Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls: A National Human Rights Crisis in Canada
- Human Rights Research Center
- Jul 10
- 11 min read
Author: Suriya Ragu
July 10, 2025
The crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people (MMIWG) in Canada is a long-standing national tragedy. For generations, Indigenous families and communities have demanded justice for the violence, disappearances, and deaths that continue to devastate their lives. This violence is not random or isolated—it reflects a persistent and systemic pattern born from the legacies of colonialism, reinforced by socio-economic marginalization, and sustained by institutional apathy and failure.
In 2019, the final report of the national inquiry into MMIWG referred to this violence a “Canadian genocide.” The report made clear that Canada failed to protect Indigenous women and girls and, in many cases, caused harm through its government policies and via widespread institutional neglect. Addressing this crisis requires understanding its root causes and committing to real change that spotlights Indigenous voices and emphasizes the need for both justice for prior victims, as well as safety measures for potentially at-risk groups.
What is MMIWG?
MMIWG refers to the disproportionately high rates of disappearance, murder, and violence against Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals in Canada. Despite being only 4% of Canada’s female population, Indigenous women account for 16% of all female homicide victims (Statistics Canada). They are 12 times more likely to be murdered or to go missing than non-Indigenous women, and they are 16 times more likely to experience violence than white women. Additionally, they are three times more likely to be sexually assaulted than non-Indigenous women in Canada in addition to being vastly overrepresented in cases of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Two-Spirit and gender-diverse Indigenous people face similarly devastating realities. One Ontario study found that 73% of Indigenous women and girls had experienced some form of violence, and 43% of those 73% had experienced sexual and/or physical assault. These stark disparities highlight the systemic and targeted nature of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people in Canada.
Colonial Foundations of Violence
The MMIWG crisis is rooted in Canada’s colonial history. The foundations of these widespread acts of violence are found in the structures and ideologies imposed by settler-colonialism, which disrupted Indigenous governance, identity, and family systems. Racialized and gendered stereotypes portrayed Indigenous women as hypersexual, or inherently vulnerable, leading to their dehumanization and justifying systematic exclusion—such as limited search efforts and poor media coverage when they went missing. These harmful descriptors not only stripped them of agency but also made violence against them seem less urgent or worthy of response, reinforcing cycles of neglect and marginalization.
Many Indigenous cultures had longstanding traditions of female leadership and gender balance in governance. Women often played central roles in decision-making processes, including selecting chiefs, advising councils, managing land and resources, and maintaining social and spiritual order within their communities. The Indian Act restructured Indigenous gender relations to favor male leadership and largely excluded Indigenous women from community governance and proper representation. Until 1985, Indigenous women who married non-Indigenous men lost their status as Indigenous, while men who married non-Indigenous women did not. This gendered dispossession fractured Indigenous social orders and fed into broader state efforts to erase matriarchal systems. By imposing European patriarchal norms, the Indian Act sidelined women’s traditional roles and redefined leadership along male-dominated lines, significantly weakening women's political power and disrupting intergenerational knowledge transmission.
Colonial policies systematically targeted Indigenous women’s autonomy, safety, and kinship ties, laying the foundation for ongoing violence and marginalization. Forced sterilization, while affecting both Indigenous men and women, disproportionately targeted Indigenous women in provinces like Alberta and British Columbia under eugenics legislation.These procedures were often carried out without consent, sometimes through coercion or during medical care when women were not fully informed.This denial of bodily autonomy contributes to the ongoing distrust Indigenous women have toward healthcare systems, which can limit their access to vital support and increase their vulnerability—factors linked to the MMIWG crisis.
The pass system, which was enforced until the mid-20th century, restricted the movement of all Indigenous people by requiring them to obtain written permission from an Indian Agent to leave their reserve. This system isolated communities, limited access to support networks, and prevented individuals—particularly women—from fleeing abusive situations or accessing critical services.
Programs like the Sixties Scoop and its modern counterpart, the Millennium Scoop, also contributed to the crisis. These policies involved the large-scale removal of Indigenous children from their families—often without consent—and their placement in non-Indigenous foster or adoptive homes. The aim was assimilation: to erase Indigenous identities and cultural continuity. Many children experienced abuse, neglect, and loss of cultural identity, with lasting intergenerational trauma. For Indigenous women and girls, the breakdown of community structures and familial bonds weakened protective social ties and increased susceptibility to exploitation, abuse, and systemic neglect—factors directly tied to the MMIWG crisis.
These actions align with several criteria of genocide as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), particularly through “causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” and “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.” Canada’s residential school system and related assimilationist policies constitute cultural genocide, aimed at eradicating Indigenous identity by forcibly removing children from their families, communities, and languages.
These colonial policies actively dismantled protective social structures including extended family networks, traditional matriarchal roles, and community governance systems that historically safeguarded women, girls, and Two-Spirit people. This structural context is crucial: MMIWG is not the result of individual actions or isolated crimes—it is the outcome of state-sanctioned neglect, historical trauma, and systemic racism that persist today. Ignoring the colonial roots of this violence allows the state to frame it as an Indigenous problem, rather than acknowledging it as a consequence of Canadian policies.
Socio-Economic Marginalization
The MMIWG crisis is tied to entrenched socio-economic disparities faced by the Indigenous communities in Canada. These conditions are a direct result of colonization, land dispossession, and long-standing policy neglect. The cumulative impact of poverty, limited access to services, and systemic marginalization creates an environment where Indigenous women and girls are more vulnerable to violence.
Economic insecurity is a key structural driver. Among Indigenous women, the unemployment rate is consistently higher than the national average, and wage gaps remain persistent. In 2021, Indigenous women earned approximately 75 cents for every dollar earned by non-Indigenous men. This economic marginalization severely restricts autonomy and the ability to escape unsafe situations or communities. These socio-economic inequalities directly increase vulnerability. To be specific, many MMIWG victims experienced poverty, unstable housing, and prior abuse before their disappearances or deaths, which speaks to how socio-economic precarity both increases exposure to risk and limits available forms of protection. Survival strategies, such as engaging in precarious or informal work (such as some forms of sex work), may increase vulnerability to exploitation, particularly in transient contexts where oversight is minimal and discrimination is pervasive.
Housing instability is both a cause and consequence of the disproportionately high rates of violence experienced by Indigenous women in Canada. Approximately 18% of Indigenous households live in core housing need—defined by unaffordability, overcrowding, or inadequacy—compared to just 10% of non-Indigenous households. This structural inequity leaves many Indigenous women without access to safe, stable, or culturally appropriate housing, thereby increasing their exposure to gender-based violence. Unstable housing conditions isolate women from safety networks, limit access to support services, and reduce their ability to leave unsafe environments. As a result, many face impossible choices: remain with a violent partner or risk homelessness.
These conditions help explain why 44% of Indigenous women report having experienced physical or sexual abuse by an intimate partner since age 15—nearly double the rate of non-Indigenous women (25%). This alarming disparity is not simply the result of individual circumstances but is deeply rooted in colonial policies and systemic neglect that have long denied Indigenous communities adequate housing, healthcare, and social support. Without meaningful access to safe shelter, many survivors are forced to stay in violent environments, where the threat of harm is compounded by the absence of alternatives. In this way, housing insecurity is not just a backdrop to domestic violence—it actively sustains it, reinforcing cycles of harm and undermining women’s autonomy, health, and safety.
This risk is amplified in remote or northern communities, where shelters are scarce, culturally inappropriate, or located far from home. Only 61% of shelters in Canada offer services specifically for Indigenous women, despite them representing a disproportionate share of domestic violence cases. Geographic isolation, language barriers, and lack of culturally safe environments compound the vulnerability of those seeking assistance, particularly when available shelters are located far from home or operate within frameworks misaligned with Indigenous values and experiences. Although Indigenous-led initiatives have made critical strides in building community-based safety nets, these efforts remain hindered by chronic underfunding and infrastructural constraints.
Educational access remains a significant barrier to long-term security from violence. Only 45% of Indigenous women aged 25 to 64 had completed a post-secondary credential in 2021, compared to 65% of their non-Indigenous counterparts. This educational gap reflects not only material inequity but also the intergenerational consequences of residential schools and systemic exclusion from mainstream institutions. Without adequate education, opportunities for stable employment are limited, perpetuating cycles of poverty and reducing social mobility—conditions that make Indigenous women more susceptible to ongoing violence and marginalization.
Inadequate access to culturally safe healthcare, insufficient provider training, and structural bias in medical settings result in frequent missed opportunities for identifying and responding to violence. Only 80% of off-reserve First Nations women had a regular healthcare provider, with access dropping to just 29% for Inuit women living off-reserve. Even when services are available, the healthcare system often fails to recognize or appropriately respond to signs of abuse. This is partly due to the absence of trauma-informed care and cultural competence among medical professionals. Studies have shown that Indigenous women frequently experience racism and discrimination in medical settings, leading to mistrust and a reluctance to disclose experiences of violence. These missed opportunities for early intervention allow abuse to persist unchecked. Moreover, the lack of mental health support—especially for those dealing with the intergenerational effects of colonization, residential schools, and systemic trauma—further isolates victims.
Collectively, these intersecting socio-economic conditions construct a structural environment in which Indigenous women and girls are disproportionately exposed to violence. Understanding the MMIWG crisis requires moving beyond individual acts of violence to critically examine how inequitable social structures, institutional neglect, and resource deprivation jointly sustain conditions of risk. Addressing this crisis therefore necessitates comprehensive, community-informed interventions that are attuned to the complex realities Indigenous women and girls navigate daily.
Institutional Denial and Policing Failures
Policing institutions have played a central role in perpetuating the MMIWG crisis, both through action and inaction. Historically, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) acted as an enforcer of colonial law, from removing children to residential schools to surveilling and suppressing Indigenous activism. Today, many of those same institutions continue to fail Indigenous women and gender-diverse people.
A 2017 report by the National Inquiry into MMIWG found that Indigenous families routinely face systemic discrimination in their interactions with law enforcement, including inadequate investigations, victim-blaming, and a lack of follow-up communication—practices that not only compounded their trauma, but also hindered the pursuit of justice. A subsequent forensic document review conducted during the National Inquiry revealed that only 174 of 479 police files requested were provided—just 36%, underscoring a serious lack of institutional transparency and accountability. This systemic failure to properly document, investigate, or prioritize these cases is not merely administrative negligence—it reflects broader patterns of racial and gender bias embedded in Canada’s justice system. The Inquiry concluded that these patterns stem from ongoing colonialist ideologies within law enforcement institutions, where Indigenous women’s lives are routinely devalued, and their families’ concerns dismissed or ignored.
The RCMP’s own 2014 operational overview acknowledged 1,181 MMIWG cases between 1980 and 2012. However, this figure is contested by Indigenous-led organizations like the Native Women’s Association of Canada, which argues that underreporting and exclusion of gender-diverse victims render official statistics unreliable. Research also note that many cases are misclassified as accidents or suicides without adequate forensic review.
Law enforcement agencies have also been criticized for a lack of cultural competency. Police often fail to recognize the historical and social contexts that contribute to Indigenous women’s vulnerability, instead applying mainstream policing models that ignore community-based solutions.
Disparities in emergency response are stark. Reports have shown that missing persons cases involving white women receive significantly more media attention and police urgency than those involving Indigenous women. Media coverage often dehumanizes Indigenous victims and minimizes the structural causes of their deaths. A 2019 report by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) found that Indigenous peoples are both underrepresented and frequently misrepresented in Canadian media, where coverage tends to emphasize negative stereotypes rather than addressing the systemic issues that underlie violence against Indigenous communities.
Despite public inquiries and grassroots advocacy, implementation of systemic reforms remains limited. Civilian oversight mechanisms for policing are weak, and acknowledgement of systemic racism is often dismissed or diluted in official reports. These failures align with "interpretive denial," wherein facts are acknowledged but stripped of meaning and urgency.
Conclusion
The MMIWG crisis in Canada reflects the long-standing impacts of colonial structures, systemic inequities, and institutional gaps that have placed Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people at disproportionate risk. It is not an isolated social issue but one deeply embedded in the historical and contemporary policies that have shaped Indigenous experiences across generations.
Understanding this crisis requires a structural analysis that goes beyond individual acts of violence and instead considers the broader socio-political and economic systems that continue to perpetuate vulnerability. Effective responses must therefore be grounded in a commitment to structural change, rooted in Indigenous-led knowledge, community-defined priorities, and culturally safe practices.
Ultimately, the significance of addressing MMIWG lies not only in preventing further harm but in advancing justice, equity, and meaningful reconciliation. Comprehensive, community-informed solutions are essential to rebuilding trust, ensuring safety, and supporting the long-term well-being of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Glossary
2SLGBTQQIA+ - An acronym representing Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and other sexual and gender-diverse identities. “Two-Spirit” is a term used by some Indigenous people to describe a person who embodies both masculine and feminine spirits, reflecting traditional o Indigenous understandings of gender diversity.
Colonialism - A system of domination through which one nation exerts control over another territory and its people. In Canada, colonialism involved the forced displacement, assimilation, and cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples.
Cultural Genocide - A term describing the deliberate destruction of the cultural, spiritual, and social institutions of a group. Canada’s residential school system and forced assimilation policies have been cited as acts of cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples.
Culturally Safe Services - Programs or services that are free of racism and discrimination and that respect and integrate the values, beliefs, and practices of the communities they serve, particularly Indigenous cultural frameworks.
Indian Act (1876) - A Canadian federal law that governs many aspects of Indigenous life, including band governance, land use, and legal status. It has historically imposed patriarchal structures and discriminatory rules, particularly targeting Indigenous women.
Interpretive Denial - A sociological concept in which facts are acknowledged, but their implications are minimized or denied—often used to describe how governments or institutions admit statistics but fail to take substantive action.
Millennium Scoop - A term used to describe the continued overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the child welfare system in the 2000s and beyond, considered a continuation of the Sixties Scoop under new policies.
MMIWG (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls) - An acronym referring to the national crisis involving the disproportionate rates of violence, disappearance, and murder of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Canada.
Sixties Scoop - A period during the 1960s–1980s when thousands of Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families by child welfare services and placed into non-Indigenous homes, often without consent.
Structural Violence - Systemic forms of harm resulting from policies, institutions, and social structures that create and sustain inequalities—such as poverty, discrimination, and inadequate healthcare—which contribute to vulnerability and marginalization.
Trauma-Informed Care - An approach in service provision that recognizes and responds to the impacts of trauma. It emphasizes physical, psychological, and emotional safety, and supports healing and empowerment.
Sources
Iskwewak Kah' Ki Yaw Ni Wahkomakanak, Second Edition - Canadian Scholars
United Nations | Peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet
Indigenous Nationhood: Empowering Grassroots Citizens – Fernwood Publishing
Gender-based Violence (GBV) against Indigenous Peoples in Canada: A Snapshot - Canada.ca
Anti-Indigenous racism in Canadian healthcare: a scoping review of the literature - PubMed
CJFE – Canadian Journalists for Free Expression