03 May National Day of Awareness and Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People

Lil’wat Elder Saw̓t Martina Pierre

Watch our Ambassadors lead the Womens Warrior Song

May 5^th is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit people. We join in solidarity to honour the lives that have been cut short by violence. October 4th is the National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in Canada. Our hearts are with our families and communities who are grieving with the loss of sisters, daughters, mothers, aunties, cousins and friends, as we remember and honour their lives. In Canada, Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people are murdered, abused, or disappear at higher rates than any other.

In communities all over Canada, women are going missing, clean drinking water is a luxury, and Indigenous youth are dying by suicide at a rate 3 times higher than our national average. In Canada, Indigenous women and girls are five times more likely to experience violence, are more than three times likely to be killed by a stranger, and 88% of murdered and missing Indigenous women’s are mothers. Our colonial governments ignored the escalating rate of missing Indigenous women. It took the cover-page-splash of a serial killer to wake us all up. It took science to prove the loss of 215 children to acknowledge what our people have mourned for 150 years of the loss of our children – separated from their families, their culture, and their livelihood, their lives.

We humbly stand in solidarity and we will speak up in the face of bigotry, stereotyping, racism, and white fragility (including our own) with curiosity, love, and a hope to move forward together, changed. In a country that wears its individuality and separation from the USA as a patriotic patch, and prides itself on world-famous politeness. In Canada. In 2020. In 2021. Cause of death was murder by words, neglect, and discrimination. This has to stop.

Wear your solidarity and support of MMIWG2S with love and strength for those lost or affected.

If you or someone you know requires support, contact the national MMIWG Crisis Line: 1-844-413-6649.

The KUU-US Crisis Line Society provides a First Nations and Indigenous-specific crisis line available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, toll-free from anywhere in British Columbia. KUU-US Crisis Line can be reached toll-free at 1-800-588-8717 kuu-uscrisisline.com

To learn more visit https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

Resources:

Read – “Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls”
https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/

Kairos Canada – Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls – About the MMIWG InfoHub
https://www.kairoscanada.org/missing-murdered-indigenous-women-girls

The Native Women’s Association of Canada – MMIWG & Violence Prevention
https://www.nwac.ca/policy-areas/mmiwg/

What Their Stories Tell Us: Research findings from the Sisters In Spirit initiative
https://www.nwac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2010-What-Their-Stories-Tell-Us-Research-Findings-SIS-Initiative.pdf

Donate to:

Indigenous Women’s Healing Center

Native Women’s Association of Canada

The YWCA Crisis shelter & Residence Emergency Shelter

Share messaging around today using hashtags #MMIWG2S #MMIGActionNow #Sisterinspirit #nomorestolensisters #nationaldayofaction #rememberoursisters