Several Indigenous agencies have come together to create a database to illustrate the severity of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirited people in Canada.
Nikki Komaksiutiksak, Chief Executive Officer of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, says the goal is to raise public awareness and advance efforts for government action to end the violence.
“Canada adopted the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and made it law with the undripped act in 2021 it committed to ending violence and discrimination,” says Komaksiutiksak.
“Yet those commitments have not yet been honoured. Ending this genocide requires more than empty promises. We must work to put an end to the violent systems that continue to shape that crisis.”
The groups are working with firms that helped compile data on residential schools for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
They say the identity and privacy of those affected will be protected as they carry out the research.
Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Native Women’s Association Cora McGuire-Cyrette hopes the information will lead to much-needed change.
“We’re hoping that this triggers you, the public, it triggers other partners to join us,” says McGuire-Cyrette.
“We hope that it will trigger systemic change within the systems that continue to harm us today. We want change to be able to treat us as Indigenous women, as humans today.”
The groups are hoping others will participate in the project.
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