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Stolen Sisters - A Human Rights Response to discrimination and violence against Indigenous Women in Canada (October, 2004): Recommendations

Canadian officials have a clear and inescapable obligation to ensure the safety of Indigenous women, to bring those responsible for attacks against them to justice, and to address the deeper problems of marginalization, dispossession and impoverishment that have placed so many Indigenous women in harms way.

All levels of government in Canada should work urgently and closely with Indigenous peoples organizations, and Indigenous women in particular, to institute plans of action to stop violence against Indigenous women. The following platform for action is based on the recommendations made by the families of missing women, frontline organizations working for Indigenous womens welfare and safety, and official government inquiries and commissions, as well as standard interpretations of the human rights obligations of governments.

1. Acknowledge the seriousness of the problem

All levels of government, including Indigenous governance structures, should:



publicly condemn the high rates of violence against Indigenous women whether within Indigenous communities and society as whole -- and make public their plans to address the crisis.


undertake a review of outstanding recommendations from Canadian commissions, inquiries and inquests pertaining to the safety and welfare of Indigenous people with a view to ensuring their timely implementation.


clearly outline the measures taken to address the problem of violence against Indigenous women in Canada in reports to relevant UN human rights bodies, including the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Human Rights Committee.


2. Support research into the extent and causes of violence against Indigenous women



The federal government should ensure adequate funding for comprehensive national research on violence against Indigenous women, including the creation of a national registry to collect and analyze statistical information from all jurisdictions.


In consultation with Indigenous peoples organizations and organizations representing ethnic minorities, protocols should be developed to ensure that police consistently record and appropriately use data on the ethnicity of the victims and perpetrators of violent crimes.


The federal government should request the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people and Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, to jointly study and document patterns of violence against Indigenous women, including in Canada.


3. Take immediate action to protect women at greatest risk



Federal, provincial and territorial governments should ensure adequate, sustained, multi-year funding to ensure the provision of culturally appropriate services such as shelters and counseling for Indigenous women and girls.


Police should work closely with Indigenous womens organizations and other frontline groups to identify and implement appropriate and effective protocols for action on missing persons cases, with a view to developing standards for police response in keeping with the risks to Indigenous women and girls.


Police forces should provide specialized staffing to review and coordinate responses to missing persons cases.


As part of ongoing review and implementation of laws regarding the sex trade in Canada, give police clear instructions to ensure that the fundamental rights of women involved in the sex trade are protected in the course of all law enforcement activities.

4. Provide training and resources for police to make prevention of violence against Indigenous women a genuine priority



All police officers should receive adequate training to ensure an understanding of violence against women in a range of settings including family violence, child sexual exploitation and violence against women in the sex trade.


The scenarios used in police training should incorporate issues of cultural sensitivity and violence against women.


Meetings with Indigenous women leaders and other community members should be organized to build understanding of the specific risks to Indigenous women in Canadian society and establish and strengthen relationships of trust between police and Indigenous communities.


All police departments should review issues of workload, staffing levels and job rotation to ensure officers have the opportunity to become familiar with and can develop relations of trust with the specific communities they are intended to serve and protect.


The actions of police, including compliance with policies on the investigation of missing persons cases, should be subject to independent civilian oversight.


Funding should also be provided for the creation of independent advocates and liaison workers for Indigenous people in contact with police.


Officers found to have failed to act on reports of missing women, or to have carried out biased or inadequate investigation of violence against women, should be subject to appropriate discipline.


Clear polices and practices should be established with respect to the timely provision of information, including autopsy results and coroners reports, to the families of missing and murdered persons.


5. Address the social and economic factors that lead to Indigenous womens extreme vulnerability to violence



The federal government should provide adequate, sustained, multi-year funding for initiatives to deal with the immediate and intergenerational impacts of both the physical and psychological abuse suffered at residential schools, including the loss of cultural identity.


Federal, provincial and municipal governments should subject all social programs to a periodic review to ensure the accessibility and resourcing of programs for Indigenous women and families is at least on a par with those available to non-Indigenous people in Canada.


Federal and provincial governments, with the full participation of Indigenous women, should organize a high level intergovernmental and interdepartmental meeting to ensure proper coordination and information sharing on initiatives to address the safety and welfare of Indigenous women and girls.


In collaboration with Indigenous representatives and organizations, the federal government should take urgent action to address the chronic unemployment and poverty faced by Indigenous women and men both on and off reserve.


The federal government should commit to fully implementing outstanding recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples which address poverty and social marginalization of Indigenous people in Canada, as has repeatedly been urged by United Nations treaty bodies.

6. End the marginalization on Indigenous women in Canadian society



All levels of government should work with Indigenous peoples to strengthen and expand public education programs, including within the formal school system, that acknowledge and address the history of dispossession and marginalization of Indigenous peoples and the present reality of racism in Canadian society.


All levels of government should adopt such measures as are necessary to ensure that Indigenous women are consulted in the formulation and implementation of any policy that could affect their welfare and status.