Ottawa pledges “transformative change” to address violence against indigenous women and girls

Ottawa pledges “transformative change” to address violence against indigenous women and girls

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Two years after the National Survey of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) released its landmark report, the federal government today issued a response-a 30-page report promising a series of “transformative changes.” Addressing the ongoing inequality of indigenous peoples faces the justice system.

The “Federal Path” report called for a comprehensive approach, formulated with the opinions of Aboriginals, Métis, and Inuit, to end the scourge of disproportionate violence against indigenous women and gender-diversified people.

The plan includes government commitments to invest more in indigenous languages, culture, infrastructure, health, and policing. Ottawa promised to give the community more control over social services to ensure the adoption of culturally-related governance methods.

At the ceremony for the release of the commemorative report, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised a new expenditure of $2.2 billion to implement some ambitious new plans.

“The substantive and transformative changes ordered by the government are critical to ending violence against Aboriginal women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people,” said Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Royal Aboriginal Relations, using acronyms referring to bisexual, Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual.

“As the government and Canadians, we must do more, and we vowed to do better to end this national tragedy,” she said, citing statistics showing the possibility of indigenous women and girls being murdered or missing It is 12 times that of other women. in Canada.

Although Aboriginal women only accounted for 4% of the Canadian population, 28% of all homicides against women in 2019 were victims of Aboriginal women-Bennett said this was caused by systemic discrimination and the country’s colonization. Historically driven.

The families of missing and murdered indigenous women have long believed that the country’s judicial system is rife with racism, which often leads to insufficient police response to the violent crimes of indigenous communities and fewer cases to be resolved.

The government stated that it will introduce new legislation that recognizes that policing led by indigenous peoples is a “basic service” and will use more funds to combat crime in these reserved areas.

Ottawa also pledged to expand the Aboriginal policing program to new communities and provide funding for the repair, refurbishment and replacement of existing police facilities in Aboriginal and Inuit communities.

In addition to providing more resources for communities to better conduct self-policing, the federal government has also promised to provide new investment for RCMP, which is usually responsible for the security of rural, northern and remote communities.

Ottawa stated that it will instruct the RCMP to “reform the recruitment and training process” to address systemic racism in its ranks, collect more race-based data to better track crime statistics, and establish RCMP-Aboriginal The Office of Cooperation, Co-development and Accountability-a new bureau aimed at improving the relationship between the police and indigenous peoples. The government stated that it hopes RCMP officials will view their actions through “indigenous lenses” to avoid stigmatizing crime victims.

Discrimination in healthcare that needs to be addressed

To help women fleeing domestic violence, the federal government has pledged to invest more in transitional housing, increase the number of shelters for indigenous women and children in the northern and urban areas, and “expand community reintegration support” to help Those indigenous women who have suffered domestic violence. Is a criminal offender.

In addition to strengthening police resources, the government also expressed its hope to resolve the issue of discrimination in the healthcare sector to ensure better results.

Joyce Echaquan, an Atikamekw woman, was racist attacked by Quebec health care workers when she was dying in the hospital. This prompted Ottawa to work with provincial, territorial and indigenous partners to resolve prejudice and “extremism”. Health inequality and social disparities,” the report said.

The federal government said it will soon introduce new healthcare legislation aimed at eradicating anti-indigenous racism in healthcare services.

The government stated that it would like to see more “health care system navigators” and patient advocates to help Aboriginal people interact with doctors and nurses and expand the use of Aboriginal and Inuit midwives and midwives. Ottawa said it hopes to conduct “cultural safety training” for medical professionals to avoid repeating Echaquan’s mistakes.

The government stated that it is determined to strengthen Aboriginal control and responsibility for the “design, provision, and management of federally funded medical services.” It will also spend more money to improve the sexual and reproductive health services provided to indigenous women inside and outside the reserve, and to strengthen the mental health services provided to them.

Ottawa today pledged to hire more nurses and other medical professionals for remote and isolated Aboriginal communities.

The federal government also stated that it will also establish a new National Women’s Health Institute to study ways to improve women’s health care outcomes in marginalized communities.

In order to promote overall health and well-being, the government stated that it should support communities to revitalize indigenous languages ??and cultures.

Ottawa pledged to increase opportunities for indigenous “cultural expression, participation, promotion and representation of the arts, cultural industries and media”, and said it will continue to support efforts to protect Canadian indigenous languages-many of which will face extinction and colonialism centuries later.

The federal government stated that it will support initiatives such as language and cultural camps on the basis of the legislation enacting the Indigenous Languages ??Act in 2019.

“Government policies and laws prevent the practice and dissemination of cultural knowledge and language, which creates conditions where the important roles and identities of indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are not valued,” the federal document said.



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