Canada ‘guilty of genocide’ of indigenous girls and women

CANADA was complicit in a “genocide” against thousands of indigenous women and girls over the past 30 years, a government inquiry has claimed.

The National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls was established two-and-a-half years ago to investigate thousands of murders and disappearances.

In a summary report, it concluded that through “state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies” indigenous women and girls have faced a disproportionately high level of violence.

It linked the deaths to endemic poverty, racism, sexism and addiction to failed attempts by early colonisers to force indigenous people to integrate.

The report was unveiled yesterday at a ceremony attended by victims’ families and Justin Trudeau, the prime minister. It makes more than 230 recommendations for the government, including giving indigenous languages official status on par with English and French. Promising an action plan to address the violence, Mr Trudeau said: “To the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls of Canada, to their families, and to survivors – we have failed you. But we will fail you no longer”.

The inquiry is preparing a supplementary report to summarise its finding “according to the legal definition of genocide”. The Assembly of First Nations said: “We need immediate, sustained and coordinated action to address the long-standing and systemic causes of violence against indigenous women and girls and those at risk.”