Introduction

Status & Follow-Up:

  • While the Inquiry concluded, calls for justice implementation remain a significant national issue, with reports showing minimal progress in many areas.

  • The work continues through advocacy, monitoring, and efforts by Indigenous organizations and governments to address the systemic issues highlighted. 

  • To Learn More:

Welcome to the 2SLGBTQQIA National Committee website. The committee’s mandate was established in 2020 as Canada prepared to respond to the 231 Calls for Justice in the final report of the national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (June 2019).

The MMIWG Inquiry (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls) was a Canadian national inquiry launched in 2016 to investigate systemic causes of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people, culminating in a 2019 final report, Reclaiming Power and Place, which detailed human rights violations, genocide, and issued 231 Calls for Justice for governments, institutions, and individuals to end the violence, though progress on implementation has been slow.

Key Aspects:

Mandate: To examine and report on the systemic causes of violence and recommend ways to end it, addressing racism, discrimination, and historical injustices.

Process: Conducted community hearings, institutional hearings, and expert panels to gather testimonies from survivors, families, and knowledge keepers.

Findings: Concluded that deliberate and persistent human rights violations are the root cause, identifying the violence as a form of genocide.

Final Report (2019): Included 231 Calls for Justice, emphasizing principles for transformative change and outlining responsibilities for all level of society.

Support: Provided a 24/7 crisis line and family support services.

The 2SLGBTQQIA+ subworking group was facilitated by Sylvia Maracle, who was the Executive Director of the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) in Toronto at the time. A national advisory committee of 2Spirit leaders was established to write the 2SLGBTQQIA+ National Action Plan that responded to the inquiry report and aligned with Canada’s MMIWG2S National Action Plan priorities and objectives.

The call for a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in Canada was led by a coalition of Indigenous families, advocacy groups, and grassroots organizations, with the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) at the forefront of the advocacy efforts. 

Key proponents and advocates included:

  • Indigenous Women's Organizations: NWAC (via their Sisters in Spirit initiative), Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, and provincial groups like the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women.

  • Advocacy Groups: Amnesty International, BC MMIWG2S+ Coalition, and various Indigenous friendship centres.

  • Families and Activists: Survivors and families of victims who worked for years to bring national attention to the crisis.

  • Support Initiatives: Artist Jaime Black through The REDress Project, which increased public awareness. 

These working groups were:

  • the federal working group

  • the provincial and territorial working group

  • the urban working group

  • the 2SLGBTQQIA+ working group

  • the First Nations working group

  • the Inuit working group

  • the Métis working group

  • the data working group. 

Inquiry

The inquiry was formally established by the Canadian government following this sustained pressure from Indigenous organizations and communities. 

Check Public Safety Canada and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) for government responses and initiatives. 

January 2020

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett’s department mandated several subworking groups to start drafting the various sections of the federal MMIWG2S action plan, including a focus on First Nations, Métis, Inuit, data, and urban communities. Partner organizations and governments participated in the working groups that included over 100 Indigenous women as well as members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community.

2Spirit Elder, Ma Nee Chacaby, carrying the MMIWG Inquiry eagle staff at the launch of the final report, Gatineau, Quebec, June 2019

Witnesses who testified at the National Inquiry emphasized the need for greater awareness of 2SLGBTQQIA issues, including the important history and contemporary place of 2SLGBTQQIA people within communities and ceremony, and practical supports and safe places for 2SLGBTQQIA people. Several priority areas were identified, including policing, education, justice, socio-economic priorities, health and healing, and child welfare. Witnesses also focused on guiding principles such as self-determined and culturally-specific solutions for 2SLGBTQQIA people, respect for human rights, prevention in relation to violence and child welfare, and inclusion of all perspectives in decision making, including youth. Submissions made to the National Inquiry, specific to 2SLGBTQQIA peoples, reflected the need for a distinctions-based approach that considers the unique challenges to safety for 2SLGBTQQIA individuals and groups, including youth. 


Due to COVID-19 pandemic public health restrictions, the 2SLGBTQQIA+ Subworking Group met virtually from January to October 2020 to write the MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ National Action Plan (2021). The subworking group addressed the inquiry’s thirty-two 2SLGBTQQIA+-Specific Calls for Justice.

  1. Funding

  2. Inclusion

  3. Research

  4. Data Collection

  5. Culture

  6. Youth 

  7. Grassroots Support

  8. Network

  9. Advocacy

  10. Safer Ceremony

  11. Non-Binary

12. Police Investigation

13. Police Education

14. Sex Industry

15. Precolonial Research

16. Knowledge Keeper Gatherings

17. Re-Educate Communities

18. Competency Training

19. Social Media

20. School Education

21. Incarceration Trans

22. Incarceration

23. Gender Markers

24. Poverty

25. Homelessness

26. Health Services 

27. Mental Health

28. Health Centres

29. Care Workers

30. Sex-Reassignment

31. Health Education

32. Child Welfare