANDMOTHERS, FOR OUR WOMEN WHO TRAVEL
WITH US, WHO GUIDE US, WHO LOVE US, WHO SHARE STRENGTH TO DO THIS HEART-
BREAKING WORK … WE ARE SACRED BECAUSE WE EXIST. WE ARE SACRED BECAUSE WE
HAVE SURVIVED. WE SURVIVED WHEN MANY DID NOT. WE WATCH OUR WOMEN DIE
EVERY DAY HERE IN CANADA. I DON’T KNOW WHEN SAFETY, PEACE AND JUSTICE ARE
GOING TO COME FOR US. JUST KNOW THAT WE LOVE YOU AND THAT WE ARE DOING
OUR BEST TO HONOUR AND REPRESENT OUR WOMEN AND OUR EXPERIENCES.”

Audrey Siegl

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Notes
1 As cited in Monture, “Women’s Words,” 46; as 18 Sandra Omik (Inuit, Pond Inlet), Part 2, Public
appearing in Grant, Our Bit of Truth, 15. Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB, p. 118.
2 Tuma Young (L’nu, Malagawatch First Nation), Part 3, 19 Snyder, Napoleon, and Borrows, “Gender and
Public Volume 1, Winnipeg, MB, p. 201. Violence,” 596–97, and 610.
3 Dr. Janet Smylie (Cree/Métis), Mixed Parts 2 & 3, 20 Elder Kunuk Muckpalook (Inuit), Part 3, Public
Public Volume 2, Iqaluit, NU, p. 117. Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB, p. 120.
4 Dawnis Kennedy (Minnawaanigogiizhigok) 21 Sandra Omik (Inuit, Pond Inlet), Part 3, Public
(Anishinaabe), Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB, Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB.
p. 191.
22 Dr. Hadley Friedland, Part 3, Public Volume 1,
5 Dr. Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation, Gitxsan), Winnipeg, MB, p. 79.
Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB, pp. 49-50.
23 Dawnis Kennedy (Minnawaanigogiizhigok)
6 Tuma Young (L’nu, Malagawatch First Nation), Part 3, (Anishinaabe), Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB,
Public Volume 1, Winnipeg, MB, p. 148. p. 174.
7 Dr. Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation, Gitxsan), 24 Dr. Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation and Gitxsan),
Part 3, Public Volume 1, Winnipeg, MB, p. 87. Part 3, Public Volume 1, Winnipeg, MB, pp. 70-71.
8 Snyder, Napoleon, and Borrows, “Gender and 25 Dr. Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation and Gitxsan),
Violence,” 596. Part 3, Public Volume 1, Winnipeg, MB, p. 112.
9 Kulchyski, Aboriginal Rights. 26 Translation ours. Jean Leclair, Part 3, Public Volume 6,
Quebec City, QC, p. 218.
10 Dawnis Kennedy (Minnawaanigogiizhigok)
(Anishinaabe), Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB, 27 Dawnis Kennedy (Minnawaanigogiizhigok)
p. 200. (Anishinaabe), Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB,
p. 170.
11 Dawnis Kennedy (Minnawaanigogiizhigok)
(Anishinaabe), Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB, 28 For examples, see Law Society of Canada, ed.,
pp. 190-191. Indigenous Legal Traditions; Napoleon, “Thinking
About Indigenous Legal Orders”; and Borrows,
12 Tuma Young (L’nu, Malagawatch First Nation), Part 3,
“Eliminating Pre and Post-Contact Distinctions.”
Public Volume 1, Winnipeg, MB, p. 157.
29 Dawnis Kennedy (Minnawaanigogiizhigok)
13 Translation ours. Jean Leclair, Part 3, Public Volume 6,
(Anishinaabe), Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB,
Quebec City, QC, p. 175.
p. 184.
14 Dawnis Kennedy (Minnawaanigogiizhigok)
30 Cruikshank, Life Lived Like a Story.
(Anishinaabe), Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB,
p. 174. 31 Whiteduck, “But It’s Our Story.”
15 Dr. Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation and Gitxsan), 32 Napoleon and Friedland, “An Inside Job.”
Part 3, Public Volume 1, Winnipeg, MB, p. 95. See also
33 Dr. Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation and Gitxsan),
Borrows, Canada's Indigenous Constitution.
Part 3, Public Volume 1, Winnipeg, MB, p. 81.
16 Dr. Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation and Gitxsan),
34 Napoleon and Friedland, “An Inside Job,” 738.
Part 3, Public Volume 1, Winnipeg, MB, p. 80.
35 LaRocque, cited in Anderson, A Recognition of Being,
17 Sandra Omik (Inuit, Pond Inlet), Part 3, Public
36–37.
Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB, p. 116.
36 Anderson, A Recognition of Being, 37.

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37 Many stories have been passed down orally for 49 Métis people who are of Anishinaabe or Cree origin
generations, while others have been recorded. The may also demonstrate some adoption of these belief
recording of these stories, especially historically, was systems, though many Métis are also strongly affiliated
often done by colonial European, often male, with the Catholic or Protestant churches. See Chantal
ethnographers who summarized stories or offered Fiola, Rekindling the Sacred Fire. Many Inuit would
interpretations according to their own world views. also hold largely Christian views of creation due to the
Even just reading stories in English loses the nuance history of their transition to Christianity in the late 19th
encoded in the original languages they are told in, and century, but more recent ethnographies argue that Inuit
many stories and teachings are either fractured or lost. incorporated ideas from Christianity into a broader
For this reason, we have prioritized stories told by Inuit cosmological framework. See Brody, The Other
Indigenous women and gender-diverse people them- Side of Eden and Oosten, Laugrand, and Remie,
selves, in as close a translation as possible. It also “Perceptions of Decline.”
wasn’t possible to look at Indigenous women’s roles
50 Horn-Miller, “Distortion and Healing.”
and responsibilities Nation by Nation in the space we
have, so we have chosen instead to draw broader 51 Anderson, “New Life Stirring,” p. 13.
conclusions and demonstrate with examples from
52 Horn-Miller, “Distortion and Healing.”
different Indigenous societies. These stories are not
intended to represent a pan-Indigenous set of beliefs, 53 Christopher, Flaherty, and McDermott, Unikkaaqtuat.
but to offer insight into some of the important prin-
54 Ibid., 42–43.
ciples they convey, which may vary from Nation to
Nation, and from community to community. 55 Laugrand and Oosten, The Sea Woman. See also
Bennett and Rowley, Uqalurait.
38 Snyder, Napoleon, and Borrows, “Gender and
Violence,” 612. 56 Dawnis Kennedy (Minnawaanigogiizhigok)
(Anishinaabe), Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB,
39 Eva P. (Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation), Part 1, Public
pp. 188-189.
Volume 31, Saskatoon, SK, p. 23.
57 There are also the Algonquian stories of the Woman
40 Toni C. (Cree), Part 1, Statement Volume 425, Onion
Who Built the First Sweatlodge and of the Grand-
Lake, SK, p. 7.
mother of Sacred Pipes; the Haida story of Cumulus
41 Ann M. R. (Kaska Dena), Part 1, Public Volume 3, Cloud Woman, who spreads tobacco seeds across Haida
Whitehorse, YT, p. 39. Gwaii, the medicine woman who calls to Sister Cedar
and makes cedar every woman’s sister; and the
42 Fay Blaney (Xwémalhkwu of the Coast Salish), Part 3,
Tsimshian tell the story of the woman who gave men
Public Volume 5, Quebec City, QC, pp. 334-335.
Devil’s Club, a very important ceremonial herb.
43 Ann M. R. (Kaska Dena), Part 1, Public Volume 3,
58 Dooling, The Sons of the Wind; Hazen-Hammond,
Whitehorse, YT, p. 38.
Spider Woman’s Web.
44 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
59 Barkwell, Dorion, and Hourie, Metis Legacy II, 35.
September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 66-67.
60 Ibid., 38.
45 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 46. 61 Donna Adams et al., Inuit Leadership and Governance,
43.
46 Translation ours. Interview with Pénélope Guay,
September 30, 2018, by Annie Bergeron, p. 22. 62 Barkwell, Dorion, and Hourie, Metis Legacy II, 58–59.
47 Rhonda M. (Anishinaabe), Part 1, Public Volume 7, 63 Trudy S. (Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation), Part 1,
Smithers, BC, p. 26. Public Volume 95, Vancouver, BC, p. 23.
48 Grace T. (Eagle Clan, Tsimshian), Part 1, Public 64 Lee, “Defining Traditional Healing.”
Volume 118, Vancouver, BC, p. 18.
65 Joann Green (Heiltsuk), Part 1, Public Volume 90,
Vancouver, BC, pp. 66-67.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
66 Ha-yen-doh-nees, Seneca Indian Stories. 92 Kermoal and Altamirano-Jiménez, Living on the Land;
Anderson, Life Stages and Native Women; Bennett and
67 Ibid., 58.
Rowley, Uqalurait.
68 Ibid., 58–59.
93 Anderson, A Recognition of Being, 59.
69 Lévesque, Geoffroy, and Polèse, “Naskapi Women,”
94 Ibid., 61.
79.
95 Brafford and Thom, Dancing Colors; Anderson, Life
70 Jeffrey McNeil-Seymour (Tk’emlups te
Stages and Native Women.
Secwepemc/English), Mixed Parts 2 & 3, Public
Volume 3, Iqaluit, NU, p. 225. 96 Joan Scottie, in Arnait Nipingit, 119.
71 Albert McLeod (Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation/Métis 97 Anderson, Life Stages and Native Women; Cruikshank,
community of Norway House), Part 3, Public Volume Life Lived Like a Story.
8, Toronto, ON, p. 51.
98 Blackman and Davidson, During My Time.
72 Bennett and Rowley, Uqalurait. See also Aupilaarjuk
99 Turnbaugh and Turnbaugh, Basket Tales.
et al, Cosmology and Shamanism.
100 Wight, “Women and Art in Salluit”; Graburn, Eskimos
73 Koperqualuk, “Puvirniturmiut Religious and Political
Without Igloos; Roberts, The Inuit Artists of Sugluk.
Dynamics.”
101 Anderson, “Leading by Action.”
74 Bennett and Rowley, Uqalurait, 180.
102 Carter, “Your Great Mother”; Miller, “Victoria’s ‘Red
75 Elder Miigam’agan (Mi’kmaq), Part 1, Public Volume
Children.’”
44(a), Moncton, NB, p. 126.
103 Bringhurst, A Story as Sharp.
76 Boas and Tate, Tsimshian Mythology, 66.
104 Amy Hudson (Inuit, NunatuKavut), Part 3, Public
77 For an example, see the “Story of Kuxka’in” in Teit,
Volume 9, Toronto, ON, p. 151.
The Shuswap.
105 Anderson, A Recognition of Being, 65.
78 Szack, “Keepers of the Water,” 69.
106 Joann Green (Heiltsuk), Part 1, Public Volume 90,
79 Szack, “Keepers of the Water.”
Vancouver, BC, p. 18.
80 Johnson, “13-year-old.”
107 Cited in Morris, “Gifted Woman,” 76.
81 Teit, Mythology of the Thompson Indians, 363.
108 Anderson, “Leading by Action,” 113.
82 Bringhurst, A Story as Sharp.
109 Bennett and Rowley, Uqalurait.
83 Ibid., 93–94.
110 Anderson, A Recognition of Being, 95.
84 Michele G. (Musqueam), Part 1, Public Volume 84,
111 For more on Plains marriage traditions, see Carter, The
Vancouver, BC, p. 79.
Importance of Being Monogamous.
85 Dr. Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation and Gitxsan),
112 Anderson, A Recognition of Being, 30.
Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB, pp. 97-98.
113 Pratt, Bone, and the Treaty and Dakota Elders of
86 Allen, The Sacred Hoop, 78.
Manitoba, with contributions by the AMC Council of
87 Anderson, A Recognition of Being, 57. Elders, Untuwe Pi Kin He, 104.
88 AJI, “Chapter 5: Aboriginal and Treaty Rights.” 114 Dr. Janet Smylie (Cree/Métis), Mixed Parts 2 & 3,
Public Volume 2, Iqaluit, NU, p. 160.
89 As interviewed by Wiebe, “The Role of Indigenous
Women.” See also Aimée Craft, Breathing Life into the 115 Pauktuutit, “Midwifery.”
Stone Fort Treaty.
116 Bodenhorn, “I’m Not the Great Hunter.”
90 Ibid.
117 Macdougall, One of the Family. See also Macdougall,
91 Szack, “Keepers of the Water.” “The Myth of Metis Cultural Ambivalence.”

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
118 Elder Sarah Anala (Inuit, Labrador), Part 1, Public 130 Albert McLeod (Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation/Métis
Volume 44(a), Moncton, NB, p. 2. community of Norway House), Part 3, Public Volume
8, Toronto, ON, p. 89.
119 Becky Kilabuk (Inuit, Pangnirtung), Mixed Parts 2 & 3,
Public Volume 4, Iqaluit, NU, p. 241. 131 Dr. Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation and Gitxsan),
Part 3, Public Volume 1, Winnipeg, MB, p. 110.
120 Albert McLeod (Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation/Métis
community of Norway House), Part 3, Public Volume 132 Dawnis Kennedy (Minnawaanigogiizhigok)
8, Toronto, ON, p. 57. (Anishinaabe), Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB,
p. 189.
121 Anderson, A Recognition of Being, 89.
133 Dr. Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation and Gitxsan),
121 Morris, “Gifted Woman.”
Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB, p. 32.
123 Boas, The Social Organization.
134 Brenda Gunn (Métis), Part 3, Public Volume 6, Quebec
124 Jeffrey McNeil-Seymour (Tk’emlups te City, QC, p. 71.
Secwepemc/English), Mixed Parts 2 & 3, Volume 4,
135 Interview with Bernie Williams and Audrey Siegl,
Iqaluit, NU, p. 170.
September 30, 2018, by Kelsey Hutton, p. 81.
125 Armstrong and Cardinal, The Native Creative Process,
136 Dawnis Kennedy (Minnawaanigogiizhigok)
102.
(Anishinaabe), Part 3, Public Volume 2, Winnipeg, MB,
126 Anderson, Life Stages and Native Women. pp. 169-170.

127 Brody, The Other Side of Eden. 137 Walsh, Beginnings, 26.

128 Trott, “The Gender of the Bear.” 138 Anderson, Life Stages of Native Women.

129 Jeffrey McNeil-Seymour (Tk’emlups te 139 Simpson and Ladner, This Is an Honour Song, 8.
Secwepemc/English), Mixed Parts 2 & 3, Public
140 Whiteduck, “But It’s Our Story.”
Volume 4, Iqaluit, NU, pp. 189, 193.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Michelle S.
“The one I looked up to”
When Michelle first went missing, the newspapers didn’t even use her name. Her family came to the National
Inquiry to tell us about the strong, loving, driven person Michelle really was.

“My daughter, Michelle, she was 24 when she went “My oldest sister, Michelle, it’s hard to put into words
missing and she was a beautiful child. Like, from what she was and what she meant to my family
when she was a baby, she was just always smiling. and I. She was intelligent, caring, persistent, resilient,
And then when she got used to being a big sister, she beautiful, kind, and extremely soft-hearted. She was
just – she loved Dani to pieces and same with Tony. also so much more than that.
She was like the second mom when I wasn’t there,
you know…. She was my second mother. She was the one who
gave me haircuts, the one who made me dinner
She deserved better, you know. And you can’t ques- when I was hungry, the one who I looked up to, the
tion fate. I know that. I guess I’m just – I’m here also one who made my birthday special, the one who
just to remind [you] my daughter wasn’t just a work- loved and looked after me when no one else was
ing girl…. She was loved, you know. She has a lot of around to. She loved butterflies and the Little Mer-
people that still cry for her, you know.”I maid. She wanted to be a stylist. She wanted to be
somebody.
– Mona S., mother to Michelle S.
From the National Inquiry’s Around my 10th birthday my mother succumbed to
Community Hearing in Metro Vancouver,
April 6, 2018. the pull of addiction once more. She was not around
much during this time and it was up to Michelle to
take care of me. She did the best she could. She did a
fantastic job…. Michelle [S.] was my sister. I miss her
every day.”II

– Anthony S., brother to Michelle S.

From the National Inquiry’s Community
Hearing in Metro Vancouver,
April 6, 2018.

I Mona S. (Wuikinuxv Nation), Part 1, Public Volume 98, Metro Vancouver, BC, pp. 7-8.
II Anthony S. (Wuikinuxv Nation), Part 1, Public Volume 98, Metro Vancouver, BC, pp. 38 and 40.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 CHAPTER 3

Emphasizing Accountability through

Human Rights Tools
Introduction: Why Human Rights?
Indigenous stories and histories from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit lay out the principles of
respect, reciprocity, and interconnectedness that are key to using principles of Indigenous law, as
articulated by various groups, as a way to begin to decolonize Western-based notions of rights.
This project also begins to dismantle some of the physical or ideological structures that have led
to the promotion of violence against Indigenous Peoples generally, and Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people specifically.
We heard, in the context of these relationships, how the basic rights of Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people suffer from human rights abuses that manifest in the lack of services
or poor quality of services received, and in the lack of protection available to Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. We also heard of the urgent need for basic tools for accounta-
bility that will keep governments from perpetuating this crisis for many more generations.
Canada is signatory to a variety of human and Indigenous rights instruments, which represent
standards it has agreed to uphold. As Expert Witness Timothy Argetsinger, executive political
advisor with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), explained:
The human rights framework approach is important, linking Canada’s solemn
commitments and obligations to various human rights instruments, which implicate a
number of obligations related to some of the basic needs … such as housing, [the] right
to food, safety, and then the larger issue of violence against women and girls and how
gaps or failure to act on those obligations create vulnerability.1

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
In describing encounters that led to violence, almost all of the witnesses described a surrounding
context marked by the multigenerational and intergenerational trauma of colonial violence. This
trauma was inflicted through the loss of land, forced relocations, residential schools, and the
Sixties Scoop, and ultimately set the stage for further violence, including the ongoing crises of
over-incarceration and of child apprehension, along with systemic poverty and other critical
factors.
Witness Carol B. shared her perspective about the impact of intergenerational trauma on her
relationship with herself and others: “The intergenerational trauma brought on by the residential
schools has really impacted our families in a negative way. How can you possibly learn to love
and value yourself when you’re told consistently — daily, that you’re of no value. And that we
need to take the Indian out of you. How could you value or love yourself?”36
As Bombay pointed out,
After generations of children … experienced … this residential school context, children
went back to their community with neither traditional skills nor access to dominant
group resources. Victims and perpetrators were sent back to the same communities, and
the effects of trauma and altered social norms also contributed to these ongoing cycles
that were catalyzed in residential schools.37

As the National Inquiry listened to the voices of the sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, sisters,
brothers, parents, and grandparents who have lost loved ones, it became clear that the crisis of
missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGLBTQQIA people is yet another way
in which the historic and collective trauma of Indigenous Peoples continues. In her testimony,
Eva P. described the trauma she carries following the disappearance of her older sister:
You know, I’ve been going to counselling for the past two years. I’ve been seeing two
different therapists. I go through my ups and downs. I isolated myself for six months
after Misty went missing. I almost – I almost died. It’s tough. And, I can’t even imagine,
like, this is a … Canada-wide issue, and there’s more people. Like, there’s a lot of people
in my situation.38

“THE INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA BROUGHT ON BY THE RESIDENTIAL

SCHOOLS HAS REALLY IMPACTED OUR FAMILIES IN A NEGATIVE WAY. HOW CAN
YOU POSSIBLY LEARN TO LOVE AND VALUE YOURSELF WHEN YOU’RE TOLD
CONSISTENTLY — DAILY, THAT YOU’RE OF NO VALUE. AND THAT WE NEED TO
TAKE THE INDIAN OUT OF YOU. HOW COULD YOU VALUE OR LOVE YOURSELF?”

Carol B.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Anti-violence scholar Andrea Smith points out that human rights can work for the process of
decolonizing. She explains, “I contend that while the ultimate goal of Indigenous liberation is
decolonization rather than human rights protection, the human rights framework can potentially
be used as part of a strategy for decolonization.”8 Decolonization using human rights instruments
can work to increase safety for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, if those
instruments are understood in relation to the basic principles articulated in the previous chapter:
respect, reciprocity, and interconnectedness.
This chapter will, first, outline the contributions of a human rights approach, followed by a brief
examination of many of the key international instruments that may serve to promote safety and
justice for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. This chapter will then explore
domestic rights instruments in Canada and principles established through the courts, before ex-
amining instances in which human and Indigenous rights approaches are conflicting. Ultimately,
this chapter will argue that reconciling the need to respect individual and collective rights, as
well as the unique needs of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in a variety of
distinct Indigenous contexts, means respecting the urgent need for self-determined solutions as
conceived, driven, and understood by those who are most targeted.

The International Human Rights Context

In Canada, there exists a robust international human rights framework that deals with rights for
all citizens, including Indigenous Peoples.9 This section will focus on the international human
rights instruments to which Canada has publicly committed in its protection of rights, and will
include discussions of both human and Indigenous rights. These rights can help to ensure ac-
countability in improving outcomes for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit within the context of
missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
Throughout the testimony, the National Inquiry heard from witnesses who argued that contempo-
rary human and Indigenous rights instruments can play a role in the discussion on the rights
guaranteed in the areas of culture, health, security, and justice through the promotion of new
policies and principles, and the genuine commitment of all levels of government to addressing
the problem of violence and the violation of basic human rights, not only in words, but in
actions. These instruments are also public commitments, which can be useful standards for
assessing state action, or inaction, in key areas linked to promoting safety.

“WE WANT A WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE REST OF SOCIETY. THIS IS OUR
LAND. WE WANT TO HAVE A GOOD WORKING RELATIONSHIP. WE WELCOMED
EVERYBODY IN. AND WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO US? OUR YOUNG MOTHERS ARE
GOING MISSING. OUR YOUNG MOTHERS ARE BEING MURDERED AT AN
ASTRONOMICAL RATE, MORE THAN ANY OTHER RACE IN THIS COUNTRY.”

Gladys R.

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Hard and Soft Law: Assessing the Scope of Protections through
International Human Rights
International human rights instruments are treaties and other international documents relevant to
international human rights law and the protection of human rights in general. They can be classi-
fied into two categories: declarations, adopted by bodies such as the United Nations General
Assembly, which are considered “soft law” and are not strictly legally binding; and conventions,
covenants, or international treaties, which are “hard law,” legally binding instruments concluded
under international law.
Many of these instruments contain what are considered to be dual freedoms: they provide free-
dom from the state, when it doesn’t respect human rights; and freedom through the state, in the
state’s ability to protect or promote these rights. For example, the right to adequate housing cov-
ers a right to be free from forced evictions carried out by state agents (freedom from the state),
as well as a right to receive assistance to access adequate housing in certain situations (freedom
through the state). While they are important pieces of the human rights framework, declarations
don’t have binding power to compel states to respect the principles contained within them.
In terms of making sure that states meet their obligations, there does exist a variety of different
mechanisms that can be called upon to assess where countries stand. The Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights manages a variety of different human rights monitoring mecha-
nisms in the United Nations (UN) system, including UN Charter-based bodies as well as bodies
created under the international human rights treaties and made up of independent experts whose
job it is to monitor how countries are complying with their obligations under the various
covenants and treaties.
Charter bodies within the system include the Human Rights Council, which meets every year and
is composed of 47 elected nation-states who are members of the UN. The council is tasked with
preventing human rights abuses, as well as inequity and discrimination, and working to expose
those who are committing the abuses. In addition, Special Procedures bodies also fall under the
UN’s Charter-based bodies, and are often theme-specific or specific to human rights issues in a
particular country. Special Procedures bodies are composed of volunteer experts, and include
Special Rapporteurs or expert working groups who can examine, monitor, advise, and publicly
report on human rights issues. The Universal Periodic Review is a Charter-based process involv-
ing a review of human rights records for all UN member states, where each state explains what it
did to improve human rights issues in its own country. The Human Rights Council Complaints
Procedure addresses communications submitted by individuals, by groups, or by non-govern-
mental organizations who report being the targets of human rights violations.
In addition to its Charter-based bodies, the UN also has treaty bodies that monitor the implemen-
tation of core international human rights treaties and are made up of independent experts. Most
conventions establish mechanisms to oversee their implementation, and to allow individuals or
groups to take the state to an international complaints body, in order to enforce them. In some

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
cases, these mechanisms have relatively little power, and are often ignored by member states;
in other cases, these mechanisms have great political and legal authority, and their decisions are
almost always implemented. These mechanisms include human rights treaty bodies that monitor
implementation of core treaties. They include:
• Human Rights Committee (HRC)
• Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
• Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
• Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
• Committee Against Torture (CAT)
• Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW)10
• Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED)
In addition to these, there are other United Nations bodies working on the promotion and protec-
tion of human rights, including the General Assembly itself, the Third Committee of the General
Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and the International Court of Justice.11 In addition,
the United Nations’ partners and agencies promote and protect human rights, working with the
other human rights bodies listed in this section. These other agencies and partners include:
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
• Inter-Agency Internal Displacement Division (IDD)
• International Labour Organization (ILO)
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
• Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)
• Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
• Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
• Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women
(OSAGI)
• Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW)

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 • United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
• United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
(UN-Women)
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
• United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
• United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS)

International Covenants
Canada has ratified seven core international human rights instruments that are considered to be
enforceable as covenants or conventions. These are relevant to the crisis of missing and mur-
dered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Each instrument has established a
committee of experts to monitor implementation of its provisions by its States Parties, and
Canada and other signatory states are required to report periodically on the fulfillment of their
obligations under each.
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(ICERD) of 1966 was one of the first human rights treaties to be adopted by the United Nations.
It formally took effect in 1969. Under the ICERD, racial discrimination is where a person or a
group is treated differently from other people or groups because of their race, colour, descent, na-
tional origin, or ethnic origin, and this treatment impairs, or is intended to impair, their human
rights and fundamental freedoms. For example, an act is racially discriminatory if a person is de-
nied a service or employment because of their race or ethnicity, or when a law or policy impacts
unfairly on a particular racial or ethnic group. The convention permits distinctions between citi-
zens and non-citizens, but not between different groups of non-citizens. It asserts that all human
rights in political, economic, social, cultural, and other fields of public life are to be ensured to
everyone without racial discrimination.
The convention indicates that there is one type of act, called a “special measure,” that is not con-
sidered to be discriminatory even though it involves treating specific racial, ethnic, or national
peoples or individuals differently. Special measures are programs that aim to ensure the adequate
advancement of certain racial groups who require support to be able to enjoy their human rights
and fundamental freedoms in full equality. Special measures aren’t only allowed by the conven-
tion; they’re required when needed for all groups to be able to enjoy their rights.

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This message is woven within our approach to analyzing the encounters and relationships that
are significant to understanding violence: encounters not only teach us about the causes of
violence, they also show us how Indigenous women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s
Indigenous and human rights are either protected or denied.
As we will develop throughout the Final Report, positioning our discussion of these encounters
and their root causes in relation to the inherent Indigenous and human rights we will explore re-
veals significant historical and ongoing rights violations in four areas: the right to culture, the
right to health, the right to security, and the right to justice. These themes are prominent ones
within both human and Indigenous rights contexts, and affirm the importance of addressing the
crisis of violence. They are not presented in order of priority or of importance: in fact, what our
testimony demonstrates is the interconnectedness of all of these ideas and priorities, and the need
to look at these as interdependent and indivisible.
For each of these four areas of rights violations, we consider both international human rights-
based and Indigenous-based understandings of the rights of women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people. These rights encompass the full range of socio-economic and political rights that signifi-
cant and meaningful change requires. When we talk about culture, we are also talking about all
of the necessary tools, supports, and resources required to enable the full realization of these
rights – including social, economic, and political rights. These rights areas are also necessarily
broad because of the great diversity of Indigenous Peoples who shared their truths concerning
the need for basic rights in addition to specific supports in key areas like education, housing,
standard of living, and health services. Indigenous Peoples have their own understandings of
rights based on their own laws, traditional knowledge systems, and world views, which are often
expressed through stories. These rights are not determined by international agreements, Canadian
legislation, or Supreme Court rulings. These are expressions of Indigenous women’s, girls’and
2SLGBTQQIA people’s proper power and place.
At the same time, a variety of human rights instruments dealing with these themes can offer a
tool for accountability and decolonization, if the solutions are placed within the context of the
four root causes of violence: intergenerational trauma through colonization, marginalization, lack
of institutional will, and the failure to recognize the expertise and capacity of Indigenous women
themselves.
While we will look in depth at what family members’ and survivors’ testimonies reveal about
each of these rights in later chapters, here we will provide a brief overview of how looking at
encounters and the relationships they engender, in relation to human rights, Indigenous rights,
and Indigenous laws and ways of knowing as expressed through stories, offers a new and power-
ful way to address the historic, ongoing, and current root causes that lead to violence against
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people today.

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Right to Culture
Cultural rights are inseparable from human rights, as recognized in the 2001 UNESCO United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Declaration on Cultural Diversity,
as well as from Indigenous rights, as articulated in various instruments including, most recently,
the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). They are also
inseparable from the social and political rights necessary to their full enjoyment.

A young jingle dress dancer dances for those in

attendance in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is the
cousin of Nicole Ashley Daniels, an MMIW family
member. Used with permission from the family.

Generally, the right to culture and identity can

be defined as the right to access, participate in,
and enjoy one’s culture. This includes the
right of individuals and communities to know,
understand, visit, make use of, maintain,
exchange, and develop cultural heritage and
cultural expressions, as well as to benefit from
the cultural heritage and cultural expressions of
others. It also includes the right to participate
in the identification, interpretation, and devel-
opment of cultural heritage, as well as in the design and implementation of policies and programs
that keep that culture and identity safe. Other human rights, such as the right to freedom of
expression, the right to information, and the right to education, are also key to fully realizing
cultural rights. As the testimonies reveal, the right to culture and identity relates directly to the
crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people through the
separation of families, the historical and contemporary realities of assimilationist and genocidal
colonial policies, and the lack of culturally appropriate services in healing, justice, and other
areas that continues to put Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people at risk. Racism,
along with the attempted disruption of culture, promotes violence against Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

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In its preamble, the convention explicitly acknowledges that “extensive discrimination against
women continues to exist,” and emphasizes that such discrimination “violates the principles of
equality of rights and respect for human dignity.” The convention defines discrimination against
women as
any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or
purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women,
irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human
rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any
other field.

In other words, it supports the idea of women as individual rights holders and as legal agents. It
directs States Parties to take any action necessary, including implementing legislation and legal
protections, for women to allow them to enjoy all of their rights.
Overall, the convention deals with civil rights and the legal status of women, as well as reproduc-
tive rights. It looks to affirm the rights of women as apart from the rights of men, understanding
the history of the way in which women’s rights have often been tied to that of their husband or
partner. The convention also insists that women’s role in having children shouldn’t be the basis
for ongoing discrimination or exclusion. Finally, the convention deals with how some interpreta-
tions of traditional culture can serve to limit women’s rights, and how men have an important
role to play in equality.
This convention has important implications for Indigenous women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people’s intersectional experiences of discrimination and oppression. As Crystal F. shared:
Indigenous people, and in particular women, battle social misconceptions, stigma,
stereotypes, violence, in Canada, just for being an Indigenous woman. Indigenous
women and girls … are the carriers of life and teachings meant to be passed on to the
next generation, and this pivotal role has been nearly destroyed by the colonial actions of
Canada … and the continued active disengagement of this country at many levels.16

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) entered into force on September 2, 1990.
Parties to the UNCRC have committed to respecting the civil, political, economic, social, and
cultural rights of children, regardless of origin, ethnicity, religion, or ability. In some ways,
the UNCRC is a combination of the ICESCR and the ICCPR, along with the UDHR, oriented
towards the protection of children. The UNCRC celebrates the family as an important unit for
ensuring that the rights of children are respected and protected, and for ensuring healthy commu-
nities and societies. Its 54 articles place a duty on governments to meet children’s basic needs
and help them reach their full potential.

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As we will examine more closely in the next chapter, most Indigenous societies place cultural
knowledge at the heart of Indigenous world views. Within our framework, women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people’s right to culture and identity connects to their roles and responsibilities
as leaders and teachers within communities. Traditional stories from Nations across Canada
show us that women and 2SLGBTQQIA people have leadership and teaching roles as those
who pass on culture and identity to their people. They help strengthen and maintain collective
identity. This role is placed in jeopardy in many instances, as we heard much about how
contemporary child welfare practices, for example, directly work against this important task,
whereas understanding one’s culture can directly contribute to safety.
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have the inherent right to their own culture
and identity, and to foster culture and identity within their families and communities through the
full implementation of economic, social, and political rights that can help protect these practices
and this knowledge.
Right to Health
When rights to culture and identity are in jeopardy, the right to health is also under threat. We
define “health” as a holistic state of well-being, which includes mental, emotional, physical, and
spiritual well-being, particularly within Indigenous world views. In this way, health is not simply
an absence of illness or disability.
The right to health is linked to other fundamental human rights, such as access to clean water and
adequate infrastructure in communities. On a more general level, however, the right to health
speaks to preventing harm to others, to protecting the health of children and families, and to
fostering mental health. We recognize that an absence of services, or a lack of culturally appro-
priate services in communities, as well as other factors linked to health place women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people in vulnerable situations where they become targeted for violence.
For many groups, Indigenous understandings of women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s
right to health are based on their roles, responsibilities, and related rights as healers. Stories
show us that women and gender-diverse people have critical responsibilities in creating healthier
communities. As healers and medicine people, they have specific expertise in addressing physical,
mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. This includes addressing their own unique needs as
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and bringing much-needed perspectives to keep
communities healthy and whole.
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have the inherent right to their own health
and well-being, and the right to use their expertise, and the tools necessary for health, to con-
tribute to the health and well-being of their families and communities, within the full spectrum
of human rights in the areas of health.

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Right to Security
Many encounters we heard about concerned the basic right to security. We understand the right to
security as a physical right, as well as a social right.
Physically, the right to security includes the right to life, liberty, and personal safety. This includes
control over one’s own physical and mental health, as well the protection of one’s own psycholog-
ical integrity. In Canada, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects individuals from
grave psychological harm perpetrated by the state. On an international level, in the area of social
security, the right to security means that the state must ensure protective services or social serv-
ice assistance and guarantee the protection of the entire population through essential services
such as health, housing, and access to water, food, employment, livelihood, and education.
Because of its redistributive nature, the right to social security is an important factor in commu-
nity health and harmony and in reducing poverty.
Indigenous women’s, girls’, and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s right to security connects to their roles,
responsibilities, and rights as providers and defenders. Traditional stories show us that Indige-
nous women, girls, and gender-diverse people have critical responsibilities in fostering a safe,
secure community. They do this by providing for themselves and their communities, by protect-
ing the vulnerable, by managing and redistributing resources as necessary, and by being the
keepers and defenders of the water, land, plants, and animals on which we depend.
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have the inherent right to security in their
own lives as well as the right to directly participate in maintaining that security for themselves
and others, within their own understandings and within the full spectrum of economic, social,
and political rights that can contribute to increasing security.
Right to Justice
As many of the testimonies demonstrate, the problematic relationships between Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people and the judicial system are also very significant. Barri-
ers to justice take many forms, including the isolation of victims through inadequate victim serv-
ices, the failure to accommodate language barriers, and the way Indigenous victims are either
portrayed or ignored in the media. Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are also
overpoliced and overincarcerated as potential offenders, yet under-protected as victims of crime.
All of these barriers demonstrate important moments of disconnection between Indigenous
Peoples and the Canadian justice system, between the promises of blind justice that the system is
meant to deliver and the actual functioning of this system. In the upcoming chapters, we will
bring forward transformational encounters Indigenous people have had with the justice system,
as well as ongoing issues with access and institutional constraints that present barriers to justice
for Indigenous Peoples and that threaten the legitimacy of the process for Indigenous communi-
ties.
Indigenous women’s, girls’, and gender-diverse people’s right to justice also connects to their
roles in protecting their communities. Stories show us that they fought to keep themselves and

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others safe from violence. Many women, girls, and gender-diverse people in stories are also sur-
vivors and heroes – those who put themselves in danger to save others.
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have the inherent right to live free from
violence or injustice. If this does not happen, they have the right to have this violence stopped
and condemned, with others’ support as they confront it as needed. These rights exist both in
Indigenous Peoples’ own terms, as well as within the basic human rights framework that exists to
eliminate violence against women in general and Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people in particular.

Promoting and Maintaining Healthy Encounters

All of these themes – along with the encounters that Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people have in the areas of culture, health, safety, and justice – show how
imposed solutions created by governments or agencies that don’t prioritize the knowledge of
Indigenous Peoples don’t work. Rights to culture, health, security, and justice are based
on another foundational right: the right to self-determination. We understand the right to self-
determination in Indigenous terms, in terms specific to Nations, communities, and, most
importantly, to women themselves.
That’s why this report will also address how, embedded within these stories of the encounters
that families and survivors see as significant, are also the strong voices and acts of resilience and
strength – the encounters and relationships leading to healing. In sharing their stories of these
encounters, as well as the broader relationships that are an important part of their identity,
witnesses also reminded the Commissioners of, or provided teachings that assert, the strength,
resistance, creativity, and power of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people even
within a system of relationships that makes every effort to deny them those qualities.
We can return to Carol’s description of her initial encounter with the police to witness this resist-
ance. When faced with the officer’s indifference, Carol, in fact, did not simply walk away, as
the officer may have hoped. Instead, as she stated, “I banged my hand hard on the counter,”
demanding attention. When he continued to ignore her, Carol said, “Once again, I slammed my
hand hard on the desk.” The next day, she returned to the police station with an interpreter, and
went on over the next five years to become a powerful and vocal advocate for the families of
missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Her resistance and strength do not diminish the pain of losing her daughter to violence, or the
anger she expresses at the officer’s refusal to act during that crucial first meeting. However, her
story shared with the National Inquiry does send a powerful message to those who may choose to
act in a similarly dismissive way: relationships in which those in authority or power abuse that
power to silence Indigenous women or prevent them from protecting themselves and their loved
ones from violence will no longer be tolerated. Transforming these relationships will no longer
be left in the hands of those who have for too long done nothing to create change.

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The declaration urges member states of the United Nations to use the powers at their disposal to
combat violence through legislation, as well as to work to provide better services to women who
are victimized, and to prevent violence for the future. In Article 4(k), the DEVAW further directs
states, specifically, to
promote research, collect data and compile statistics … relating to the prevalence of
different forms of violence against women and encourage research on the causes, nature,
seriousness and consequences of violence against women and on the effectiveness of
measures implemented to prevent and redress violence against women.26

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by
the UN General Assembly in 2007, with several notable objectors, including Canada. In 1982,
the Economic and Social Council established the Working Group on Indigenous Populations
with the mandate to develop a set of minimum standards that would protect Indigenous Peoples.
The details of UNDRIP, as it has taken shape in debates within Canada and within the context of
discussions regarding missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, will be addressed in
greater detail further within the chapter. UNDRIP is an important declaration overall. It pro-
claims a historic body of collective rights and human rights of Indigenous Peoples and
individuals that specifically points to the legacies of colonization and dispossession as human
rights issues. Its very first article “asserts the rights of both individuals and collectives to the full
scope of protection for human rights and fundamental freedoms existing in other international
human rights instruments, including international human rights law.”27
The declaration deals largely with the rights of Indigenous Peoples as they relate to culture, reli-
gion, and language, as well as economic, social, and political development and territory. Signifi-
cantly, the declaration promotes the principle of self-determination without necessarily making
comment on the foundation or legitimacy of colonizing nations themselves, who are positioned,
within the declaration, as ensuring their own compliance with upholding these rights.
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA) is a human rights declaration
adopted by consensus at the World Conference on Human Rights on June 25, 1993, in Vienna,
Austria. The creation of the position of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
was a result of this declaration, which reaffirmed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the United Nations Charter. Its preamble states:
The World Conference on Human Rights, considering that the promotion and protection
of human rights is a matter of priority for the international community, and that the
Conference affords a unique opportunity to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the
international human rights system and of the machinery for the protection of human
rights, in order to enhance and thus promote a fuller observance of those rights, in a just
and balanced manner.28

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The VDPA reaffirms human rights as a universal and relevant standard “for all peoples and all
nations.”29 It cites the ICCPR and the ICESCR and particularly relevant instruments to the
achievement of this standard, and calls for increased investment in education about human rights
principles. It cites all human rights as equally important, and makes specific mention of factors
that may represent obstacles to attaining the enjoyment of human rights, including poverty, un-
derdevelopment, and racism. In addition, the VDPA pays special attention to the need to address
gender-based violence and ongoing discrimination. It maintains that this type of violence can be
addressed through “national action and international cooperation in such fields as economic and
social development, education, safe maternity and health care, and social support.”30
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPA) was the result of the 1995 Fourth
World Conference on Women, reaffirming the VDPA’s assertion that the human rights of women
and girls are inalienable, integral, and indivisible as part of the field of universal human rights.
The Beijing Platform emphasizes the commonality of women’s experiences, urging states to be-
come further involved in creating equality around the world. It is described as “an agenda for
women’s empowerment”31 that sets up a necessary partnership for long-term development of
peoples around the world. Its many and broad recommendations deal with key issues such as
poverty, education, health, environment, and women in positions of power and decision making.
Defining and Locating “Indigenous Rights” in Human Rights Law
While many conventions and declarations do relate to the rights of Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people, they don’t necessarily specifically address the particular context of colo-
nialism, its contemporary legacies, and its current form today. The need to address this kind of
legacy is particularly what animated the development of the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). While the declaration has many critics, some also see
it as an instrument of great potential for the future, one that might be grounded in Indigenous
understandings about rights. As Brenda Gunn noted:
The UN Declaration grounds Indigenous Peoples’ inherent human rights in Indigenous
Peoples’ own customs, laws and traditions. And so this instrument makes it really clear
that when we’re talking about international human rights and the rights of Indigenous
Peoples that we need to make specific reference to Indigenous Peoples’ laws.32

For decades, allies and activists have been working on the creation of an instrument devoted to
Indigenous rights. While it is a declaration, not a convention, UNDRIP represents an important
first step in recognizing and addressing the particularities of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and how
they might be protected.
The efforts to draft a specific instrument dealing with the protection of Indigenous Peoples
worldwide date back over several decades.

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In 1982, UN Special Rapporteur of the Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and
Protection of Minorities, José R. Martinez Cobo, released a study about the systemic discrimina-
tion faced by Indigenous Peoples worldwide. His findings were released as the “Study of the
Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Populations.” The UN Economic and Social
Council created the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP), comprised of five
independent experts as well as Indigenous advisors, in order to focus exclusively on Indigenous
issues around the globe. It began to draft a declaration of Indigenous rights in 1985.
The draft declaration was subject to a series of reviews to assure UN member states that it
remained consistent with established human rights, and did not contradict or override them.
UNDRIP deals with many Indigenous rights, a consideration much debated during initial
discussions. Many UN member states worried that accepting UNDRIP as drafted would
undermine their own political autonomy. Of particular concern were the articles affirming
Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination and their right to give or withhold consent to
actions that may impact lands, territories, and natural resources. For countries with resource-rich
economies and running large-scale development projects, in particular, the extent of this right,
and of the protections for it, has generated concern.
However, many Indigenous representatives refused to change the draft, arguing that the docu-
ment simply extended to Indigenous Peoples the rights already guaranteed to colonialists.33 As
human rights lawyer James Sákéj Youngblood Henderson observes, “[Member states] worried
about the implications of Indigenous rights, refusing to acknowledge the privileges they had
appropriated for themselves.”34
The WGIP’s final draft represented a compromise between UN member states and Indigenous
representatives. In 2006, the draft was accepted by the UN Human Rights Council, and on
September 13, 2007, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by a
majority of 144 states in favour, four votes against (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the
United States), and 11 abstentions.35 The four countries who voted against it share very similar
colonial histories and, as a result, shared common concerns. Each nation argued that the level of
autonomy recognized for Indigenous Peoples would undermine their own states, particularly in
the context of land disputes and natural resources. Some governments claimed that UNDRIP
might override existing human rights obligations, even though the document itself explicitly
gives precedence to international human rights.

“THE UN DECLARATION GROUNDS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ INHERENT HUMAN

RIGHTS IN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ OWN CUSTOMS, LAWS AND TRADITIONS. AND
SO THIS INSTRUMENT MAKES IT REALLY CLEAR THAT WHEN WE’RE TALKING
ABOUT INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES THAT WE NEED TO MAKE SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES’ LAWS.”

Brenda Gunn

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In its own refusal, Canada, represented by Chuck Strahl, then the minister of Indian Affairs,
explained the government’s reasoning: “By signing on, you default to this document by saying
that the only rights in play here are the rights of First Nations. And, of course, in Canada, that’s
inconsistent with our Constitution.”36 Strahl further maintained that Canada already respects
Indigenous rights, as laid down in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution,
which, he said, reflects a much more tangible commitment than the “aspirational” UNDRIP.
Indigenous and human rights organizations and activists continued to lobby for Canada to sign
UNDRIP, and in March 2010, Governor General Michaëlle Jean announced that the Canadian
government “will take steps to endorse this aspirational document in a manner fully consistent
with Canada’s Constitution and laws.”37 Although it was progress, this did not represent an
official change in position.
In November 2010, Canada announced it would officially support UNDRIP. While this move
was celebrated by many people as a positive step forward, the continued use of qualifiers in offi-
cial speeches left many others skeptical of Canada’s true commitment. Canada suggested that its
endorsement of UNDRIP would not change Canadian laws: “Although the Declaration is a non-
legally binding document that does not reflect customary international law nor change Canadian
laws, our endorsement gives us the opportunity to reiterate our commitment to continue working
in partnership with Aboriginal peoples in creating a better Canada.”38

Brenda Gunn, Métis professor of law at the University

of Manitoba.

In May 2016, however, Canada formally announced

its full support, and adopted plans to implement it
in accordance to the Canadian Constitution.
The first of UNDRIP’s 46 articles declares that
“Indigenous Peoples have the right to the full
enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all
human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law.”39 Significantly, in
Article 3, UNDRIP also recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination, which
includes the right “to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic,

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social and cultural development.”40 Article 4 affirms Indigenous Peoples’ right “to autonomy or
self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs,” and Article 5 protects their
right “to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural
institutions.”41 Article 26 states that “Indigenous Peoples have the right to the lands, territories
and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired,”42
and it directs states to give legal recognition to these territories.
The declaration also guarantees the rights of Indigenous Peoples to enjoy and practise their
cultures and customs, their religions, and their languages, and to develop and strengthen their
economies and their social and political institutions. It states that Indigenous Peoples have the
right to be free from discrimination, and the right to a nationality.
As it relates to the difficult conditions of economic and social marginalization that many of
our witnesses cited, Article 21 posits that special measures should be taken to improve social
and economic conditions, and that extra attention should be paid to the rights and means of
Indigenous women and youth. Article 22 stresses that measures should be taken to guarantee the
protection of Indigenous women and children against all forms of violence and discrimination.
The declaration does not override the rights of Indigenous Peoples contained in their Treaties and
agreements with individual states, and it commands these states to observe and enforce the
agreements.
Women are referenced specifically in UNDRIP, but in only one clause. However, Brenda Gunn
explains: “I think it’s important to highlight that even though the gender lens isn’t explicitly
included throughout all of the articles, it is one of the interpretive approaches or the framework
that we need to be using when looking at it.”44
Dalee Sambo Dorough adds, regarding the declaration’s inclusion of individual and collective
rights:
That was the most compelling argument, that the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples has to create a balance between individual rights of women,
Indigenous women, and the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples. And, at the end of
the day, that’s the argument that won, and I think that it’s important – it’s an important
moment in history that Indigenous women, based upon all of the experiences that
they’ve had until that moment, compelled them to raise their voices against a pretty
overwhelming and strong argument that we need our collective rights protected.45

Despite its important tenets, UNDRIP remains a declaration with no explicit enforcement
mechanisms, other than those working groups and Rapporteurs devoted, thematically, to the
monitoring of Indigenous rights. For this reason, there have been many critiques of UNDRIP as
a document without any “teeth,” especially when it comes to the estimated 5,000 distinct Indige-
nous communities worldwide and the estimated 375 million people who live in them, each with
their own cultural or religious institutions and forms of self-government, within diverse national
contexts.

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UNDRIP also problematically and foundationally still assumes the sovereignty of the nation-
state. As scholar Duane Champagne points out, the nation-states still define who are Indigenous
Peoples, and the denial of basic rights to identity is a cornerstone of eliminating populations – as
the Canadian experience has demonstrated: “UNDRIP does not address indigenous political, cul-
tural, and territorial claims on a government-to-government or culture-to-culture basis.” 46 Within
the declaration, further, the colonizing state remains the protector and guarantor of Indigenous
rights, a task for which it has not demonstrated its commitment in the past – and, arguably, still
today. As National Inquiry Grandmother Bernie pointed out:
When we did those walks across Canada, we sat one day with the walkers and that. We
went through the [United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples]. It
took us a week to go through it, you know, for our study, little things, you know, at
nighttime and that. We counted 17 violations against our women and children….
Seventeen violations, and yet nothing’s done.47

For these reasons, while UNDRIP is an invitation to participate in more inclusive multicultural
nation-states and improve equality of access to economic opportunities, it should not be regarded
as the “be all, end all” of Indigenous rights.
Despite its limitations, there is potential in the declaration, especially if it were to become
customary international law. Even supporters of the declaration recognize that it is not the end of
the journey towards realizing Indigenous and human rights. As Jean Leclair pointed out at the
Inquiry’s hearing on human rights, “I think that we have to remind people of the importance of
this Declaration, of the need to implement it. It will not produce social reality on its own, but it’s
a great tool and we should not diminish its importance … because that’s very normative too.
These symbols are very powerful and they can bring change.”48

“THAT WAS THE MOST COMPELLING ARGUMENT, THAT THE UN DECLARATION ON

THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES HAS TO CREATE A BALANCE BETWEEN
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS OF WOMEN, INDIGENOUS WOMEN, AND THE COLLECTIVE
RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES. AND, AT THE END OF THE DAY, THAT’S THE
ARGUMENT THAT WON, AND I THINK THAT IT’S IMPORTANT – IT’S AN IMPORTANT
MOMENT IN HISTORY THAT INDIGENOUS WOMEN, BASED UPON ALL OF THE
EXPERIENCES THAT THEY’VE HAD UNTIL THAT MOMENT, COMPELLED THEM TO
RAISE THEIR VOICES AGAINST A PRETTY OVERWHELMING AND STRONG ARGUMENT
THAT WE NEED OUR COLLECTIVE RIGHTS PROTECTED.”

Dalee Sambo Dorough

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 CHAPTER 1
2

Indigenous Recognitions of
Power and Place
Introduction: Women Are the Heart of Their Communities
In the beginning, there was nothing but water, nothing but a wide, wide sea. The only
people in the world were the animals that lived in and on water.

Then down from the sky world a woman fell, a divine person. Two loons flying over the
water happened to look up and see her falling. Quickly they placed themselves beneath
her and joined their bodies to make a cushion for her to rest upon. Thus they saved her
from drowning.

While they held her, they cried with a loud voice to the other animals, asking their help.
Now the cry of the loon can be heard at a great distance over water, and so the other
creatures gathered quickly.

As soon as Great Turtle learned the reason for the call, he stepped forth from the
council.

“Give her to me,” he said to the loons. “Put her on my back. My back is broad.”1

Women are the heart of their Nations and communities.

Through countless testimonies to the National Inquiry, we heard how the absence of women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people has a profound and ongoing impact on communities, and how
their gifts, as shared in distinctive roles and responsibilities, are crucial to community wellness,
to help communities thrive. As a whole, these roles and responsibilities are linked to various
systems of Indigenous laws and rights that flow from them.

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As Dalee Sambo Dorough told the National Inquiry, the Special Rapporteur on Indigenous
Peoples for the United Nations has pointed out that even though the declaration itself is not
legally binding in the same way as a treaty might be, the declaration
reflects legal commitments that are related to the [UN] Charter, other treaty
commitments, and customary international law…. It builds upon the general human
rights obligations of states under the Charter and is grounded in fundamental human
rights principles such as non-discrimination, self-determination, and cultural integrity
that are incorporated into the widely ratified human rights treaties…. To that extent, the
declaration reflects customary international law.50

These obligations are normative, in the sense that they are built by norms generally accepted by
the international community. Normative obligations identified by witnesses for the National
Inquiry included the concepts of universality and inalienability. In other words, all people are
entitled to human rights, and those rights cannot be taken away. In addition, the understanding of
indivisibility, interdependence, and interrelatedness of human rights supports the principles that
human rights must be considered and deployed together to uphold the dignity of people. Of
significance to the issue of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA
people, this means that all rights are interrelated and cannot be considered in isolation. Brenda
Gunn pointed out:
We must look at the totality of human rights and human rights obligations so that we
can’t just look at civil and political rights, or look at economic, social, cultural rights, or
we can’t divorce the issues of the right to housing from the right to participate in public
life; that all of these actually work together.51

She added: “Very rarely is there a state action that violates merely one article of one convention.
The way in which human rights work together, they are so interconnected and to really under-
stand the breadth and the depth of the obligation, you really want to look at them together.”52
Viewing human rights as an indivisible whole also relates to two other important principles: non-
discrimination and substantive equality. Although all people have the same human rights, these
principles make the point that, as Brenda Gunn said, “this doesn’t mean that everyone is treated
the same.”53 International law, including UNDRIP, which Gunn cited in her testimony, makes it
clear that states may have to take special measures to ensure that these rights are realized for
every person, including Indigenous people. As Saskatchewan’s Advocate for Children and Youth
Corey O’Soup testified on the issue of health and educational supports, “We’ve been so far be-
hind for so long that we need special measures in order to bring us just to the level of non-In-
digenous kids in our provinces, in our country as well, you know.”54 International human rights

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law also includes the need for participation and inclusion of Indigenous people in decision-
making processes, though it does not define the extent of the right, necessarily, which has
allowed states to try to circumvent this by saying that Indigenous Peoples’ interests or rights
are not engaged within an issue.

Due to the shortage of houses in

many First Nations communities,
often inadequate structures like this
are being used as homes. Pictured is
a structure being used as a home in
Attawapiskat, Ontario. Photo courtesy
of MCC (Mennonite Central
Committee) by Lyndsay Mollins Koene.
No copyright infringement intended.

Perhaps one of the strongest features of a human rights-based approach, as Brenda Gunn sees it,
is that it takes these basic issues, related to safety, out of the realm of policy and into the realm of
law. As she explained, using housing as an example:
This isn’t just a policy issue that can be prioritized or not prioritized in any sort of
budget, that every person has a right to an adequate house which includes a safe house,
not being afraid of being evicted, that it’s sort of adequate in condition, but also in the
security of tenure to that placement.55

This approach places Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people as rights holders, to
whom Canada and other governments have obligations. While these rights may be articulated in
services, the fact that they are rights places an onus on governments to look at these
issues as beyond the level of simple policy making. Human rights instruments, Gunn argues,
provide the ability to create a list of obligations that Canada is required to fulfill, and to detail
the ways in which it has failed to act, or acted improperly, in fulfilling those obligations.56

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“WE MUST LOOK AT THE TOTALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
OBLIGATIONS SO THAT WE CAN’T JUST LOOK AT CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS,
OR LOOK AT ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, CULTURAL RIGHTS, OR WE CAN’T DIVORCE THE
ISSUES OF THE RIGHT TO HOUSING FROM THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN PUBLIC
LIFE; THAT ALL OF THESE ACTUALLY WORK TOGETHER.”

Brenda Gunn

Domestic Rights Instruments in Canada

The Canadian Human Rights Act
One of the ways that Canada has moved to adopt these rights in Canada is through the Canadian
Human Rights Act. The Act is the product of translating some of these international instruments
into domestic law. After the Second World War, the importance of introducing explicit human
rights instruments, brought to light with the atrocities of the Holocaust, became evident. Follow-
ing the formation of the United Nations in 1945 and the creation of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights in 1948, many countries started to look at what kind of legislation, at a domestic
level, could be put in place to uphold the principles of this declaration.
The federal government didn’t lead the way, at least in Canada. Ontario passed the first legisla-
tion dedicated to anti-discrimination in 1944, and Saskatchewan followed with its own bill on
civil rights in 1947. Notably, the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights Act protected civil liberties such as
free speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom of association, and due process,
while also prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, religion, and national origin. Over a
decade later, federal legislators enacted the Canadian Bill of Rights in 1960, which applied to the
federal government and which protected freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and equality
rights, among others. This was a limited piece of legislation: it didn’t apply to private industry
or to provincial governments, and never became an important tool for the protection of human
rights in Canada.57
During the same period, provinces also worked on strengthening their own human rights instru-
ments. In 1962, Ontario passed the Human Rights Code as a consolidation of other laws, as well
as created the Ontario Human Rights Commission with the mandate to prevent human rights
abuses and to educate the public about human rights across the province. As the Canadian
Human Rights Commission explains:
“In the years that followed, other jurisdictions across the country introduced similar
pieces of legislation. This cross-Canada development coincided with the growing
prominence of social movements, which sought to advance issues such as racial
justice and women’s rights at home and abroad.”58

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In 1977 and within the context of the United Nations member states’ acceptance of both the
ICCPR and ICESCR, Parliament passed the Canadian Human Rights Act. The Act applies only
to people who work for or receive services from the federal government, to First Nations, and to
federally regulated private companies.
As the history of the issue shows, each province and territory in Canada has its own human rights
legislation that applies to provincially and territorially related services and areas of jurisdiction,
like schools, hospitals, or employment. This can be confusing. While the federal government has
responsibility for “Indians, and lands reserved for Indians”59 under section 91(24) of the Cana-
dian Constitution, many of the service areas where Indigenous people told us they faced violence
or discrimination were actually areas of service provided by provinces or territories, but funded
by the federal government.
The Canadian Human Rights Act prohibited discrimination on the basis of recognized grounds
of discrimination such as race, religion, and national origin, but also broke some new ground,
including standards regarding sex, ethnic origin, age, marital status, physical disability, and par-
doned conviction. The Canadian Human Rights Act also provided for the creation of two human
rights bodies: the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Tribunal Panel,
the latter created in 1985. It was renamed the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in 1998.
In 1996, the Act was amended to include sexual orientation as a prohibited grounds of discrimi-
nation, and then amended to include gender identity or expression in 2017. Until 2013, the Act
also contained clauses prohibiting hate speech, which it defined as “any matter that is likely to
expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the fact that that person or those
persons are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.”60 But, after
challenges to this provision and the publicity around it, this section was repealed in 2013.
In its current form, the Act lays out 13 prohibited grounds of discrimination: “race, national or
ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital
status, family status, genetic characteristics, disability and conviction for an offence for which
a pardon has been granted or in respect of which a record suspension has been ordered.”61
The Act also addresses discrimination, harassment, and the issue of bona fide justifications (an-
other way of saying that determining human rights complaints under the Act can’t create “undue
hardship” on the employer or provider of services). It prohibits discrimination in the workplace,
in employment application processes, in job advertisements, and in the provision of goods and
services. The Act also prohibits, but does not define, harassment.

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 First Nations woman at the annual Sun Dance cere-
mony at the Káínawa First Nation Reserve near
Cardston, Alberta, 1953. Source: Library and
Archives Canada/ National Film Board of Canada
fonds/e010949128.

These Indigenous laws and the roles, responsibilities, and rights they teach are distinct from the
concept of Indigenous rights as they have been defined by the courts, particularly since 1982. As
Tuma Young, Professor of Mi’kmaq Studies at Unama’ki College, explained in his testimony
before the Inquiry, “Aboriginal law, as taught in law school, is really Canadian law as it applies
to Indigenous people. It is not Indigenous law.”2 In this section, we first consider how the testi-
monies offered to the National Inquiry serve as indicators of different visions of roles and
responsibilities, and how the rights stemming from them can inform our priorities and our path
forward.
Families, survivors, and other witnesses have gifted us their stories and truths throughout the
Inquiry’s Truth-Gathering Process. They echoed over and over again what the National Inquiry
Grandmothers said at the very beginning: stay grounded in culture, which represents the strength
of Indigenous women and of their communities, however defined. Dr. Janet Smylie, a Cree/Métis
physician and Knowledge Keeper who spoke about strength-based approaches at the Inquiry’s
hearing in Iqaluit, quoted former National Chief Phil Fontaine when he said, “We have the an-
swers. The answers lie in our communities.” She continued in her own words: “[The answers are]
in our communities, in our stories, in our lived environments and in our blood memory. So we all
know, as First Nations, Inuit, Métis, urban Indigenous people, what we need. We have it still.”3
Indigenous Peoples have always had their own concepts of roles and responsibilities, linked to
the rights that women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people hold within their communities or
Nations. Dawnis Kennedy, whose traditional name is Minnawaanigogiizhigok, explained
about all members of the community:

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 Nova Scotia • Employment
Human Rights Act – 1967 • Housing or accommodation
• Services and facilities
• Purchase or sale of property
• Volunteer public service
• Publishing, broadcasting or advertising
• Membership in a professional, business or trade association, or employers’ or
employees’ organizations

Nunavut • Employment
Human Rights Act – 2003 • Obtaining or maintaining a membership in an employee organization
• Accessing goods, services, facilities or contracts available to the general public
• Renting or attempting to rent any residential or commercial building
• Publishing or displaying information or written material

Ontario • Accommodation (housing)

Human Rights Code – 1962 • Contracts
• Employment
• Goods, services and facilities
• Membership in unions, trade or professional associations

Prince Edward Island • All aspects of employment

Human Rights Act – 1968 • Leasing, purchasing or selling property
• Offering accommodations, services or facilities to the public
• Membership in professional, business or trade associations, employer or employee
organizations
• Publishing, broadcasting and advertising
• Volunteering

Quebec • Employment (includes hiring and pre-hiring, working conditions, professional

Charter of Human Rights training, promotion or transfer, lay-off, suspension or dismissal)
and Freedoms – 1975 • Housing (includes leasing of an apartment, occupancy of rented premises)
• Public services, public transport and public places (includes businesses, restaurants
and hotels, parks, camp sites, caravan sites and schools and churches)
• Juridical acts (includes contracts, collective agreements, wills, insurance or pensions
contracts, social benefit plans, retirement, pension or insurance plans, public pension
or public insurance plans)

Saskatchewan • Employment or occupation

Human Rights Code – 1979 • Education
• Housing
• Publications
• Public services (restaurants, stores, hotels, government services, etc.)
• Contracts or purchase of property
• Professional associations or trade unions

Yukon • Employment and any aspect of employment

Human Rights Act – 1987 • Receiving goods and services
• Housing, leasing or renting
• Membership in or representation by trade unions or professional associations
• Public contracts

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Engaging the Canadian Human Rights Act to Defend Indigenous Rights
The Canadian Human Rights Act has been used successfully in many cases, including a recent
and significant case specific to First Nations communities known as the landmark First Nations
Child and Family Caring Society of Canada v. Canada decision, decided in 2016.
In this case, the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada successfully argued
that the Canadian government’s provision of child and family services to First Nations on-
reserve and in Yukon constituted discrimination by failing to provide the same level of
services that exist elsewhere in Canada. In short, under its constitutional obligations, the federal
government funds a number of services that are delivered by First Nations or, in some cases, by
the provinces or territories. In Yukon, this includes child and family services on-reserve delivered
by First Nations. The federal government’s rules require that First Nations child welfare agencies
use the provincial or territorial child welfare laws, and that is a primary condition of receiving
funding. The case demonstrated the comparatively low level of funding for First Nations child
welfare agencies: its own records show that provincial and territorial services are funded at an
amount between two to four times greater than First Nations services. This means that for every
child in care, First Nations have much less to work with – for every dollar spent on provincial or
territorial services, only a fraction is spent on First Nations.62
The case engaged the concept of Jordan’s Principle, named in memory of Jordan River Ander-
son, a Cree boy from Norway House Cree Nation who spent years of his short life in hospital
while the federal government and provinces argued over who would pay for his services. Born
with multiple disabilities, he was hospitalized from his birth, in 1999, and died in hospital in
2005. Jordan’s Principle “aims to ensure First Nations children can access ALL public services
normally available to other children on the same terms.”63 This can include cases where the
waiting list is too long for a given service, allowing children to access the service in the private
sector, instead. Jordan’s Principle is not limited to medical needs, but covers all First Nations
on- and off- reserve for all public services. In short, if a child has a need in areas such as health,
social services, and education, Jordan’s Principle works to cover the cost of the services required.
While the definition of Jordan’s Principle as passed in the Canadian Parliament only specifically
mentioned First Nations children, the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada
insists that the government should respect the Canadian Human Rights Act, which prevents
discrimination on the basis of race and ethnic or national origin, therefore making the principle
applicable to Inuit and Métis children, as well.
Despite this, the government’s narrow definition for the application of Jordan’s Principle had the
effect of disqualifying most children for services anyway, therefore limiting the federal govern-
ment’s obligation. In 2013, the Federal Court rejected the federal government’s approach, and, in
2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found it to be outright discrimination. It ordered the
federal government to stop its discrimination immediately, and to report on its progress in doing
so. The tribunal’s four-part decision also went further, pointing out that beyond ending the dis-
crimination immediately, the government should also engage in reform to address some of the

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Just as the loons support Sky Woman as she falls from the sky, so, too, do the teachings offered
within traditional stories support our work in transforming relationships that harm Indigenous
women and girls into ones that recognize their power and place. As Law Foundation Chair of
Aboriginal Justice and Governance at the University of Victoria Dr. Val Napoleon explained
before the Inquiry:
We know that across Canada there are diverse legal orders and that people are
adaptable…. Our ancestors, our relatives, were pragmatic in terms of ensuring that their
children were able to survive in the world. And as Dr. Hadley Friedland has already said,
all law is meaningful, it’s messy, and it has to be in practice as well as in theory.5

This chapter will, first, articulate how Indigenous laws can serve as a foundation for a decoloniz-
ing strategy based in Indigenous ways of knowing and understanding relationships and social
order. It will then outline how the values of respect, reciprocity, and interconnectedness can help
connect principles across a diversity of Indigenous communities, as demonstrated in a variety of
stories that are still used in teaching today. With the understanding of the contemporary impor-
tance of these principles, this chapter then examines the historical roles, responsibilities, and
rights of women and gender-diverse people in their own terms, prior to colonization, as a way to
argue for a new foundation to understanding the rights of Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people: as rooted in relationships.

“[THE ANSWERS ARE] IN OUR COMMUNITIES, IN OUR STORIES, IN OUR LIVED

ENVIRONMENTS AND IN OUR BLOOD MEMORY. SO WE ALL KNOW,
AS FIRST NATIONS, INUIT, MÉTIS, URBAN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, WHAT WE NEED.
WE HAVE IT STILL.”
Dr. Janet Smylie

Two-Eyed Seeing: Diverse Legal Orders and

Inherent Indigenous Laws
In testimony before the National Inquiry, Tuma Young explained that, within his L’nu
(Mi’kmaq) world view, the concept of two-eyed seeing is very important: “An issue has to
be looked at from two different perspectives: the Western perspective and the Indigenous
perspective, so that this provides the whole picture for whoever is trying to understand the
particular issue.”6
In the context of our work at the Inquiry, this means grounding our analysis in Indigenous ways
of knowing and of understanding, as shared with the Commissioners and with Canadians.

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According to many experts, this has profound implications in other service areas, including,
potentially, education. It also reveals the extent to which governments will go in order to
limit their obligations. Within the crisis of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people, then, this case is illustrative of how human rights approaches can bring
the government to act on its obligations; but that those most affected must also be watchful and
ensure that the principles of these instruments are applied in a good way, in a full way, to realize
those principles. It also shows how, potentially, the government’s own human rights obligations,
according to rules it has set for itself, may, in fact, be grounds to pursue human rights-based
complaints regarding its failure to properly ensure the safety of Indigenous women, girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA people, through both immediate and long-term measures aimed at addressing
some of the structural inequalities that target them.
While this case, and others like it in the future, have tremendous potential for engaging the
government to properly honour its commitments and responsibilities to all people living in
Canada, it is not without limitations. For instance, launching a complaint within the Canadian
Human Rights Act is complicated. First, the Canadian Human Rights Commission evaluates the
extent to which the person making the complaint has tried to resolve the dispute in any other
way. The legislation also allows only a 12-month window from when the discrimination happens
to filing a complaint, which means that, in many cases, the eligibility period may have expired.
This means that whether or not the situation engendering the complaint actually happened, no
formal complaint can be made.65
In addition, until 2008, complaints against the federal government about decisions or actions
arising from or pursuant to the Indian Act were not allowed under section 67. As family member
Wendy L. shared:
Before … if I wanted to go and file a Canadian human rights complaint because of what
was happening to me, or my mother, or other women, or other people [because of the
Indian Act], there was no ability for me to do that.… So, again, it’s just this constant
obstacles that are put in our place that are – we’re constantly being blocked, and
challenged, and stopped. And we don’t automatically have the same rights and freedoms
as all other Canadians, we just don’t.66

This provision was changed in 2008, but served to limit the access of Indigenous women, girls,
and 2SLGBTQQIA people to a complaint mechanism that might have helped to address some of
the systemic problems brought on by the Act’s provisions for over 30 years. The 2008 provision
immediately applied to decisions and actions of the federal government but was delayed for three
years with respect to First Nations, including band councils and related agencies, for things like
denying housing or other services on any of the prohibited grounds.

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For many Indigenous people, the process of launching human rights complaints remains
intimidating. As Viola Thomas said:
Because what I find for a lot of our people who are ostracized is that they don’t ever
feel comfortable or confident enough to file human rights complaint because they’re –
they’re fearful of what will happen if it happens to be a member who is on chief and
council or if it’s a member who is in a power position at the Band Office and … they
don’t want it to affect their benefits, so, therefore, many of our people are silenced …
to be able to take action because of that imbalance of power within our communities
and how sexism is really played out.67

In addition, as Viola shared:

I think there is some real major challenges within current human rights law, whether it’s
federal or provincial jurisdictions of human rights. They individualize human rights.
They do not have a – a real systemic approach to addressing collective human rights
violations of Indigenous Peoples, which are multiple. It could be as a child, it could be as
a woman, it could be as a Two-Spirited, but you have to tick off the one box. Oh, today,
am I going file a complaint as a woman or as a Two-Spirited? I have to choose one over
the other. So it seems to me that that in itself, of human rights law polarizes our
collective human rights issues as Indigenous Peoples. And it’s also compounded by the
historic eradication of our distinctive roles as Indigenous women within our commu-
nities of whatever Nation that we come from.68

The Canadian Human Rights Commission demonstrates some awareness of the need for a partic-
ular approach to the issues regarding Indigenous communities. As it says in its public materials:
Human rights decisions involving First Nations need to recognize Aboriginal and Treaty
rights. For complaints about a First Nation government or service organization, the
Commission and the Tribunal can consider the customary law of the First Nation. They
need to balance collective and individual rights from a First Nation perspective, while
respecting gender equality.69

In addition, the Canadian Human Rights Commission has also acknowledged, with important
implications for Indigenous Peoples, that treating everyone the same does not automatically
result in equality. This question is about substantive equality. When substantive, or meaningful,
equality is lacking, corrective measures can and should be taken – these are principles in human
rights, Indigenous rights, and customary international law. As the Human Rights Commission
points out, “Aboriginal people should expect to be treated equally with other people. But equality
does not always mean treating everyone the same.”70

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The Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights
In Canada and within a legal setting, those identified as Aboriginal peoples under the Constitution
– First Nations, Métis, and Inuit – have looked to three primary sources in defining their rights:
the Royal Proclamation of 1763 (as well as Treaties that have since followed), the common law
as defined in Canadian courts, and international law.71 Part of the way that Canada also deals
with issues regarding Indigenous rights is embedded within the Canadian Constitution, in
existence since 1867 and patriated in 1982.
Under the Canadian Constitution, “Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians” falls under sec-
tion 91(24) and under exclusive federal authority. Section 91 outlines the powers of the federal
government as a whole, and section 92 delineates the areas reserved for the provinces to legis-
late. As the courts have pointed out, these are not watertight compartments, particularly when it
comes to Indigenous Peoples in Canada, who receive many services in crucial areas such as
health and education from provincial service providers, while being funded through Ottawa. In
part, the iteration of powers under the Constitution Act, or, as it was known in 1867, the British
North America Act, flows from the historical recognition of the relationship between Indigenous
Peoples and the Crown. Specifically, this idea is also represented in the Royal Proclamation of
1763, which predated the British North America Act, and which said that the Crown, or British
government, was responsible for protecting the lands of First Nations people, and ensuring their
welfare and protection.
Until 1982, section 91(24) was the only articulation of the presence of Indigenous Peoples
anywhere in Canada’s Constitution. And, when Pierre Elliot Trudeau took steps to patriate the
Constitution to Canada in 1982, he had no intention of adding any more references. However,
the addition of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms engaged many Indigenous organi-
zations who fought for the inclusion and protection of collective Indigenous and Treaty rights.
Part of the motivation behind the effort to entrench Aboriginal rights within the Constitution was
the idea that any transfer of power from Britain, which still held constitutional authority in
Canada, might jeopardize Aboriginal rights – at least the few that were recognized at the time.
In addition, the fact that any rights held by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit were subject to extin-
guishment through legislation meant that there were few protections for the limited rights that
had been gained by that time. Indigenous organizations felt that securing constitutional protec-
tion for their rights was the most sensible and safe route to make sure they wouldn’t lose any
ground that had been gained so far.

“HUMAN RIGHTS DECISIONS INVOLVING FIRST NATIONS NEED TO RECOGNIZE

ABORIGINAL AND TREATY RIGHTS. FOR COMPLAINTS ABOUT A FIRST NATION
GOVERNMENT OR SERVICE ORGANIZATION, THE COMMISSION AND THE TRIBUNAL
CAN CONSIDER THE CUSTOMARY LAW OF THE FIRST NATION. THEY NEED TO
BALANCE COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS FROM A FIRST NATION
PERSPECTIVE, WHILE RESPECTING GENDER EQUALITY.”

The Canadian Human Rights Commission

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As a result of this resistance, the government acquiesced and included a section that “recognizes
and affirms” Aboriginal and Treaty rights. As a result of lengthy campaigns by Indigenous
women, the 1983 Constitutional Conference also agreed to amend the Constitution and add a
clause declaring that Aboriginal and Treaty rights are “guaranteed equally to male and female
persons.” However, aside from this new commitment to gender equality, little progress was made
towards defining “Aboriginal rights.” Subsequent conferences throughout the 1980s likewise
ended without agreement on the matter.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth

II with Prime Minister The
Rt. Hon. Pierre Elliott Trudeau
signing the Proclamation of
the Constitution Act, 1982.
© Government of Canada.
Reproduced with the permis-
sion of Library and Archives
Canada (2019).
Source: Library and Archives
Canada/National Archives
of Canada fonds/a141503.

As it was finally assented to, section 25 of the Constitution Act guarantees that no rights and
freedoms within the Charter should be interpreted as taking away from any Aboriginal rights or
Treaty rights flowing from the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and from land claims agreements.
Section 35 affirms existing Aboriginal and Treaty rights for “Indians,” Métis, and Inuit, and
specifies that “Treaty rights” include rights now existing in land claims agreements, or those
that might be acquired in the future. Subsection 4 of this clause expressly guarantees these rights
equally to male and to female persons.
In 1990, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) held, in Sparrow, that the federal government’s
power under section 91(24) must be read together with section 35(1). Section 35(1) places obli-
gations upon the federal government “to act in a fiduciary relationship with respect to aboriginal
peoples” within a framework that is “trust-like, rather than adversarial.” However, while the
Constitution recognized these Aboriginal and Treaty rights, it did not define them. Instead, it
committed to holding a constitutional conference involving the prime minister, the provincial
premiers, and Indigenous leaders to define the rights protected by the Constitution through the
domestic courts.

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As it has evolved, Canadian jurisprudence has articulated important legal doctrines, especially
with regards to Aboriginal title, but also related to other Indigenous rights. These include the sui
generis rights, the Honour of the Crown, and fiduciary duty. These legal principles, and the over-
all narrative they share, is dominated by the idea that the Rule of Law – the idea that even the
Crown is subject to its own laws – must prevail when attempting to reconcile the pre-existence
of Indigenous Nations and their legal and cultural systems with the assumed sovereignty of
British settler society.72
Sui Generis – A Unique Relationship
The Latin term sui generis (“of its own kind”) is used to characterize something that is unique.
Within Aboriginal law as defined in the Supreme Court, judges apply this idea to point out the
differences between Indigenous rights to property and the rights that come from the non-
Indigenous common law. As lawyer Bruce Ziff explains, the idea of sui generis recognizes
pre-existing property rights of Aboriginal communities. Since sovereignty works
only as a potential trump over prior clams, the previous landholders, the Aboriginal
peoples of what is now Canada, retain their property until these are taken away by
legitimate state action. Indeed, current Canadian law recognizes land rights that were in
existence before colonial acquisition.73

This means that Aboriginal and Treaty rights are set aside from other rights to acknowledge that
they are unique; and, even though domestic law interpretation is paramount here, international
law also recognizes the sui generis nature of Aboriginal title and many related rights. These
rights don’t depend on non-Indigenous principles. Instead, the Supreme Court has established
that even if inherent Aboriginal rights have never been affirmed by British or Canadian legisla-
tion, they are still constitutionally valid.74

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The James Bay and Northern
Quebec Agreement and
Economic Security
The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA) is the first “modern” Treaty in Canada. It was
signed in 1975 by the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec, and the Cree and Inuit of north-
ern Quebec. Both Inuit and Cree sacrificed a great deal in exchange for promises of self-determination and
community development. However, because federal and provincial governments failed to properly imple-
ment the agreement, it would be almost three decades before Cree in northern Quebec began to enjoy
substantial community development on their terms. Failure to honour the commitments in the JBNQA in a
timely manner exacerbated many of the problems behind the crisis of violence against Indigenous women
in Quebec, including poverty, trauma, and access to government services.

Negotiations for the JBNQA were sparked by a that claimed to extinguish Aboriginal rights to land
conflict over hydroelectric development. In 1971, in northern Quebec. In exchange, both groups re-
Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa announced a ceived a one-time cash payment, as well as govern-
proposal for the James Bay Hydroelectric Project, a ment commitments to community, economic, and
multi-stage mega-project that called for dams and political development in northern Quebec.II
reservoirs on all of the major river systems flowing
into James Bay. Cree and Inuit groups resolved to Both federal and provincial governments were reluc-
stop the project. Because they were not consulted on tant to honour their commitments under the agree-
the project, they were in no position to benefit from ment. There were immediate disputes over which
it, and it would have significant negative effects on order of government should be funding community
their communities. When the Quebec government infrastructure and health services. While Canada and
ignored Indigenous opposition, the Cree and Inuit Quebec bickered, Cree communities were left with-
took legal action to stop the project. However, the out proper housing, public sanitation infrastructure,
Cree and Inuit were under an enormous amount of clean drinking water, and health services. Govern-
pressure to reach a negotiated agreement with gov- ment inaction led to numerous lawsuits. The Cree
ernment. Construction of the project continued dur- reached an out-of-court settlement with the federal
ing legal proceedings, effectively compromising the government in 1982. However, a change in govern-
ability of Indigenous groups to stop the project.I ment in 1984 resulted in major funding cuts to
services in Cree communities, leading to further liti-
In the agreement, the Cree and Inuit agreed to a gation.III
scaled-down hydroelectric project on the La Grande
River system, one that flooded vast swaths of Cree In the late 1980s, Quebec announced its intentions
territory and damaged Cree waters. The agreement to expand the James Bay project into the Great Whale
contained the now-infamous “extinguishment clause” River system. Because of the negative impacts they

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
 With northern hydroelectric development at a stand-
still, and numerous issues related to the JBNQA be-
fore the courts, the Government of Quebec was
under considerable pressure to negotiate with the
Cree. In 2002, the Grand Council of the Crees and the
Government of Quebec signed the Agreement
Respecting a New Relationship Between the Cree
Nation and the Government of Quebec (popularly
known as the Paix des Braves or “Peace of the Braves”).
This massive out-of-court settlement has been cele-
brated by Cree leaders as a breakthrough in honour-
ing the spirit and intent of the JBNQA. For example,
as former director of Quebec and international rela-
tions for the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou
The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement
Istchee) of James Bay, Romeo Saganash wrote: “We
was signed at a late-night ceremony in Quebec City on
believe that Paix des Braves … is an agreement based
Nov. ‘11, 1975, by Inuit leaders Charlie Watt and Zebedee
upon the significant recognition of the rights of
Nungak, then-Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa,
Indigenous Peoples to benefit meaningfully on a
and late Cree Chief Billy Diamond (far right).
nation-to-nation basis from the natural resources and
Source: Nunatsiaq News
wealth of their own traditional lands.”VII

While recent settlements like the Paix des Braves have

had already experienced from development on the resulted in improved service delivery and a more eq-
La Grande River, as well as the failure of government uitable sharing of the revenues produced by extrac-
to honour the JBNQA, the Cree sought to stop the tive industries, it took decades of litigation and public
project with a combination of court actions and pub- campaigning to have these commitments honoured.
lic campaigns. Their campaign was successful and the In the meantime, Cree communities paid the price
Quebec government cancelled the project in 1994.IV with high levels of poverty, insufficient social services,
and unresolved intergenerational trauma. The gov-
Tensions between the Cree and the Government of ernment’s failure to uphold its Treaty promises to
Quebec continued into the late 1990s. By 2000, the the Cree have therefore exacerbated the problem
Cree had initiated more than 30 lawsuits, alleging of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and
that the governments of Quebec and Canada had 2SLGBTQQIA people.
breached the JBNQA.V Major conflicts in the late
1990s included disputes over logging and further
hydroelectric development.V1

I Feit, “Hunting and the Quest.”

II Morantz, “Aboriginal Land Claims.”
III Grand Council of the Crees, “Episode 2: Delivering the Promise.”
IV Feit, “Hunting and the Quest.”
V Tehan et al., “Sharing Lands and Resources,” in Settling with Indigenous People.
VI Grand Council of the Crees, “Episode 3: We Rise up!”
VII Saganash, “The Paix de Braves,” 205.

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Honour of the Crown
Related to the idea of the unique nature of Aboriginal rights is the idea of the Honour of the
Crown. In 1967, the Nisga’a Tribal Council brought an action to the British Columbia Supreme
Court. Frank Calder and others (including the Nisga’a Tribal Council, Gitlakdamix Indian Band,
Canyon City Indian Band, Laxgalts’ap [Greenville] Band, and Kincolith Indian Band) sought
recognition of their Aboriginal title, comprising over 2,590 square kilometres (1,000 square
miles) in northwestern British Columbia. The BC Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal
rejected the Nisga’a claim. In response, the Nisga’a took their case to the Supreme Court of
Canada, where it was finally decided in 1973.
While the Nisga’a did not technically win the case in the Supreme Court of Canada, the decision
that was issued, named the Calder decision, broke new ground. The three justices who did affirm
the Nisga’a’s Aboriginal title maintained that Aboriginal title had existed at the time of the Royal
Proclamation of 1763, before colonial law was imposed. As Justices Hall, Spence, and Laskin
wrote: “The proposition accepted by the Courts below that after conquest or discovery the native
peoples have no rights at all except those subsequently granted or recognized by the conqueror or
discoverer was wholly wrong.”75
In this decision, the Supreme Court of Canada indicated that “in dealings between the govern-
ment [that is, the “Crown”] and aboriginals the honour of the Crown is at stake.”76 Further, the
Court noted, “The mandate to act with honour was brought to life the very instant that sover-
eignty over native people was asserted.”77 In other words, in claiming sovereignty over Indige-
nous Peoples, the nation-state also creates a duty to act honourably in all of the ways that it deals
with them.
Thus, the legal notion of Honour of the Crown came into focus in Canadian Aboriginal law
through Calder, and continued to be applied and refined in litigation that followed. Despite being
a “split” decision, Calder marked a significant change in the relationship between the Crown and
Indigenous Peoples in Canada, leading to negotiations that culminated in 1998, creating British
Columbia’s first modern Treaty, The Nisga’a Final Agreement Act.78
The Honour of the Crown applies to the interpretation of legislation and to the application of
Treaties.

“THE MANDATE TO ACT WITH HONOUR WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE THE VERY
INSTANT THAT SOVEREIGNTY OVER NATIVE PEOPLE WAS ASSERTED.”

The Supreme Court of Canada

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Claiming Métis Rights:
The “Forgotten People” Demand
Recognition
For many Métis, the decades spent as the “forgotten people” include the fight to be recognized both as
Aboriginal people, under the Constitution, as well as specific challenges related to rights that mean services
and access for many Métis women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people long denied due to their identity.

The question of Métis rights was first put before the lived on, used and occupied; and reconcile the
Supreme Court of Canada in the Powley case, decided hunting rights of Métis of the Northwest in a way
in 2003. In 1993, Steve and Roddy Powley had killed that provides the basis for a just and lasting
a moose near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, without a li- settlement of their Aboriginal claims.II
cence, claiming that their right to hunt for food was
protected by the Constitution Act, 1982, under section The next challenge before the SCC of significance to
35. In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled unani- the Métis was in the MMF v the Queen decision of
mously that Métis people who were members of a 2013.III The case concerned the fact that after Con-
Métis community had the protected right to hunt for federation, the first government of Canada engaged
food under section 35. The Court found that the “test in attempts to manage the distribution of Métis
for Métis practices should focus on identifying those lands, as a part of Manitoba’s entry into Confedera-
practices, customs and traditions that are integral to tion under the Manitoba Act, 1870. In that Act,
the Métis community’s distinctive existence and rela- Canada agreed to grant 1.4 million acres of land to
tionship to the land.”I While the right was limited to the Métis children (section 31 of the Manitoba Act)
Sault Ste. Marie and neighbouring areas, the case set and to recognize existing landholdings (section 32 of
an important precedent for understanding Métis the Manitoba Act). The Canadian government began
rights within section 35. It also set out the “Powley the process of implementing section 31 in early 1871.
test,” as it is known today, which is used to define Although the land was set aside, a series of errors, de-
Métis rights, in the same way as the Van der Peet test lays, and mismanagement of the process interfered
is used to define those rights applying to First with dividing the land.IV
Nations:
The Métis, represented by the Manitoba Metis Feder-
To sum it up, the characterization of the right ation and several interested individuals, sought a
must take into account the perspective of Métis declaration “that a provision of the Manitoba Act –
people claiming the right; reflect the actual given constitutional authority by the Constitution Act,
pattern of exercise of Métis hunting prior to 1871 – was not implemented in accordance with the
effective control; characterize the practice in ac- honour of the Crown.” V In this case, the Métis were
cordance with the highly mobile way of life of the not seeking compensation or restoration of the lands.
Métis of the Northwest; give legal force to Métis They were seeking only a declaration setting out that
people’s traditional relationship to the land they the government had not fulfilled its obligations ho-

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citizenries and rebuilding our lawfulness.”24 This work includes understanding how Indigenous
laws can serve to promote safety and justice, or, in other words, “ways that aren’t oppressive,
ways that are inclusive, and ways that are anti-colonial.”25
The basis of Indigenous laws, and the roles, responsibilities, and rights that animate them, rest in
these principles of respect, reciprocity, and interconnectedness, as lived in relationships. As Jean
Leclair explains, “In Aboriginal law, the law is considered in a relational perspective that ex-
cludes the all or nothing, that recognizes that things change over time, that admits that the law
is not an end point but a milestone on a path, [and] whether we know it or not, we are never
alone.”26
In her evaluation of Indigenous law, Dawnis Kennedy noted:
Money is not necessary for life. Degrees are not necessary for life. Power is not
necessary for life. Water is necessary for life. Our relatives are necessary for life.
The spirit is necessary for life. Love is necessary for life. Respect is necessary for life.
Honesty is necessary for life. Humility is necessary for life…. Courage is necessary
for life…. Wisdom is necessary for life.27

Stories as Rights, Stories as Medicine

Finding the wisdom and the teachings within Indigenous laws is a task beyond the scope of this
report, and for which work is already underway.28 At the same time, we believe that it is impor-
tant to understand how Indigenous principles, as drawn from a small sample of stories from
diverse communities and Nations, may provide a path for further research into how to promote
safety in a decolonizing way. As some witnesses pointed out, the loss of these stories and teach-
ings contributes to the loss of respect that women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people face within
their own communities, as well as in the non-Indigenous world.

“REBUILDING INDIGENOUS LAWS IS ABOUT REBUILDING AND STRENGTHENING

CONDITIONS OF PEACE, SAFETY, DIGNITY, AND JUSTICE.”
Dr. Hadley Friedland

This examination is not about highlighting traditional gender roles, but about identifying the
qualities that are absent from the lives of families and communities when Indigenous women,
girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people go missing. What are some of the important principles that their
stories illustrate, and how can understanding characters through a gendered lens help to address
the barriers facing Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, particularly in their
access to services that may help to enhance security and safety?

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Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Fiduciary Duty
The principle of “fiduciary duty” is also key in understanding how the courts have defined
Aboriginal rights that are constitutionally protected. It comes from the common law.
A fiduciary is someone who is trusted to manage and protect property or money. The relationship
of a fiduciary is one in which that person is obligated to act in the other person’s interests. The
duties of a fiduciary include to act with “the utmost of loyalty to [its] principal” and in the “best
interests” of the principal or beneficiary.79 It exists, and applies to Aboriginal Peoples in Canada,
as a result of the important economic duties and social history between Indigenous Peoples and
the state, as well as the idea of the “peculiar vulnerability of the beneficiary to the fiduciary.”80
The concept of fiduciary duty isn’t fixed, and elements of the relationship evolve over time.
Sui generis (the unique nature of rights), the Honour of the Crown, and fiduciary duty are all in-
separably linked, and have appeared in case law revolving mostly around title and resource rights
– at least in Canada. At the same time, there is a growing recognition within the legal community
that these concepts may apply to other areas, with lawyers working in the area of corporate law,
for instance, considering how fiduciary duty may bind corporations with certain duties to em-
ployees. Considering how principles such as these can also engage governments in the protection
of the rights of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, along with international
covenants, declarations, and domestic human rights instruments, can present an important new
way to look at the potential legal paths towards justice.

Indigenous Rights and Human Rights:

A Complicated Relationship
While there is potential in all international and national human rights instruments to help end
violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, the National Inquiry
maintains that it is important to consider both Indigenous and human rights as representative
of linked, but distinct, ideas. This is important, because the solutions pursued must not harm