The House of Commons in Canada has unanimously passed a motion declaring the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people a national emergency. The motion was tabled by Leah Gazan, NDP critic for women and gender equity, and arrived just before Red Dress Day on May 5th. The adopted motion included a call to provide immediate and substantial investment in a red dress alert system to help notify the public when an Indigenous woman, girl, or two-spirit person goes missing.
During the press conference, Gazan emphasized that structures are in place to create the alert system immediately, but the government needs to act. Currently, the government has earmarked $2.5 million over five years to implement the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited National Action Plan. However, Gazan says action needs to happen now, pointing to the recent discovery of the remains of an eight-year-old girl from Samson Cree Nation and the death of a woman from Sandy Bay First Nation over the weekend.
This year’s federal budget notably clawed back $150 million of funding for women’s shelters, a move that worries Carol McBride, president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada. In question period, the Liberals pointed to the end of the pandemic as a reason to cut the shelter funds. However, Gazan emphasized that the violence pandemic continues.
At the press conference, Ellen Gabriel, an activist and filmmaker from Kanehsatà:ke, directly blamed politicians and bureaucrats for inaction. She stated that it becomes a matter of economics, as the issue goes to the Treasury Board rather than educating politicians about human rights. Gabriel pointed out that every person knows what it means to lose a loved one and questioned why politicians and bureaucrats can’t understand that Indigenous Peoples are human beings as well.
The unanimous passing of the motion is a significant step towards addressing the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in Canada.