The Nation Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women gave Canadians 231 “Calls for Justice” to end the genocide against Indigenous women and girls. These are legally mandated directives to stop the violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.

 

Calls for Justice: For All Governments

The National Inquiry heard many truths connected with the deliberate actions and inactions of al levels of government. In addition, the evidence makes clear that changing the structures and the systems that sustain violence in daily encounters is not only necessary to combat violence, but is an essential legal obligation of all governments in Canada. We target many of our Calls for Justice at governments for this reason, and identify how governments can work to honour Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and to protect their human and Indigenous rights, in the thematic areas examined within this report.

 

Human and Indigenous Rights and Governmental Obligations

 

1.1 We call upon federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous governments (hereinafter “all governments”), in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, to develop and implement a National Action Plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as recommended in our Interim Report and in support of existing recommendations by other bodies of inquiry and other reports. As part of the National Action Plan, we call upon all governments to ensure that equitable access to basic rights such as employment, housing, education, safety, and health care is recognized as a fundamental means of protecting Indigenous and human rights, resourced and supported as rights-based programs founded on substantive equality. Allprograms must be no-barrier, and must apply regardless of Status or location.

 

Governments should:

1. Table and implement a National Action Plan that is flexible and distinctions-based, and that includes regionally specific plans with devoted funding and timetables for implementation that are rooted in the local cultures and communities of diverse Indigenous identities, with measurable goals and necessary resources dedicated to capacity building, sustainability, and long-term solutions.
2. Make publicly available on an annual basis reports of ongoing actions and developments in measurable goals related to the National Action Plan.

1.2 We call upon all governments, with the full participation of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, to immediately implement and fully comply with all relevant rights instruments, including but not limited to:

1. ICCPR, ICESCR, UNCRC, CEDAW, and ICERD, as well as all optional protocols to these instruments, including the 3rd Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
2. American Convention on Human Rights: specifically, that Canada ratify the American Convention on Human Rights and the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women.

iii. All the recommendations of the 2015 UN CEDAW Inquiry Report and cooperation with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on all follow-up procedures.

1. 1. All recommendations made by international human rights bodies, including treaty-monitoring bodies, on causes and recommendations to address violence against all, but specifically Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA individuals.
   2. UNDRIP, including recognition, protection, and support of Indigenous self-governance and self-determination, as defined by UNDRIP and by Indigenous Peoples, including that these rights are guaranteed equally to women and men, as rights protected under section 35 of the Constitution. This requires respecting and making space for Indigenous self-determination and self-governance, and the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples to all decision-making processes that affect them, eliminating gender discrimination in the Indian Act, and amending the Constitution to bring it into conformity with UNDRIP.

1.3 We call upon all governments, in meeting human and Indigenous rights obligations, to pursue prioritization and resourcing of the measures required to eliminate the social, economic, cultural, and political marginalization of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people when developing budgets and determining government activities and priorities.

1.4 We call upon all governments, and in particular Indigenous governments and Indigenous representative organizations, to take urgent and special measures to ensure that Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are represented in governance and that their political rights are respected and upheld. We call upon all governments to equitably support and promote the role of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in governance and leadership. These efforts must include the development of policies and procedures to protect Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people against sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and racism within political life.

1.5 We call upon all governments to immediately take all necessary measures to prevent, investigate, punish, and compensate for violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

1.6 We call upon all governments to eliminate jurisdictional gaps and neglect that result in the denial of services, or improperly regulated and delivered services, that address the social, economic, political, and cultural marginalization of, and violence against, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

1.7 We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, to establish a National Indigenous and Human Rights Ombudsperson, with authority in all jurisdictions, and to establish a National Indigenous and Human Rights Tribunal. The ombudsperson and tribunal must be independent of governments and have the authority to receive complaints from Indigenous individuals as well as Indigenous communities in relation to Indigenous and human rights violations, and to conduct thorough and independent evaluations of government services for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people and communities to determine compliance with human and Indigenous rights laws. The ombudsperson and the tribunal must be given sufficient resources to fulfill their mandates and must be permanent.

1.8 We call upon all governments to create specific and long-term funding, available to Indigenous communities and organizations, to create, deliver, and disseminate prevention programs, education, and awareness campaigns designed for Indigenous communities and families related to violence prevention and combatting lateral violence. Core and sustainable funding, as opposed to program funding, must be provided to national and regional Indigenous women’s and 2SLGBTQQIA people’s organizations.

1.9 We call upon all governments to develop laws, policies, and public education campaigns to challenge the acceptance and normalization of violence.

1.10 We call upon the federal government to create an independent mechanism to report on the implementation of the National Inquiry’s Calls for Justice to Parliament, annually.

1.11 We call upon the federal government – specifically, Library and Archives Canada and the Privy Council Office – to maintain and to make easily accessible the National Inquiry’s public record and website.

Culture

2.1 We call upon all governments to acknowledge, recognize, and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their cultures and languages as inherent rights, and constitutionally protected as such under section 35 of the Constitution.

2.2 We call upon all governments to recognize Indigenous languages as official languages, with the same status, recognition, and protection provided to French and English. This includes the directives that:

1. Federal, provincial, and territorial governments must legislate Indigenous languages in the respective territory as official languages.
2. All governments must make funds available to Indigenous Peoples to support the work required to revitalize and restore Indigenous cultures and languages.

2.3 We call upon all governments to ensure that all Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are provided with safe, no-barrier, permanent, and meaningful access to their cultures and languages in order to restore, reclaim, and revitalize their cultures and identities. These are rights held by all segments of Indigenous communities, from young children to Elders. The programs and services that provide such access should not be tied exclusively to government-run cultural or educational institutions. All governments must further ensure that the rights of Indigenous children to retain and be educated in their Indigenous language are upheld and protected. All governments must ensure access to immersion programs for children from preschool into post-secondary education.

2.4 We call upon all governments to provide the necessary resources and permanent funds required to preserve knowledge by digitizing interviews with Knowledge Keepers and language speakers. We further call upon all governments to support grassroots and community- led Indigenous language and cultural programs that restore identity, place, and belonging within First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities through permanent, no-barrier funding and resources. Special measures must include supports to restore and revitalize identity, place, and belonging for Indigenous Peoples and communities who have been isolated from their Nations due to colonial violence, including 2SLGBTQQIA people and women who have been denied Status.

2.5 We call upon all governments, in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, to create a permanent empowerment fund devoted to supporting Indigenous-led initiatives for Indigenous individuals, families, and communities to access cultural knowledge, as an important and strength-based way to support cultural rights and to uphold self-determined services. This empowerment fund should include the support of land-based educational programs that can assist in foundational cultural learning and awareness. This empowerment fund will also assist in the revitalization of distinct cultural practices as expressed by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, with eligibility criteria and decision making directly in their hands.

2.6 We call upon all governments to educate their citizens about, and to confront and eliminate, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. To accomplish this, the federal government, in partnership with Indigenous Peoples and provincial and territorial governments, must develop and implement an Anti-Racism and Anti Sexism National Action Plan to end racist and sexualized stereotypes of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The plan must target the general public as well as public services.

2.7 We call upon all governments to adequately fund and support Indigenous-led initiatives to improve the representation of Indigenous Peoples in media and pop culture.

 

Health and Wellness

3.1 We call upon all governments to ensure that the rights to health and wellness of Indigenous Peoples, and specifically of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, are recognized and protected on an equitable basis.

3.2 We call upon all governments to provide adequate, stable, equitable, and ongoing funding for Indigenous-centred and community-based health and wellness services that are accessible and culturally appropriate, and meet the health and wellness needs of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The lack of health and wellness services within Indigenous communities continues to force Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to relocate in order to access care. Governments must ensure that health and wellness services are available and accessible within Indigenous communities and wherever Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people reside.

3.3 We call upon all governments to fully support First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities to call on Elders, Grandmothers, and other Knowledge Keepers to establish community-based trauma-informed programs for survivors of trauma and violence.

3.4 We call upon all governments to ensure that all Indigenous communities receive immediate and necessary resources, including funding and support, for the establishment of sustainable, permanent, no-barrier, preventative, accessible, holistic, wraparound services, including mobile trauma and addictions recovery teams. We further direct that trauma and addictions treatment programs be paired with other essential services such as mental health services and sexual exploitation and trafficking services as they relate to each individual case of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

3.5 We call upon all governments to establish culturally competent and responsive crisis response teams in all communities and regions, to meet the immediate needs of an Indigenous person, family, and/or community after a traumatic event (murder, accident, violent event, etc.), alongside ongoing support.

3.6 We call upon all governments to ensure substantive equality in the funding of services for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as well as substantive equality for Indigenous-run health services. Further, governments must ensure that jurisdictional disputes do not result in the denial of rights and services. This includes mandated permanent funding of health services for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people on a continual basis, regardless of jurisdictional lines, geographical location, and Status affiliation or lack thereof.

3.7 We call upon all governments to provide continual and accessible healing programs and support for all children of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people and their family members. Specifically, we call for the permanent establishment of a fund akin to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and related funding. These funds and their administration must be independent from government and must be distinctions-based. There must be accessible and equitable allocation of specific monies within the fund for Inuit, Métis, and First Nations Peoples.

Human Security

4.1 We call upon all governments to uphold the social and economic rights of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people by ensuring that Indigenous Peoples have services and infrastructure that meet their social and economic needs. All governments must immediately ensure that Indigenous Peoples have access to safe housing, clean drinking water, and adequate food.

4.2 We call upon all governments to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination in the pursuit of economic social development. All governments must support and resource economic and social progress and development on an equitable basis, as these measures are required to uphold the human dignity, life, liberty, and security of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. All governments must support and resource community-based supports and solutions designed to improve social and economic security, led by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. This support must come with long-term, sustainable funding designed to meet the needs and objectives as defined by Indigenous Peoples and communities.

4.3 We call upon all governments to support programs and services for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in the sex industry to promote their safety and security. These programs must be designed and delivered in partnership with people who have lived experience in the sex industry. We call for stable and long term funding for these programs and services.

4.4 We call upon all governments to provide supports and resources for educational, training, and employment opportunities for all Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. These programs must be available within all Indigenous communities.

4.5 We call upon all governments to establish a guaranteed annual livable income for all Canadians, including Indigenous Peoples, to meet all their social and economic needs. This income must take into account diverse needs, realities, and geographic locations.

4.6 We call upon all governments to immediately commence the construction of new housing and the provision of repairs for existing housing to meet the housing needs of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. This construction and provision of repairs must ensure that Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have access to housing that is safe, appropriate to geographic and cultural needs, and available wherever they reside, whether in urban, rural, remote, or Indigenous communities.

4.7 We call upon all governments to support the establishment and long-term sustainable funding of Indigenous-led low-barrier shelters, safe spaces, transition homes, second-stage housing, and services for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people who are homeless, near homeless, dealing with food insecurity, or in poverty, and who are fleeing violence or have been subjected to sexualized violence and exploitation. All governments must ensure that shelters, transitional housing, second-stage housing, and services are appropriate to cultural needs, and available wherever Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people reside.

4.8 We call upon all governments to ensure that adequate plans and funding are put into place for safe and affordable transit and transportation services and infrastructure for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people living in remote or rural communities. Transportation should be sufficient and readily available to Indigenous communities, and in towns and cities located in all of the provinces and territories in Canada. These plans and funding should take into consideration:

• ways to increase safe public transit;
• ways to address the lack of commercial transit available; and
• special accommodations for fly-in, northern, and remote communities.

Justice

5.1 We call upon all governments to immediately implement the recommendations in relation to the Canadian justice system in: Bridging the Cultural Divide: A Report on Aboriginal People and Criminal Justice in Canada, Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996); and the Report of the Aboriginal Just

5.2 We call upon the federal government to review and amend the Criminal Code to eliminate definitions of offences that minimize the culpability of the offender.

5.3 We call upon the federal government to review and reform the law about sexualized violence and intimate partner violence, utilizing the perspectives of feminist and Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

5.4 We call upon all governments to immediately and dramatically transform Indigenous policing from its current state as a mere delegation to an exercise in self-governance and self-determination over policing. To do this, the federal government’s First Nations Policing Program must be replaced with a new legislative and funding framework, consistent with international and domestic policing best practices and standards, that must be developed by the federal, provincial, and territorial governments in partnership with Indigenous Peoples. This legislative and funding framework must, at a minimum, meet the following considerations:

1. Indigenous police services must be funded to a level that is equitable with all other non-Indigenous police services in this country. Substantive equality requires that more resources or funding be provided to close the gap in existing resources, and that required staffing, training, and equipment are in place to ensure that Indigenous police services are culturally appropriate and effective police services.
2. There must be civilian oversight bodies with jurisdiction to audit Indigenous police services and to investigate claims of police misconduct, including incidents of rape and other sexual assaults, within those services. These oversight bodies must report publicly at least annually.

5.5 We call upon all governments to fund the provision of policing services within Indigenous communities in northern and remote areas in a manner that ensures that those services meet the safety and justice needs of the communities and that the quality of policing services is equitable to that provided to non-Indigenous Canadians. This must include but is not limited to the following measures:

1. With the growing reliance on information management systems, particularly in the area of major and interjurisdictional criminal investigations, remote communities must be ensured access to reliable high-speed Internet as a right.
2. Major crime units and major case management must be more accessible to remote and northern communities on a faster basis than the service is being delivered now.

iii. Capacity must be developed in investigative tools and techniques for the investigation of sexualized violence, including but not limited to tools for the collection of physical evidence, such as sexual assault kits, and specialized and trauma-informed questioning techniques.

1. Crime-prevention funding and programming must reflect community needs.

5.6 We call upon provincial and territorial governments to develop an enhanced, holistic, comprehensive approach for the provision of support to Indigenous victims of crime and families and friends of Indigenous murdered or missing persons. This includes but is not limited to the following measures:

1. Guaranteed access to financial support and meaningful and appropriate trauma care must be provided for victims of crime and traumatic incidents, regardless of whether they report directly to the police, if the perpetrator is charged, or if there is a conviction.
2. Adequate and reliable culturally relevant and accessible victim services must be provided to family members and survivors of crime, and funding must be provided to Indigenous and community-led organizations that deliver victim services and healing supports.

iii. Legislated paid leave and disability benefits must be provided for victims of crime or traumatic events.

1. Guaranteed access to independent legal services must be provided throughout court processes. As soon as an Indigenous woman, girl, or 2SLGBTQQIA person decides to report an offence, before speaking to the police, they must have guaranteed access to legal counsel at no cost.
2. Victim services must be independent from prosecution services and police services.

5.7 We call upon federal and provincial governments to establish robust and well-funded Indigenous civilian police oversight bodies (or branches within established reputable civilian oversight bodies within a jurisdiction) in all jurisdictions, which must include representation of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, inclusive of diverse Indigenous cultural backgrounds, with the power to:

1. Observe and oversee investigations in relation to police negligence or misconduct, including but not limited to rape and other sexual offences.
2. Observe and oversee investigations of cases involving Indigenous Peoples.

iii. Publicly report on police progress in addressing findings and recommendations at least annually.

5.8 We call upon all provincial and territorial governments to enact missing persons legislation.

5.9 We call upon all governments to ensure that protection orders are available, accessible, promptly issued, and effectively serviced and resourced to protect the safety of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

5.10 We call upon all governments to recruit and retain more Indigenous justices of the peace, and to expand their jurisdictions to match that of the Nunavut Justice of the Peace.

5.11 We call upon all governments to increase accessibility to meaningful and culturally appropriate justice practices by expanding restorative justice programs and Indigenous Peoples’ courts.

5.12 We call upon federal, provincial, and territorial governments to increase Indigenous representation in all Canadian courts, including within the Supreme Court of Canada.

5.13 We call upon all provincial and territorial governments to expand and adequately resource legal aid programs in order to ensure that Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have access to justice and meaningful participation in the justice system. Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people must have guaranteed access to legal services in order to defend and assert their human rights and Indigenous rights.

5.14 We call upon federal, provincial and territorial governments to thoroughly evaluate the impact of mandatory minimum sentences as it relates to the sentencing and over-incarceration of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people and to take appropriate action to address their over-incarceration.

5.15 We call upon federal, provincial, and territorial governments and all actors in the justice system to consider Gladue reports as a right and to resource them appropriately, and to create national standards for Gladue reports, including strength-based reporting.

5.16 We call upon federal, provincial, and territorial governments to provide community-based and Indigenous-specific options for sentencing.

5.17 We call upon federal, provincial, and territorial governments to thoroughly evaluate the impacts of Gladue principles and section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code on sentencing equity as it relates to violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

5.18 We call upon the federal government to consider violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people as an aggravating factor at sentencing, and to amend the Criminal Code accordingly, with the passage and enactment of Bill S-215.

5.19 We call upon the federal government to include cases where there is a pattern of intimate partner violence and abuse as murder in the first degree under section 222 of the Criminal Code.

5.20 We call upon the federal government to implement the Indigenous-specific provisions of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (SC 1992, c.20), sections 79 to 84.1.

5.21 We call upon the federal government to fully implement the recommendations in the reports of the Office of the Correctional Investigator and those contained in the Auditor General of Canada (Preparing Indigenous Offenders for Release, Fall 2016); the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015); the report of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, Indigenous People in the Federal Correctional System (June 2018); the report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, A Call to Action: Reconciliation with Indigenous Women in the Federal Justice and Corrections Systems (June 2018); and the Commission of Inquiry into certain events at the Prison for Women in Kingston (1996, Arbour Report) in order to reduce the gross overrepresentation of Indigenous women and girls in the criminal justice system.

5.22 We call upon the federal government to return women’s corrections to the key principles set out in Creating Choices (1990).

5.23 We call upon the federal government to create a Deputy Commissioner for Indigenous Corrections to ensure corporate attention to, and accountability regarding, Indigenous issues.

5.24 We call upon the federal government to amend data collection and intake screening processes to gather distinctions-based and intersectional data about Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

5.25 We call upon all governments to resource research on men who commit violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

Calls for Industries, Institutions, Services, and Partnerships

As this report has demonstrated, so much of the violence shared in the truths of those who testified began with an encounter between a person and an institution or a service that could have ultimately contributed to wellness, if it had occurred differently. In this section of our Calls for Justice, we identify important industries, institutions and services that are featured in testimony throughout this report. We include the idea of partnership, because so many of these services and institutions operated in partnership with governments at all levels; these Calls, therefore, while aimed at service providers, must be interpreted with an insistence on proper resourcing and interjurisdictional cooperation, in order to ensure safety for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

Media and Social Influencers

6.1 We call upon all media, news corporations and outlets, and, in particular, government funded corporations and outlets; media unions, associations, and guilds; academic institutions teaching journalism or media courses; governments that fund such corporations, outlets, and academic institutions; and journalists, reporters, bloggers, film producers, writers, musicians, music producers, and, more generally, people working in the entertainment industry to take decolonizing approaches to their work and publications in order to educate all Canadians about Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. More specifically, this includes the following:

1. Ensure authentic and appropriate representation of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, inclusive of diverse Indigenous cultural backgrounds, in order to address negative and discriminatory stereotypes.
2. Support Indigenous people sharing their stories, from their perspectives, free of bias, discrimination, and false assumptions, and in a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive way.

iii. Increase the number of Indigenous people in broadcasting, television, and radio, and in journalist, reporter, producer, and executive positions in the entertainment industry, including, and not limited to, by:

• providing educational and training opportunities aimed at Indigenous inclusion; and
• providing scholarships and grants aimed at Indigenous inclusion in media, film, and music industry-related fields of study.

1. Take proactive steps to break down the stereotypes that hypersexualize and demean Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and to end practices that perpetuate myths that Indigenous women are more sexually available and “less worthy” than non-Indigenous women because of their race or background.

Health and Wellness Service Providers

7.1 We call upon all governments and health service providers to recognize that Indigenous Peoples – First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, including 2SLGBTQQIA people – are the experts in caring for and healing themselves, and that health and wellness services are most effective when they are designed and delivered by the Indigenous Peoples they are supposed to serve, in a manner consistent with and grounded in the practices, world views, cultures, languages, and values of the diverse Inuit, Métis, and First Nations communities they serve.

7.2 We call upon all governments and health service providers to ensure that health and wellness services for Indigenous Peoples include supports for healing from all forms of unresolved trauma, including intergenerational, multigenerational, and complex trauma. Health and wellness programs addressing trauma should be Indigenous-led, or in partnership with Indigenous communities, and should not be limited in time or approaches.

7.3 We call upon all governments and health service providers to support Indigenous-led prevention initiatives in the areas of health and community awareness, including, but not limited to programming:

• for Indigenous men and boys
• related to suicide prevention strategies for youth and adults
• related to sexual trafficking awareness and no-barrier exiting
• specific to safe and healthy relationships
• specific to mental health awareness
• related to 2SLGBTQQIA issues and sex positivity

7.4 We call upon all governments and health service providers to provide necessary resources, including funding, to support the revitalization of Indigenous health, wellness, and child and Elder care practices. For healing, this includes teachings that are land based and about harvesting and the use of Indigenous medicines for both ceremony and health issues. This may also include: matriarchal teachings on midwifery and postnatal care for both woman and child; early childhood health care; palliative care; Elder care and care homes to keep Elders in their home communities as valued Knowledge Keepers; and other measures. Specific programs may include but are not limited to correctional facilities, healing centres, hospitals, and rehabilitation centres.

7.5 We call upon governments, institutions, organizations, and essential and non-essential service providers to support and provide permanent and necessary resources for specialized intervention, healing and treatment programs, and services and initiatives offered in Indigenous languages.

7.6 We call upon institutions and health service providers to ensure that all persons involved in the provision of health services to Indigenous Peoples receive ongoing training, education, and awareness in areas including, but not limited to:

• the history of colonialism in the oppression and genocide of Inuit, Métis, and First Nations Peoples;
• anti-bias and anti-racism;
• local language and culture; and
• local health and healing practices.

7.7 We call upon all governments, educational institutions, and health and wellness professional bodies to encourage, support, and equitably fund Indigenous people to train and work in the area of health and wellness.

7.8 We call upon all governments and health service providers to create effective and well-funded opportunities, and to provide socio-economic incentives, to encourage Indigenous people to work within the health and wellness field and within their communities. This includes taking positive action to recruit, hire, train, and retain long-term staff and local Indigenous community members for health and wellness services offered in all Indigenous communities.

7.9 We call upon all health service providers to develop and implement awareness and education programs for Indigenous children and youth on the issue of grooming for exploitation and sexual exploitation.

Transportation Service Providers and the Hospitality Industry

8.1 We call upon all transportation service providers and the hospitality industry to undertake training to identify and respond to sexual exploitation and human trafficking, as well as the development and implementation of reporting policies and practices.

Police Services

9.1 We call upon all police services and justice system actors to acknowledge that the historical and current relationship between Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people and the justice system has been largely defined by colonialism, racism, bias, discrimination, and fundamental cultural and societal differences. We further call upon all police services and justice system actors to acknowledge that, going forward, this relationship must be based on respect and understanding, and must be led by, and in partnerships with, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

9.2 We call upon all actors in the justice system, including police services, to build respectful working relationships with Indigenous Peoples by knowing, understanding, and respecting the people they are serving. Initiatives and

actions should include, but are not limited to, the following measures:

1. Review and revise all policies, practices, and procedures to ensure service delivery that is culturally appropriate and reflects no bias or racism toward Indigenous Peoples, including victims and survivors of violence.
2. Establish engagement and partnerships with Indigenous Peoples, communities, and leadership, including women, Elders, youth, and 2SLGBTQQIA people from the respective territories and who are resident within a police service’s jurisdiction.

iii. Ensure appropriate Indigenous representation, including Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, on police services boards and oversight authorities.

1. Undertake training and education of all staff and officers so that they understand and implement culturally appropriate and trauma-informed practices, especially when dealing with families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

9.3 We call upon all governments to fund an increase in recruitment of Indigenous Peoples to all police services, and for all police services to include representation of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, inclusive of diverse Indigenous cultural backgrounds, within their ranks. This includes measures such as the following:

1. Achieve representative First Nations, Inuit, and Métis diversity and gender diversity within all police services through intensive and specialized recruitment across Canada.
2. Ensure mandatory Indigenous language capacity within police services.

iii. Ensure that screening of recruits includes testing for racial, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation bias.

1. Include the Indigenous community in the recruitment and hiring committees/process.
2. In training recruits, include: history of police in the oppression and genocide of Indigenous Peoples; anti-racism and anti-bias training; and culture and language training. All training must be distinctions-based and relevant to the land and people being served; training must not be pan-Indigenous.
3. Retain Indigenous officers through relevant employment supports, and offer incentives to Indigenous officers to meet their unique needs as Indigenous officers serving Indigenous communities, to ensure retention and overall health and wellness of the service.

vii. End the practice of limited-duration posts in all police services, and instead implement a policy regarding remote and rural communities focused on building and sustaining a relationship with the local community and cultures. This relationship must be led by, and in partnership with, the Indigenous Peoples living in those remote and rural communities.

9.4 We call upon non-Indigenous police services to ensure they have the capacity and resources to serve and protect Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. We further call upon all non-Indigenous police services to establish specialized Indigenous policing units within their services located in cities and regions with Indigenous populations.

1. Specialized Indigenous policing units are to be staffed with experienced and well-trained Indigenous investigators, who will be the primary investigative teams and officers overseeing the investigation of cases involving Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
2. Specialized Indigenous policing units are to lead the services’ efforts in community liaison work, community relationship building, and community crime-prevention programs within and for Indigenous communities.

iii. Specialized Indigenous policing units, within non-Indigenous police services, are to be funded adequately by governments.

9.5 We call upon all police services for the standardization of protocols for policies and practices that ensure that all cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are thoroughly investigated. This includes the following measures:

1. Establish a communication protocol with Indigenous communities to inform them of policies, practices, and programs that make the communities safe.
2. Improve communication between police and families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people from the first report, with regular and ongoing communication throughout the investigation.

iii. Improve coordination across government departments and between jurisdictions and Indigenous communities and police services.

1. Recognize that the high turnover among officers assigned to a missing and murdered Indigenous woman’s, girl’s, or 2SLGBTQQIA person’s file may negatively impact both progress on the investigation and relationships with family members; police services must have robust protocols to mitigate these impacts.
2. Create a national strategy, through the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, to ensure consistency in reporting mechanisms for reporting missing Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. This could be developed in conjunction with implementation of a national database.
3. Establish standardized response times to reports of missing Indigenous persons and women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people experiencing violence, and conduct a regular audit of response times to monitor and provide feedback for improvement.

vii. Lead the provincial and territorial governments to establish a nationwide emergency number.

9.6 We call upon all police services to establish an independent, special investigation unit for the investigation of incidents of failures to investigate, police misconduct, and all forms of discriminatory practices and mistreatment of Indigenous Peoples within their police service. This special investigation unit must be transparent in practice and report at least annually to Indigenous communities, leadership, and people in their jurisdiction.

9.7 We call upon all police services to partner with front-line organizations that work in service delivery, safety, and harm reduction for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to expand and strengthen police services delivery.

9.8 We call upon all police services to establish and engage with a civilian Indigenous advisory committee for each police service or police division, and to establish and engage with a local civilian Indigenous advisory committee to advise the detachment operating within the Indigenous community.

9.9 We call upon all levels of government and all police services for the establishment of a national task force, comprised of an independent, highly qualified, and specialized team of investigators, to review and, if required, to reinvestigate each case of all unresolved files of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people from across Canada. Further, this task force must disclose to families and to survivors all non-privileged information and findings.

9.10 We call upon all police services to voluntarily produce all unresolved cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to the national task force.

9.11 We call upon all police services to develop and implement guidelines for the policing of the sex industry in consultation with women engaged in the sex industry, and to create a specific complaints mechanism about police for those in the sex industry.

 

 

Attorneys and Law Societies

10.1 We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, and Canadian law societies and bar associations, for mandatory intensive and periodic training of Crown attorneys, defence lawyers, court staff, and all who participate in the criminal justice system, in the area of Indigenous cultures and histories, including distinctions-based training. This includes, but is not limited to, the following measures:

1. All courtroom officers, staff, judiciary, and employees in the judicial system must take cultural competency training that is designed and led in partnership with local Indigenous communities.
2. Law societies working with Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people must establish and enforce cultural competency standards.

iii. All courts must have a staff position for an Indigenous courtroom liaison worker that is adequately funded and resourced to ensure Indigenous people in the court system know their rights and are connected to appropriate services.

Educators

11.1 We call upon all elementary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions and education authorities to educate and provide awareness to the public about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and about the issues and root causes of violence they experience. All curriculum development and programming should be done in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, especially Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Such education and awareness must include historical and current truths about the genocide against Indigenous Peoples through state laws, policies, and colonial practices. It should include, but not be limited to, teaching Indigenous history, law, and practices from Indigenous perspectives and the use of Their Voices Will Guide Us with children and youth.

11.2 We call upon all educational service providers to develop and implement awareness and education programs for Indigenous children and youth on the issue of grooming for exploitation and sexual exploitation.

Social Workers and Those Implicated in Child Welfare

12.1 We call upon all federal, provincial, and territorial governments to recognize Indigenous self-determination and inherent jurisdiction over child welfare. Indigenous governments and leaders have a positive obligation to assert jurisdiction in this area. We further assert that it is the responsibility of Indigenous governments to take a role in intervening, advocating, and supporting their members impacted by the child welfare system, even when not exercising jurisdiction to provide services through Indigenous agencies.

12.2 We call upon on all governments, including Indigenous governments, to transform current child welfare systems fundamentally so that Indigenous communities have control over the design and delivery of services for their families and children. These services must be adequately funded and resourced to ensure better support for families and communities to keep children in their family homes.

12.3 We call upon all governments and Indigenous organizations to develop and apply a definition of “best interests of the child” based on distinct Indigenous perspectives, world views, needs, and priorities, including the perspective of Indigenous children and youth. The primary focus and objective of all child and family services agencies must be upholding and protecting the rights of the child through ensuring the health and well-being of children, their families, and communities, and family unification and reunification.

12.4 We call upon all governments to prohibit the apprehension of children on the basis of poverty and cultural bias. All governments must resolve issues of poverty, inadequate and substandard housing, and lack of financial support for families, and increase food security to ensure that Indigenous families can succeed.

12.5 We call upon all levels of government for financial supports and resources to be provided so that family or community members of children of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are capable of caring for the children left behind. Further, all governments must ensure the availability and accessibility of specialized care, such as grief, loss, trauma, and other required services, for children left behind who are in care due to the murder or disappearance of their caregiver.

12.6 We call upon all governments and child welfare services to ensure that, in cases where apprehension is not avoidable, child welfare services prioritize and ensure that a family member or members, or a close community member, assumes care of Indigenous children. The caregivers should be eligible for financial supports equal to an amount that might otherwise be paid to a foster family, and will not have other government financial support or benefits removed or reduced by virtue of receiving additional financial supports for the purpose of caring for the child. This is particularly the case for children who lose their mothers to violence or to institutionalization and are left behind, needing family and belonging to heal.

12.7 We call upon all governments to ensure the availability and accessibility of distinctions-based and culturally safe culture and language programs for Indigenous children in the care of child welfare.

12.8 We call upon provincial and territorial governments and child welfare services for an immediate end to the practice of targeting and apprehending infants (hospital alerts or birth alerts) from Indigenous mothers right after they give birth.

12.9 We call for the establishment of a Child and Youth Advocate in each jurisdiction with a specialized unit with the mandate of Indigenous children and youth. These units must be established within a period of one year of this report. We call upon the federal government to establish a National Child and Youth Commissioner who would also serve as a special measure to strengthen the framework of accountability for the rights of Indigenous children in Canada. This commissioner would act as a national counterpart to the child advocate offices that exist in nearly all provinces and territories.

12.10 We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to immediately adopt the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal 2017 CHRT 14 standards regarding the implementation of Jordan’s Principle in relation to all First Nations (Status and non-Status), Métis, and Inuit children. We call on governments to modify funding formulas for the provision of services on a needs basis, and to prioritize family support, reunification, and prevention of harms. Funding levels must represent the principle of substantive equity.

12.11 We call upon all levels of government and child welfare services for a reform of laws and obligations with respect to youth “aging out” of the system, including ensuring a complete network of support from childhood into adulthood, based on capacity and needs, which includes opportunities for education, housing, and related supports. This includes the provision of free post-secondary education for all children in care in Canada.

12.12 We call upon all child and family services agencies to engage in recruitment efforts to hire and promote Indigenous staff, as well as to promote the intensive and ongoing training of social workers and child welfare staff in the following areas

• history of the child welfare system in the oppression and genocide of Indigenous Peoples
• anti-racism and anti-bias training
• local culture and language training
• sexual exploitation and trafficking training to recognize signs and develop specialized responses

12.13 We call upon all governments and child welfare agencies to fully implement the Spirit Bear Plan.

12.14 We call upon all child welfare agencies to establish more rigorous requirements for safety, harm-prevention, and needs-based services within group or care homes, as well as within foster situations, to prevent the recruitment of children in care into the sex

industry. We also insist that governments provide appropriate care and services, over the long term, for children who have been exploited or trafficked while in care.

12.15 We call upon child welfare agencies and all governments to fully investigate deaths of Indigenous youth in care.

Extractive and Development Industries

13.1 We call upon all resource-extraction and development industries to consider the safety and security of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as well as their equitable benefit from development, at all stages of project planning, assessment, implementation, management, and monitoring.

13.2 We call upon all governments and bodies mandated to evaluate, approve, and/or monitor development projects to complete gender-based socio-economic impact assessments on all proposed projects as part of their decision making and ongoing monitoring of projects. Project proposals must include provisions and plans to mitigate risks and impacts identified in the impact assessments prior to being approved.

13.3 We call upon all parties involved in the negotiations of impact-benefit agreements related to resource-extraction and development projects to include provisions that address the impacts of projects on the safety and security of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Provisions must also be included to ensure that Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA people equitably benefit from the projects.

13.4 We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to fund further inquiries and studies in order to better understand the relationship between resource extraction and other development projects and violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. At a minimum, we support the call of Indigenous women and leaders for a public inquiry into the sexual violence and racism at hydroelectric projects in northern Manitoba.

13.5 We call upon resource-extraction and development industries and all governments and service providers to anticipate and recognize increased demand on social infrastructure because of development projects and resource extraction, and for mitigation measures to be identified as part of the planning and approval process. Social infrastructure must be expanded and service capacity built to meet the anticipated needs of the host communities in advance of the start of projects. This includes but is not limited to ensuring that policing, social services, and health services are adequately staffed and resourced.

Correctional Services Canada

14.1 We call upon Correctional Service Canada to take urgent action to establish facilities described under sections 81 and 84 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to ensure that Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people have options for decarceration. Such facilities must be strategically located to allow for localized placements and mother-and-child programming.

14.2 We call upon Correctional Service Canada to ensure that facilities established under sections 81 and 84 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act receive funding parity with Correctional Service Canada-operated facilities. The agreements made under these

sections must transfer authority, capacity, resources, and support to the contracting community organization.

14.3 We call upon Correctional Service Canada to immediately rescind the maximum security classification that disproportionately limits federally sentenced Indigenous women classified at that level from accessing services, supports, and programs required to facilitate their safe and timely reintegration.

14.4 We call upon Correctional Service Canada to evaluate, update, and develop security classification scales and tools that are sensitive to the nuances of Indigenous backgrounds and realities.

14.5 We call upon Correctional Service Canada to apply Gladue factors in all decision making concerning Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA people and in a manner that meets their needs and rehabilitation.

14.6 We call upon Correctional Service Canada and provincial and territorial services to provide intensive and comprehensive mental health, addictions, and trauma services for incarcerated Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, ensuring that the term of care is needs-based and not tied to the duration of incarceration. These plans and services must follow the individuals as they reintegrate into the community.

14.7 We call upon Correctional Service Canada to prohibit transfer of federally incarcerated women in need of mental health care to all-male treatment centres.

14.8 We call upon Correctional Service Canada to ensure its correctional facilities and programs recognize the distinct needs of Indigenous offenders when designing and implementing programming for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis women. Correctional Service Canada must use culturally safe, distinctions-based, and trauma-informed models of care, adapted to the needs of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

14.9 We call upon Correctional Service Canada, in order to support reintegration, to increase opportunities for meaningful vocational training, secondary school graduation, and postsecondary education.

14.10 We call upon Correctional Service Canada to increase and enhance the role and participation of Elders in decision making for all aspects of planning for Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

14.11 We call upon Correctional Service Canada to expand mother-and-child programming and to establish placement options described in sections 81 and 84 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to ensure that mothers and their children are not separated.

14.12 We call upon Correctional Service Canada and provincial and territorial correctional services to provide programming for men and boys that confronts and ends violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

14.13 We call upon Correctional Service Canada to eliminate the practice of strip searches.

Calls for All Canadians

As the Final Report has shown, and within every encounter, each person has a role to play in order to combat violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Beyond those Calls aimed at governments or at specific industries or service providers, we encourage every Canadian to consider how they can give life to these Calls for Justice.

We call on all Canadians to:

15.1 Denounce and speak out against violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

15.2 Decolonize by learning the true history of Canada and Indigenous history in your local area. Learn about and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ history, cultures, pride, and diversity, acknowledging the land you live on and its importance to local Indigenous communities, both historically and today.

15.3 Develop knowledge and read the Final Report. Listen to the truths shared, and acknowledge the burden of these human and Indigenous rights violations, and how they impact Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people today.

15.4 Using what you have learned and some of the resources suggested, become a strong ally. Being a strong ally involves more than just tolerance; it means actively working to break down barriers and to support others in every relationship and encounter in which you participate.

15.5 Confront and speak out against racism, sexism, ignorance, homophobia, and transphobia, and teach or encourage others to do the same, wherever it occurs: in your home, in your workplace, or in social settings.

15.6 Protect, support, and promote the safety of women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people by acknowledging and respecting the value of every person and every community, as well as the right of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to generate their own, self-determined solutions.

15.7 Create time and space for relationships based on respect as human beings, supporting and embracing differences with kindness, love, and respect. Learn about Indigenous principles of relationship specific to those Nations or communities in your local area and work, and put them into practice in all of your relationships with Indigenous Peoples.

15.8 Help hold all governments accountable to act on the Calls for Justice, and to implement them according to the important principles we set out.