Last night, Canada’s Liberal Party won power in the country’s election. Now the party can move forward on one of its campaign promises and take on the alarmingly high levels of violence against indigenous women and girls – an issue sidelined by the previous government.
Indigenous women and girls in Canada are murdered at almost four times the rate of other women and girls in Canada. In 2014, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police identified 1,181 cases of murders and disappearances of indigenous women and girls between 1980 and 2012, double the previous estimates. In 2013 Human Rights Watch issued a report on police treatment of indigenous women in northern British Columbia that documented not only police failures to protect indigenous women from violence, but also police abuse of these women and girls.
The Liberal Party has promised to establish immediately a national public inquiry into the murders and disappearances. The former government repeatedly rejected such an inquiry, despite mounting calls from premiers across Canada’s provinces and territories, national aboriginal organizations, and international human rights bodies. A national inquiry would provide a critical opportunity for an independent, impartial investigation that could inform a plan of action to address the violence.
However, as with any opportunity, the national inquiry could be squandered if not done right. To be effective, the process should be as inclusive and rigorous as possible. The government should ensure the inquiry’s process is developed with leadership from indigenous communities, and that it includes examination of the current and historical relationship between police and indigenous women and girls, including incidents of serious police misconduct.
Human Rights Watch agrees with the Liberal Party’s assertion that the murders and disappearances of indigenous women and girls constitute “an ongoing national tragedy that must come to an end.” Fostering a climate in which indigenous women can feel safe begins with building trust that the government will fulfill its responsibilities and uphold its promises. The new government should start off by delivering on the promise of a national inquiry.
