The repercussions of colonialism and genocide do not vanish from a victimized population immediately. Rather, when a population has been subjected to genocide and colonization, the community is collectively impacted for multiple generations by shared experiences of oppression and trauma. In the Canadian context, public policy is littered with racist rhetoric that continues to systemically leave Indigenous populations in disadvantaged circumstances, while simultaneously dehumanizing Indigenous peoples and their cultures, and thus, delegitimizing the many challenges that they continue to face. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) crisis is an ongoing issue that is directly linked to the historic dehumanization of Indigenous peoples. Such dehumanization is a direct result of racist political sentiments that permeate Canadian history. Today, although the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognized all Canadians as equal, the sub-human lens through which Indigenous peoples— specifically women— have historically been viewed is personified in the government’s (seemingly intentional) ineptitude at delivering equal resources and or justice to Indigenous women and girls. Indigenous females are systemically disadvantaged at every level of the criminal justice system in Canada, and experience the highest levels of poverty when compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts (Balfour & Comack, 2014, p. 58). Until quite recently, when Canadian governing bodies (such as the Harper government) have addressed issues such as that of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and girls crisis (MMIWG crisis), “cultural differences” between non-Indigenous and Indigenous-Canadians are often placed as a central issue to account to the systemic disparities that Indigenous peoples face, which delegitimizes the reality that colonization and genocide (Arisman et al., 2023, p. 325). In this way, Razack (2016) states that government inquiries function to uphold the social facts created by colonists while delegitimizing the experiences of the colonized: colonial systems, as the dominating governing bodies in Canada, can then reiterate their legitimacy through inquiries by promoting narratives that support colonial truths and oppress the experiences of those who are on the receiving ends of harmful policies. From 2016-2019, the innovative National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (NIMMIWG) set forth to counteract previous inquiries that reiterated colonial truths by exploring the MMIWG crisis through the experiences of those who are effected by colonialism (Savarese, 2017). By stepping outside of the confines of colonial systems to rely on the knowledge and experience of Indigenous survivors, community members, elders, and scholars, the NIMMIWG created a revolutionary framework for the mechanisms of change necessary for combating the MMIWG crisis.

Disparities between Indigenous peoples and non-indigenous people in Canada can be observed in the criminal justice system, foster case system, and one’s likelihood of being below the poverty line. Between 2010 and 2011, people of Indigenous heritage comprised 27% of of admission to provincial institutions and 20% of admissions to federal institutions, despite this group making up only 3% of the Canadian adult population (Balfour & Comack, 2014, p. 58). The trend of Indigenous overrepresentation in correctional institutions has been increasing in recent years, and this trend is particularly concerning for Indigenous women. Combining these statistics with others regarding the disadvantages that Indigenous women are consistently exposed to within Canada’s legal framework, it is impossible to ignore the intersectionality of these ethnic- and cultural- specific issues within the context of settler colonial legal frameworks (Balfour & Comack, 2014, p. 60). For many non-Indigenous Canadians, our nation’s colonial history is in the past, and with this retrospective viewing of our history, the implications of our past remain irrelevant and invisible. The reality, however, is quite different for Indigenous peoples: despite the simplistic narrative of “cultural differences” that has been perpetuated in politics for far too long, the ramifications of colonial violence can be observed in the present day disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples regarding issues such as exposure to poverty, engagement in the criminal justice system, and— as is the focus of this paper— a woman or girl’s likelihood of going missing or being murdered, and the treatment of such cases by law enforcement.

The murder of 19-year-old Helen Betty Osborne and the resulting inquiry into her death highlights the racist foundation of the Canadian Criminal Justice system that systemically protects white offenders, while simultaneously withholding justice from Indigenous victims. Abducted by 4 white men in 1971, Osborne was sexually assaulted and murdered by the men, who, according to the Manitoba Justice Inquiry “seemed to be operating on the assumption that Aboriginal women [are] promiscuous and open to enticement through alcohol or violence” (Arisman et al., 2023, p. 323). Throughout the Inquiry, evidence repeatedly came forward to suggest that, as a racialized Indigenous teen, Osborne was seen as an object of sexual gratification rather than a human being— a harmful view that is based on long-standing stereotypes of Indigenous women that contribute to dehumanization. Luckily, as a result of this murder case, a small justice of a sort did occur: the Manitoba inquiry admitted that the investigation into Osborne’s death was one filled with discriminatory beliefs and blatant racism. Additionally, the inquiry acknowledged the long standing issue of police knowing of, but neglecting to intervene in the issue of local men preying on Indigenous women for victimization in sexual crimes (Arisman et al., 2023, p. 323). Tina Fontaine was a teenage girl from Safkeeg First Nation, and in 2014, she was murdered— a murder that potentially could have been prevented had police ensured her safety when they had the opportunity (Razack, 2016). Missing from her foster home, Tina was found by police in the company of an intoxicated 53-year-old man. The officers who found Tina were aware that she was a minor and a foster-child, but decided to leave Tina with the strange man. Following these events, Tina was later found unconscious and taken to a hospital, where she was later released to Child and Family Services and placed in a hotel to be housed without viable supervision. Soon after, Tina disappeared again, and was not seen again until her body was found months later, wrapped in plastic (Razack, 2016). This case is an important mention, because as Pam Palmater states when addressing Tina Foutaine, police and state officials “watched her death unfold in slow motion” (Razack, 2016) as they refused to intervene and extend the appropriate resources to protect her at several points in her life. The negligence on behalf of the child welfare system and law enforcement that climaxed into Tina’s murder may seem like an outlier, but unfortunately there is a considerable history of this behaviour, which contributes to the ever increasing rates of MMIWG (Arisman et al., 2023, p. 320). Even more outrageous is the statistical indication that such negligence leading to the murder of a minor likely would not have occurred if Tina had been of non-Indigenous heritage (Arisman et al., 2023, p. 320).

Following the discovery of Tina Fontaine’s body and public outrage, Stephen Harper’s conservative government undermined any propositions by Indigenous scholar of the MMIWG crisis being a systemic, sociological problem. Rather, the conservative government portrayed Tina’s death as an isolated tragedy, and failed to acknowledge past instances of negligence leading to the murder of Indigenous women (e.g., the case of Helen Betty Osborne) or the statistical trends clearly indicating that the missing and murdered women and girls crisis was specific to Indigenous populations (Arisman et al., 2023, p. 326). As a rebuttal to the Harper government’s attempt to separate crimes against Indigenous women from the systemic colonial context, Kaye and Beland (2014) insisted that crime in any variety is inherently sociological, and attempting to separate criminal actions from the systems that either have the power to perpetuate or combat crime is not possible (Arisman et al., 2023, p. 326). The former was emphasized to be true in the context of crimes against Indigenous women— a population that are at heightened risk of experiencing acts of colonial violence. Unfortunately, the Harper government was persistent in it’s refusal to acknowledge any systemic factors contributing to the death of Tina Fontaine.

The process of colonization is an ongoing one, and in order to maintain legitimacy over the land that is now called Canada, the social, legal, and political systems operating within our nation must continue to be shaped by controlling narratives public narratices, and suppressing those individuals and/ or groups who threaten these narratives. Throughout Canadian history, Indigenous women’s existence has been politicized: these women are the “means of production” of future generations of survivors of genocide, and the transmitters of a version of Canadian history that contradicts colonial social facts. Because of the politics intertwined with Indigenous women in the colonial context, some Indigenous scholars suggest that Canada’s structure relies on the systemic dispossession of Indigenous women (Arisman et al., 2023, p. 328). Relying on this notion, it becomes advantageous for political bodies, such as the Harper government, to deny the sociological nature of the MMIWG crisis: if a government’s intention is to validate it’s own systems, Razack (2016) states that inquiries into the MMIWG crisis have the potential to cause harm to Indigenous communities by reproducing colonial truths and maintaining colonial oppression— a threat that becomes more potent when the inquiry positions itself in an environment marketed as for the purpose of healing and reparations. To truly break colonial patters, and solve the MMIWG crisis, a genuine inquiry into the issue must step outside of colonial ideologies and systems of justice that perpetuate violence against colonized groups by honouring Indigenous knowledge, experiences, and Indigenous sovereignty (Savarese, 2017). To meet such goals, any inquiry must understand the MMIWG crisis as an inherently sociological phenomenon, and seek to realize the relationship between violence against Indigenous females and colonialism (Razack, 2016).

In the autumn of 2016, a national inquiry into the MMIWG crisis went into action. Throughout Canadian history, women— especially Indigenous women— have been excluded from the hegemonic frame (Savarese, 2017). Indigenous women have been infantilized and dehumanized throughout the process of colonization, to the extent that policies pertaining to Indigenous female livelihood have been entirely constructed by colonial bodies looking into Indigenous communities from the outside. For the first time in Canadian history, the Canada- wide “National Inquiry into MMIWG” actively sought to employ a feminist-oriented and de- colonial investigation that acknowledge strived at every level to realize the many systems of oppression that cultivated the MMIWG crisis (Savarese, 2017).

The 2016-2019 National Inquiring into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and girls (NIMMIWG) functions to shift the narrative of the MMIWG crisis from colonial establishments to the people effected by the crisis by relying on the testimonies of Indigenous peoples from across Canada (participants in the inquiry are friends and family of MMIWG, community members, and advocates). Additionally, to ensure the absence of a colonial influence and ensure that the Inquiry acts as a mechanism of systemic change, feminist- and de-colonial- oriented scholars were employed to facilitate and monitor the national inquiry. Due to the Inquiry’s dedication to relying on Indigenous experiences as it’s main means of collecting information, the scholars’ willingness to explore and address the historic oppression of Indigenous peoples and the systemic implications of these oppressions, and Indigenous rights, the National Inquiry successfully laid a framework for mechanisms of true change by stepping outside of colonial perspectives to address Indigenous issues from a perspective of Indigenous knowledge and experiences.

References

Arisman, K., Beaulieu, C., Bird, D., Boyko, K., Brigden, K., Vega, T., Walby, K., Wong, E. H.- S., & Wood, K. (2020). Critical Perspectives on Social control and Social Regulation in Canada. Fernwood Publishing Halifax & Winnipeg.

Balfour, G., & Comack, E. (2014). Criminalizing women: Gender and (in)justice in neo- liberal Times. Fernwood Publishing.

Razack, S. H. (2016). Sexualized violence and colonialism: Reflections on the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, 28(2), i–iv. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.28.2.i

Savarese, J. L. (2017). Challenging colonial norms and attending to presencing in stories of missing and murdered indigenous women. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, 29(1), 157–181. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.29.1.157