What was the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls?

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) was a federal inquiry that operated from September 1, 2016 to June 3, 2019. It investigated and reported on the systemic causes of all forms of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit and gender-diverse people, including socio-economic, cultural, institutional, and historical causes. The Inquiry concluded that the violence amounts to a Canadian genocide and issued 231 Calls for Justice in a two-volume final report, Reclaiming Power and Place.

The Inquiry was established under the federal Inquiries Act, with parallel orders from the provinces and territories. It was led by Chief Commissioner Marion Buller (the first Indigenous woman judge appointed in British Columbia), Brian Eyolfson, Qajaq Robinson, and Michele Audette. The Inquiry heard from more than 2,380 family members and survivors of violence in 24 hearings across Canada and received submissions from more than 75 expert and institutional witnesses. It reviewed RCMP and provincial police records, court records, and historical materials.

The Inquiry's central finding was that the persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses against Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit and gender-diverse people are the underlying cause of the disproportionately high rates of violence they experience. Indigenous women and girls in Canada are 12 times more likely to be murdered or disappeared than non-Indigenous women (and 16 times more likely than white women), according to RCMP estimates referenced in the report. The Inquiry concluded that the violence constitutes 'a Canadian genocide' as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The 231 Calls for Justice are addressed to federal, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous governments, the police, the courts, the media, ordinary Canadians, and others. Specific Calls include the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Calls 1.2 to 1.7), guaranteed minimum income (Call 4.5), Indigenous-led policing services, oversight of police responses to MMIWG cases, decolonisation of curriculum, and Red Dress Day on May 5 (originally an art project by Jaime Black). The federal National Action Plan in response to the Inquiry's Calls for Justice was published on June 3, 2021. Annual federal-provincial-Indigenous progress reports continue. The September 30 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, established by Bill C-5 of 2021, responds to TRC and MMIWG Calls.