At last! Your move, Canada. | Indigenous Peoples |Axisoflogic.com

After more than three years of work - interviews, document searches, statistical analysis, testimony - we finally have the report of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) inquiry. Although the inquiry was conducted over the past three years, the subject of the review has been a longstanding blight on the Canadian landscape.

I have downloaded the report - two volumes totalling more than 1200 pages and a separate volume to address issues specific to the province of Québec. It's a lot of reading and I do intend to go through all of it - this issue has been on my radar for decades. But for now, I can address it only superficially. [The issue has been front and centre for me owing to knowing one of the victims. This particular woman was murdered in British Columbia by mass killer Robert Picton. The only proof of her death was DNA evidence located on his pig farm.]

While the work of the inquiry is over, the fallout from it will be with us for years. The inquiry made 231 recommendations which are described by the Commissioner of the inquiry, Marion Buller, not as 'recommendations' but as 'legal imperatives'. Buller noted, "This report is about deliberate race, identity and gender-based genocide.'

Citing readily available statistics from Statistics Canada (StatsCan), the inquiry found that indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than members of any other demographic group in Canada - and 16 times more likely to be slain or simply disappear than white women. In fact, StatsCan notes that indigenous women and girls make up about 25% of all female homicide victims in Canada - a figure that is grossly out of step with the number of indigenous people.

So now the ball is squarely in the court of the government of Canada. As CBC News reports:

Beyond defining the level of violence against these women as a "Canadian genocide," recommending official language status for Indigenous languages and calling for "a guaranteed annual livable income for all Canadians," the commissioners are also recommending sweeping reforms to the justice system and policing in this country, including stiffer penalties for men who carry out spousal or partner abuse.

But here's where the rubber meets the road. Canada's government (I don't mean just the current government, but ALL of them - with the possible exception of the brief rule of Paul Martin as Prime Minister) - has a poor record with regard to indigenous people. From time to time some government official apologizes to indigenous people for the way they've been treated, but nothing much changes.

Canada has a current of racism that bubbles just beneath the surface (usually) and indigenous people have often seen the worst iniquities; it is almost as though many Canadians see them as a fair target.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he "gives his word" that his government will implement an action plan to satisfy the inquiry's findings. There is a very good chance he won't be prime minister in four months so this might just be lip service - Trudeau is good at that. But even if he is not re-elected, his successor is not going to find it easy to sweep away this Commission's report.

This is really an issue that needs a push from ALL Canadians to finally address the horrors of our colonizing past. We have treated indigenous people with little respect and even less understanding. It's time that Canadians stand up for indigenous people and hold the government's feet to the fire until positive changes are made. But ... and here's the biggest issue ... Canadians as a whole will need to re-examine the part we have all played in allowing this 'genocide' to be continued for so long.

If you'd like to read the full text of the Commission's report, you can find it here. A warning, though - it's grim reading.

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