OTTAWA—The Government of Canada recently announced their commitment to addressing the ongoing violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.
Nineteen Indigenous organizations were identified earlier this month, to receive funding of approximately $1 million, for Indigenous-led data projects that aim at developing methodologies to better grasp the issue of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. This is part of the Federal Pathway, Canada initiative; which has been supported with historical investments of over $2.2 billion in the Government’s 2021 Budget.
The Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, announced this funding stating that, "As part of the Federal Pathway, we have committed to supporting data initiatives that will help identify the solutions needed to end systemic violence towards Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. The support being provided for these Indigenous-led projects is the first step in addressing critical data gaps and as a result, shaping more effective solutions to end this national tragedy."
This funding demonstrates the Government of Canada’s continued commitment to addressing the ongoing violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. Specifically, the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People (Federal Pathway) outlines ways to support families and survivors, as they address the root-causes of this violence.
All levels of government in Canada were called upon, (in Calls for Justice 5.24, 16.16, 16.31, 16.44, 17.2, 18.3 and 18.4) to collect and provide disaggregated and distinctions-based data to address the root causes of violence; in the final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The 19 Indigenous organizations supported projects include initiatives to create qualitative, population-specific and distinctions-based indicators that improve data collection, analysis and interpretation.
In addition to improving and expanding on the existing data on missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, the projects will also address gaps of other demographic groups in existing data.
The hope is that these Indigenous-led projects will provide a better understanding of specific under serviced or underrepresented groups and will inform future programs and policy decisions to address the root causes of this national tragedy.
The Federal Pathway Program is being funded for a total of six years, beginning in 2021-2022. The Government announcement added that the next call for proposals for future projects will be issued in the spring of 2022.