Written by Tia De Ruiter
In September of 2021, following the disappearance of 21 year old Gabby Petitio, a massive influx of media coverage emerged, detailing her case up to, and far beyond, the ultimate recovery of her remains. Since then, there have been numerous speculations throughout the internet on the cause of Petito’s death, most often linking this atrocity to her partner, Brian Laundrie, who was later found dead as well. While we may never know what happened between Laundrie and Petito leading to their deaths, these devastating events have since drawn a lot of attention towards not only the issue of gender based violence (GBV) but also the inequity of the media’s reporting of missing minority individuals.
There is no doubt that Petito deserved the attention she received; however, the media and society alike have often been guilty of bias in cases such as these. Studies have found that missing minorities are 3x less likely to receive any form of coverage, when compared to White individuals. Even further, similar studies have uncovered that Indigenous women and girls, in Canada, are 3.5x less likely to receive any forms of coverage, despite their rates of disappearance being much higher than other groups.
In 2019, the then and current Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, recognized the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirited LGBTQQIA+ (2SLGBTQQIA+) people to be akin to “genocide”. A controversial claim, but nonetheless, one that draws attention to the undisputable injustices these individuals are subjected to. Ultimately what led to these remarks were the erroneous findings of the government’s national inquiry into the issue, sparking numerous calls-to-actions. But before I go into them, and whether we have seen any of these come to fruition, I would like to give an overview of these atrocities.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Individuals In the 1990s
British Columbia's Highway 16 began to be known as the “Highway of Tears'' after startlingly high numbers of Indigenous women and girls went missing and/or were murdered in its vicinity. This sparked numerous calls for aid by many groups, organizations, and Indigenous peoples, in order to address the issue. This began the construction of the early movements against this issue, leading to an inquiry into the problem in 2002, by the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC). Later, Amnesty International released a report in collaboration with the NWAC, covering the issue, and bringing attention to the government’s continued deference and failures in addressing this. Ultimately, it was this report, and the attention it received that led to the initiative Sisters In Spirit (SIS) being created by the NWAC, that published some of the initial literature recognizing the severity of this issue, providing reliable estimates on the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals.
In 2010, the SIS campaign confirmed that there had been, in the last two decades, 582 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, with the hopes of increasing advocacy around the issue. This number was raised to at least 1,181 cases in 2013, by the RCMP. These reports, and numerous others, found startling results, including but not limited to:
● Indigenous women are 8x more likely to be killed by male partners than non-Indigenous women in Canada,
● Indigenous women and girls are overrepresented as victims of homicides, they make up 4% of the population, but 24% of homicide victims in 2015
● Nearly half the cases involving Indigenous women and girls remain unsolved, no charges were laid in about 40% of the cases
● Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals also experience a high rate of physical and sexual violence
These devastating findings sparked the 2016 government’s inquiry into the issue, culminating in 2018, being published in the spring of 2019.
Much like the reports aforementioned, this inquiry found overwhelmingly high rates of violence being committed against these individuals, even after ruling out all other potential factors. The report specifically acknowledged the role of colonialism in the perpetuation of the atrocities, recognizing its establishment of the systemic injustices facing the Indigenous. But most importantly, the government confirmed that their findings were just the bare minimum, that there are hundreds, and most likely thousands of missing and/or murdered Indigenous women, girls, 2SLGBTQQIA+ people who have not been reported as such, and will thus never be acknowledged. Centuries of violence, of genocide, and of marginalization perpetuated by the Canadian Government, was engendered by “colonial structures,” that had deleterious consequences then and now.
This report concluded with 231 calls-to-action by the government, to attempt to at least ameliorate, if not completely eradicate this issue. Many of which have unfortunately been put on hold due to COVID-19, which has also been seen to have impacted instances of violence against missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.
What has been done?
While, due to COVID-19 many of the attempts to address this issue have not been enacted, there is still a commitment by the current Federal Government to deal with these immense injustices. Whether or not it is seen, as we navigate away from this pandemic is unfortunately up in the air. It is vitally important for everyone to hold the government accountable for these grave violations of human rights, in any way we can. Whether this be by writing to your local Member of Parliament, educating yourself on these issues, and attending vigils, such as the October 4th National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. It is necessary to continue to bring awareness to such issues, and to call for the action that was promised, but is so often not delivered on issues such as these. We must all advocate for change, and hold accountable the structures that have led to such issues, and have allowed its devastating perpetuation.
Links of Interest:
Canada’s MPs, their ridings, and contact information: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/search
A recap of this Year's SIS vigil for Sisters in Spirit Day: https://www.nwac.ca/event/sisters-in-spirit-virtual-vigil/
What can I do?: https://www.amnesty.ca/what-we-do/no-more-stolen-sisters/stolen-sisters-what-can-i-do/ https://www.amnesty.org.au/10-ways-to-be-an-ally-to-indigenous-communities/ http://reseaumtlnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Ally_March.pdf
