The Missing Redress For Indigenous Women

The overrepresentation of Indigenous women who are missing or murdered calls for the need of tangible change. Looking at the various attempts by the Canadian government to combat this allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the inequality faced by Indigenous women from all walks of life.

On May 16, 2022, a man looking for scrap metal in a residential garbage bin found the partial remains of Rebecca Contois, a 24-year-old O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi woman. As part of neighbourhood pickup, a portion of Contois’ remains had already been dumped at the Brady Road landfill. Previously, two other Indigenous women had also been declared missing, and so the discovery of Contois’ remains suggested that these two women had also been killed and disposed of similarly. However, the Manitoba government refused to search the landfill at the time, citing health and safety concerns (Canadian Press). This sparked outrage, with some saying they would search the landfill independently. In response, the dominant party at the time launched a campaign during the 2023 provincial election, refusing to search the landfills, erecting billboards explicitly opposing the search. Conversely, the New Democratic Party promised a search after winning the election, which it did. A whole two years later, serial killer and self-proclaimed white supremacist Jeremy Anthony Micheal Skibicki was finally found guilty of sexually assaulting, defiling, and then disposing of four different women whom he had preyed on outside homeless shelters (Matza). The Canadian government’s initial refusal to search the landfills underscores the systemic neglect of Indigenous women’s well-being. While efforts have been made to reconcile and progress can be seen, cases like this, especially given the recency, reveal that colonial attitudes persist and the blatant disregard for Indigenous communities remains prevalent in Canadian society. Canada’s efforts at resolving these issues have been largely insufficient in confronting ongoing injustices against Indigenous women, whose lives continue to be marginalized and endangered today.

Though Canada markets itself as a progressive, peacemaking country, in all aspects of their lives, Indigenous women face systemic injustices ranging from lessened opportunities in education and work to the current Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis (hereafter referred to as MMIWG), emphasizing the deep-rooted colonial legacies which remain embedded in urban Canadian society (Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women). At the center is the Indian Act of 1876, whose sole aim was to erase individual and collective Indigenous identity and is recognized today as cultural genocide by the Canadian Museum of Human Rights (Young). Instead of disappearing over time, these racist policies are now present in modern institutions and continue to govern Indigenous women’s day-to-day lives behind closed doors. The discrimination that Indigenous women face is intersectional; it is the composite result of being both Indigenous and female, living in a country that marginalizes both. Taken together, these harmful impacts of colonialism, which remain, suggest that Canada has not effectively addressed the present-day injustices.

Yet even with the statistics that prove socioeconomic inequality in Canada still exists, recent government efforts have prompted individuals to argue that progress is being made to resolve this disparity. While that is true, many efforts have been largely unsuccessful at creating long-term change. For example, the 231 Calls for Justice “aimed at ending genocide, tackling root causes of violence, and improving the quality of life of Indigenous women” and its predecessor, the 94 Calls to Action have yielded minimal results as a 2024 study conducted by professor Paulina Moral of the University of Guelph found Indigenous women are still 12 times as likely to be murdered or go missing compared to any other race, suggesting the work done to combat violence against Indigenous women has been ineffective (National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls 7; García-Del Moral). Furthermore, Canada’s 3-year Anti-Racism Strategy, centred around education and raising awareness, did not address the overrepresentation of Indigenous women in Canadian federal prisons. According to a study conducted by professors Michaela McGuire and Danielle Murdoch of Simon Fraser University, Indigenous women make up 42% of total federally incarcerated women, despite only being 4% of Canada’s population (McGuire and Murdoch). This over-criminalization reflects Canada’s failed attempt at addressing the root cause of systemic inequality. Thus, even though it is true the Canadian government has tried to implement policies and goal-oriented plans to address historical injustices, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, composed of Indigenous scholars and activists, still argues that “a measurable, costed plan” is needed to break the systemic barriers (Native Women's Association of Canada). These persisting disparities accentuate the still-present structural barriers tracing back to colonial times, reinforcing the need for further action.

Indigenous women in Canada remain subject to socioeconomic discrimination evident in three main ways: access to education, income inequality, and underrepresentation in positions of power. For most Indigenous women, colonial legacies have made it especially difficult for them to attain the same level of education. According to Statistics Canada, only 14% of Indigenous women between the ages of 25 and 64 had at least a bachelor’s degree in 2016. Though this number is up from 9% in 2006, the disparity in education is still very much present. Even those who have the necessary education are still limited by employment inequality (Government of Canada). A 2016 census by the Canadian Government found that in accessible areas, there was a 14.8% unemployment rate amongst First Nations women, which contrasts with the 5.9% unemployment rate amongst Non-Indigenous women (Government of Canada). This discrepancy alludes to not only the surface-level issue of disproportionate employment but also underlies the larger issue of systemic discrimination. Still, even in the workplace, Indigenous women are subject to income discrimination and earn significantly less than their non-Indigenous counterparts. The Canadian Women’s Foundation found in 2018 that Indigenous women earn 65 cents for every dollar earned by non-Indigenous men (Canadian Women's Foundation). Statistics Canada found in a similar study in 2022 that Indigenous women earned on average 20.1% less than Canadian-born men and 8.9% less than Indigenous men (Statistics Canada). Taken together, these statistics point to the widespreadness of income and employment inequality that Indigenous women are disproportionately affected by. This issue can be further perpetuated by comparing Indigenous women in positions of power in the workplace versus non-Indigenous men and women. This issue is prevalent not only in corporate businesses but also in government positions as well. For example, it was found in a 2023 study of diversity and leadership at Canadian public companies by a group of lawyers at Osler, Hoskin, and Harcourt LLP that Indigenous peoples held just over 0.7% of board seats under the Canadian Business Corporations Act (MacDougall et al.). Further building on this, a report in 2024 by the Prosperity Project found that Indigenous women accounted for less than 0.4% of all corporate director positions (The Prosperity Project). Just as Western settlers once denied Indigenous women their legal status, corporate leaders are now denying Indigenous women access to decision-making spaces, not because of their shortcomings, but because the structural systems in place were not designed to include them. These disparities, which remain entrenched in modern-day Canada, reflect the structural barriers Indigenous women are forced to endure as a result of the government's failure to take meaningful action.

The modern legacies of colonialism extend beyond mere socioeconomic inequality and are even more evident in the ongoing MMIWG crisis, highlighting systemic violence against Indigenous women in Canada. According to a study by The Lancet journal, 1200 Indigenous women went missing between the years 1980 and 2012 (The Lancet). However, there is some disagreement over this number; a study by Professor Jerry Flores et al. of the University of Toronto into the government’s inaction instead documented the number to be over 4000 (Flores and Román Alfaro). This discrepancy highlights yet another issue: much data available regarding Indigenous women is either incomplete, incorrect, or tainted by institutional biases. This systemic neglect of Indigenous women is tied to a more deliberate attempt at severing matrilineal bonds and dismantling cultural foundations. And so the notion behind the targeted violence against Indigenous women went beyond stopping reproduction, but was meant to shatter the very roots of Indigenous culture and community by disrupting the source of knowledge, traditions, and language. This persistent legacy of Indigenous women not being given the same respect and rights has made it so that today, the police do not regard MMIWG cases with the same urgency as they would any other homicide case. At the time, European settlers justified their racist behaviour using pseudoscientific beliefs, like that Indigenous peoples’ ill health and poverty were signs of slower racial evolution when in truth, disease was brought by European settlers, and poverty was a result of racist government legislation. Though the majority of these acts have been abolished, their legacies persist, with the 2019 Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls deeming present-day violence against Indigenous women and girls a genocide (National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls).

Despite colonialism no longer being a direct source of inequality and marginalization, many policies and systems put in place during the era of colonization continue to covertly affect Indigenous women today. A notable example of a colonial-era act with modern-day implications is the Indian Act. Under section 12(1)(b), Indigenous women would lose their Indian status if they married non-Indigenous men, meaning that Indigenous women were being trapped in cycles of poverty, which rendered them unable to pass down land or status. The 1985 Amendment, or Bill C-31, sought to address some of these issues; those with reinstated statuses had limited abilities to pass down status (Assembly of First Nations). Further amendments like Bill C-38 resulted in the complete removal of all sexist provisions, however, still did not address the covert racism present in society as a result of colonial policies, with professor Regine Halseth of the University of Northern British Columbia finding rates of poverty amongst Indigenous women to be double that of other Canadian women (Halseth). Another colonial policy which has left lasting impacts is the child welfare system. Sociology professors Julie Kaye and Alana Glecia at the University of Saskatchewan report that despite making up only 7.7% of all children under 15, Indigenous children represent 52.2% of children in foster care (Kaye and Glecia). This overrepresentation of Indigenous children without homes perpetuates the legacy of colonial practices, which forcibly removed Indigenous children from their ancestral homes. Especially when considering the history of colonial narratives which cast Indigenous mothers as unfit—believing that “their cultures and ways of life were detrimental to their children’s social and moral development”— it becomes apparent that this overrepresentation underscored the larger goal of undermining the role of Indigenous women as teachers, nurturers, and passers of culture and knowledge (Caldwell and Sinha). These practices not only disrupted families then but also left intergenerational scars on families, trapping individuals in cycles of trauma. Until action is made, these policies and their respective legacies will continue to disproportionately harm Indigenous women and girls.
In order to fully confront and acknowledge the issues which are very much present in Canadian society today, the Canadian government must work in conjunction with Indigenous women to create formal changes in Canadian legislation. “Canada’s systemic failure to adequately address and protect Indigenous women from violence is a product of the nation’s persistent refusal to remedy historical racist and sexist practices and policies” (Decoste). The government must implement a fully costed national action plan that goes beyond outlining where Canada has failed, but also incorporates clear timelines and funding allocations which do not exclude Indigenous women and Elders from the conversation. As well, the government must reform justice and policing systems across the nation, mandating informed police training, Indigenous-led oversight boards, and full transparency with complete data on missing persons cases, especially when it comes to Indigenous women. Finally, to address the deep-rooted socioeconomic disparities that continue to impact Indigenous women, the government must implement mandatory hiring quotas for Indigenous men and women, ensuring equal opportunities for all. The government must also expand education opportunities for Indigenous women, which provide opportunities for learning without disregarding Indigenous culture and ways of learning as well. To truly combat the injustices which disproportionately affect Indigenous women in Canadian society today, the government must move beyond symbolic education and awareness efforts and towards Indigenous-led legislative change.

Hence, Canada has not done enough to correct the inequalities that are so pervasive in Canadian society today. Like Chickasaw author Elizabeth Rule says, “This context necessitates a rethinking of violence levelled against Indigenous women throughout Canada and demands a new conceptual framework in which such violence must be understood as both an immediate threat to Indigenous women’s lives and a systematic attack on Indigenous nations and cultures” (Rule). To truly rectify systemic racism and discrimination, change must be made on a structural level that goes beyond education and apologies. Effective transformative action would involve structural frameworks that protect the rights that settlers fought so hard to strip Indigenous women of, and a formal abolition of colonial-era policies designed to marginalize women of Indigenous descent. To be able to move forward, Canada must understand that systemic racism today is a continuation of settler colonialism then. What is needed now is a complete repudiation of colonial structures and a framework that addresses the intersectionality of discrimination against Indigenous women in Canada.