Between the 1940s and now, thousands of Indigenous women and girls have either gone missing or have been brutally murdered. Years later, more than half of these cases have not been solved.

Indigenous women make up 4% of the total population within Canada, yet they make up 28% of female homicides. They are five times more likely to be victims of any genre of violence. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights states that “the police have failed to adequately prevent and protect indigenous women and girls from killings and disappearances, extreme forms of violence, and have failed to diligently and promptly investigate these acts. Family members of missing and murdered indigenous women have described dismissive attitudes from police officers working on their cases, a lack of adequate resources allocated to those cases, and a lengthy failure to investigate and recognize a pattern of violence.” It has also been said that the RCMP has failed to provide an accurate number each month of how many women do go missing and/or are murdered. As a result of this, more than half of these cases involving Indigenous women remain unsolved according to the NWAC’s database, whereas only 5% of white women’s murder cases remain unsolved. 

It should be a priority to Canada and its citizens to address the situation and to change how Indigenous women are treated. It should be a priority to the RCMP and other Canadian Police forces to devote their attention to these cases just as they would to any other. 

Signing this petition will help to bring more recognition to an issue that most definitely needs our attention and our help to get Indigenous women and girls the justice they deserve.