RCMP releases 2015 review of MMIW cases; Indigenous women still over-represented
- Tiffany Head | June 19, 2015
Today the RCMP released its 2015 National Operational Overview on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, with no real surprises in the findings.
Indigenous women continue to be over-represented among Canada’s missing and murdered women, given their percentage of the Canadian population is 4.3%.
Ever since the release of the 2014 National Operational Overview, which reported a total of 225 unsolved missing and murdered cases across all police jurisdictions in Canada, the RCMP says there has been significant advancement of public understanding and awareness of the issue of violence against Indigenous women.
Key findings of the 2015 overview are:
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The updated data reflects that 9.3% of Aboriginal unsolved female homicide and missing persons cases captured in the 2014 Overview have since been resolved;
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It also revealed most women were likely to be murdered by men known to them, be it a spouse, ex-spouse, or community member. It shows that there is a connection to family violence. (This consists with the 2014 report);
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As of April 2015, for all police jurisdictions in Canada, there were 174 missing Aboriginal female cases. This represents 10% of the 1,750 missing females reported on the Canadian Police Information (CPIC);
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A quality assurance review using the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains (NCMPUR) database was also conducted. These searches resulted in 159 additional missing non-white female cases being identified for review. Nineteen of these 159 new files were determined to be missing Aboriginal females.
The Assembly of First Nation leadership says the findings on the RCMP report are an urgent call to action on a national crisis.
AFN National Chief Perry Bellgarde stated that it is time for action that shows the lives of Indigenous women and girls matter.
“The number of missing and murdered Indigenous women cannot remain a mere statistic,” says Bellegarde.
There have been many calls for a national inquiry to the federal government that have gone unanswered or rebuffed. The RCMP, for its part,says it's committed in helping to address the situation.
“The RCMP is committed to working in collaboration with Aboriginal communities, NGOs, social services, health professionals and governmental agencies to implement concrete initiatives that address the underlying root causes of the violence facing Aboriginal women, and to finding solutions to this tragic reality,” read the report.
The RCMP is focused on prevention efforts through the Family Violence Initiative (FVI). There have been funding allocated and distributed in support of violence prevention/intervention initiatives in Aboriginal communities since 2014.
They have already developed the Aboriginal Shield program, a youth empowerment program which encourages making informed, healthy, positive choices, and is available for delivery in communities.
AFN Regional Chief Cameron Alexis, who leads the policing portfolio for AFN, says that the RCMP is taking important steps to work with First Nations people.
He believes that more needs to be done to ensure that Indigenous women and girls are safe and secure.
“We need a national inquiry to get to the root causes and find long-term solutions, and we need immediate action to ensure they’re safe now, “says Alexis.
Alexis also states that the Aboriginal Policing Forum was advocated for but the federal government did not respond even though they continue to publicly state $25 million has been set aside.
“There is still no evidenced action! As an outgoing Regional Chief, the federal response was very disappointing while trying to serve our people,” says Alexis.
The updated data shows that there are 106 unsolved homicide cases and 98 unsolved missing cases that remain outstanding. The majority of victims of violence, whether Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal, had a relationship with the offender.
Related stories:
- Church bells rings across Canada for MMIW
- AFN National Chief demands RCMP, federal gov't share info on MMIW
- "Rise Up" and raise awareness of violence against women
Click here for unresolved Missing People cases.