Nearly 1,200 cases of missing, murdered women

The RCMP released a report on May 16 confirming 1,181 documented cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women in Canada from over the last three decades.
In late 2013, the Commissioner of the RCMP initiated an RCMP-led study of reported incidents of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across Canada.
The report, entitled Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: A National Operational Overview, documents the overrepresentation of Aboriginal women from homicide and disappearances.
The report found 1,181 cases of murdered or missing women between the years of 1980 and 2012. 

NAN Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler called the report a positive step, but said that it does not capture the full extent of the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
“The RCMP report is a positive step but doesn’t capture the full extent of this tragedy as it only includes women murdered between 1980 and 2012, leaving us to wonder how many more lives have been lost without a trace,” Fiddler said. 

The report concludes that the total number of murdered and missing Aboriginal women exceeds previous public estimates. Fiddler calls it alarming. 


“It is alarming that the number of documented cases is much high than previous estimates, and all the more reason for the government to call an inquiry to fully investigate the scope of these disappearances,” Fiddler said.


AFN Regional Chief for Alberta Cameron Alexis said that the report reaffirms the magnitude of the crisis of the missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada and “indicates the urgent need for action by many different players, including First Nations, governments, police services.”


“A national shame and a national tragedy,” said Alexis, who leads the AFN work in the area of justice and policing. “Indigenous women are vastly over-represented in the numbers of missing women and girls. We are demanding immediate action based on these concrete facts and numbers so that not one more woman or girl is victimized and that no family member has to spend another day without answers.”


ONWA President Dawn Harvard said that while the report is a step in the right direction, that it does not negate the need for a national inquiry.


“Because it fails to examine the root causes of the problem,” Harvard said. “It is the role of the federal government, not our policing agencies, to address the root causes of this national tragedy. A national inquiry is still needed in order to adequately understand the socio-economic issues that leave Aboriginal women and girls so vulnerable to violence in the first place.”


Fiddler said that it is critical for a national inquiry to be held.


“The Harper government was quick to respond to the recent crisis in Nigeria following the tragic abduction of school children yet refuses to commit to an inquiry into the disappearance of hundreds of Aboriginal women and girls despite the growing number of cases documented by police,” said Fiddler.


Fiddler said that NAN agrees on the need of a national plan of action to prevent further violence, but “it is critical that a national inquiry be held to fully determine the scope of these disappearances and provide accountability and justice for all of these families.”
The release of the report came days after NAN held a 24-hour long drum gathering in Ottawa honouring missing and murdered Aboriginal women, and also in the wake of a report released by UN Special Rapporteur James Anaya that called for a national inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
Harvard questioned how much more evidence and support is needed for an inquiry.


“How much more evidence and support for the inquiry is needed before the federal government takes action? Our women have suffered enough! The time for change is now,” said Harvard.
The RCMP report states that police-recorded incidents of Aboriginal female homicides and unresolved missing Aboriginal females total 1,181 - 164 missing and 1,017 homicide victims.

There are 225 unsolved cases of either missing or murdered Aboriginal females; 105 missing for more than 30 days as of Nov. 4, 2013, whose cause of disappearance was categorized at the time as “unknown” or “foul play suspected” and 120 unsolved homicides between 1980 and 2012.

The total indicates that Aboriginal women are over-represented among Canada’s murdered and missing women.
There are similarities across all female homicides. Most homicides were committed by men and most of the perpetrators knew their victims - whether as an acquaintance or a spouse.
The majority of all female homicides are solved (close to 90%) and there is little difference in solve rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal victims.