In response to calls for action from Indigenous families, communities and organizations, as well as non-governmental and international organizations, the Government of Canada launched an entirely independent National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in September 2016.
The National Inquiry’s Final MMIWG Report released June 3, reveals that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The two volume report calls for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across Canada.
The Final Report is comprised of the truths of more than 2,380 family members, survivors of violence, experts and Knowledge Keepers shared over two years of cross-country public hearings and evidence gathering. It delivers 231 individual Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians.
As documented in the Final Report, testimony from family members and survivors of violence spoke about a surrounding context marked by multigenerational and intergenerational trauma and marginalization in the form of poverty, insecure housing or homelessness and barriers to education, employment, health care and cultural support. Experts and Knowledge Keepers spoke to specific colonial and patriarchal policies that displaced women from their traditional roles in communities and governance and diminished their status in society, leaving them vulnerable to violence. The speaker will elaborate and offer thoughts on future actions
Speaker: Terri-Lynn Fox
Oki, Niistoo’akoka Aapiihkwi’komotakii, my English name is Terri-Lynn Fox. I am a member of the Kainai Nation, which is part of the Blackfoot Confederacy. My academic credentials include a B.A. in Psychology, an M.A. in Sociology, and I am currently completing a Ph.D. in Education. I am Director of the Kainai Wellness Centre, which is one branch of the Blood Tribe Department of Health, located on the Kainai Nation. I practice our Siksikaitsitapi ways and envision this to be at the forefront of our healing methods, in addition to an avenue for our way forward, as we think about, participate in, and actively change the Canadian landscape for the betterment of all – to justly reach reconciliation.
Moderator: Knud Petersen
Date: Thursday, June 13, 2019 Time: Doors open 11:30 am, Presentation 12 noon, buffet lunch 12:30 pm, Q&A 1 – 1:30 pm Location: Royal Canadian Legion (north door) 324 Mayor Magrath Dr. S. Lethbridge Cost: $14 buffet lunch with dessert/coffee/tea/juice or $2 coffee/tea/juice. RSVP not required