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Over 20 years only a few of the over 700 recommendations from 58 reports have ever been put into action.
Ottawa (27 Feb 2015) – The first national roundtable on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is being held in Ottawa on February 26—27, 2015. The first day is a closed meeting for families of the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. They will provide input into the content of a presentation and help develop recommendations that will taken to a meeting of federal ministers, provincial and territorial premiers and Indigenous organizations on Friday.
Long awaited discussion on violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada
The goals of the roundtable are
- Initiate dialogue among all levels of government to take action to effectively address the crisis of violence against Indigenous women and girls.
- Collectively identify solutions and means of moving them forward reduce and eventually eliminate all forms of violence.
- Secure further commitment to collaborative dialogue and engagement of Indigenous peoples in actions that involve all parties.
Underlying issues of poverty and discrimination must be included in any discussion about violence
At the conclusion of the roundtable a document will be produced that will outline the outcomes and next steps to be taken. For many of the attendees the hope is that one of the next steps will be a national inquiry. Advocates of a national inquiry believe the issue of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls cannot be addressed by criminal or judicial measures alone. Leaders and communities must examine the underlying issues such as poverty and discrimination.
Study shows Canadian federal, provincial and territorial governments ignored expert recommendations to prevent violence
The roundtable is taking place the same week as a study is being released showing that Canadian governments have repeatedly ignored expert recommendations that have been put forward to stop violence against Indigenous women and girls.
The Legal Strategy Coalition on Violence Against Indigenous Women reviewed 58 reports covering 20 years that dealt with aspects of violence and discrimination against Indigenous women and girls. The researchers found that tragically only a few of the over 700 recommendations have ever been put into action.
“A national inquiry is needed to examine why there has been so much resistance by successive governments to implementation of known and recommended measures to address the issue,“ stressed Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) director Kim Stanton.
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