A Reckoning for Turtle Island: Amplifying the Call for Justice for MMIWG2S+
The silence that has long shrouded Turtle Island is slowly, painfully, being shattered. It is the silence of missing voices, stolen lives, and unresolved grief – a silence born from centuries of colonialism, systemic racism, and gender-based violence. The crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, and Gender-Diverse+ (MMIWG2S+) individuals is not a historical footnote; it is a brutal, ongoing reality that demands urgent, sustained, and decolonized advocacy. This is a human rights catastrophe, a national shame, and a clarion call for justice that resonates from every Indigenous community across North America.
The term MMIWG2S+ encapsulates the profound and disproportionate violence faced by Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people. It acknowledges the unique vulnerabilities and experiences of Two-Spirit and gender-diverse individuals, who often face intersecting forms of discrimination and violence within both Indigenous and non-Indigenous contexts. The "plus" signifies an ongoing commitment to inclusivity, recognizing that the scope of this violence extends to all Indigenous people targeted because of their gender identity. This crisis is deeply rooted in the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization, including residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, forced displacement, and the systematic erosion of Indigenous governance, culture, and family structures. These policies have created environments of extreme vulnerability, poverty, and intergenerational trauma, leaving Indigenous communities struggling against overwhelming odds.
The Stark Reality: Numbers and Names
While precise, universally agreed-upon statistics remain elusive due to inadequate data collection and systemic underreporting, the scale of the crisis is undeniable. In Canada, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, launched in 2016, concluded in its final report in 2019 that this violence amounts to a "race-based genocide." The Inquiry found that Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than non-Indigenous women in Canada, and 16 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than white women. Prior to this, a 2014 Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) report identified 1,181 cases of murdered or missing Indigenous women between 1980 and 2012, a number widely acknowledged as a severe underestimate by Indigenous organizations and advocates. "These aren’t just statistics; these are our sisters, our mothers, our daughters, our aunties, our Two-Spirit relatives," as one advocate passionately articulated. "Each number represents a life extinguished, a family shattered, a community wounded."
South of the border, in the United States, the crisis is equally dire. A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice found that more than four in five (84.3%) American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime, including 56.1% who have experienced sexual violence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that murder is the third leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women aged 10-24. On some reservations, Indigenous women are murdered at rates ten times higher than the national average. These figures paint a chilling picture of an epidemic of violence that has been largely ignored, misunderstood, or actively suppressed by mainstream society and government institutions.
Systemic Failures: A Web of Injustice
The disproportionate rates of violence are not random acts but are symptomatic of profound systemic failures within law enforcement, the justice system, healthcare, and social services.
- Law Enforcement: Indigenous families frequently report dismissive attitudes from police, slow responses to missing persons reports, and a lack of thorough investigation. Cases are often misclassified, leading to underreporting and a failure to allocate adequate resources. Jurisdictional complexities between tribal, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and provincial/federal agencies in Canada create dangerous gaps where perpetrators can evade justice and victims fall through the cracks. "When an Indigenous woman goes missing, the urgency just isn’t there," lamented a family member whose sister vanished years ago. "It feels like our lives just don’t matter as much."
- Justice System: When cases do proceed, Indigenous victims and their families often face re-traumatization within a justice system that is culturally insensitive, biased, and fails to adequately address the root causes of violence or provide meaningful accountability. Sentencing for crimes against Indigenous individuals often appears less severe than for similar crimes against non-Indigenous individuals.
- Media Neglect: For decades, the mainstream media largely ignored the crisis, contributing to public ignorance and apathy. When stories were reported, they often sensationalized or victim-blamed, further dehumanizing Indigenous individuals. This lack of sustained, respectful coverage meant the crisis remained largely invisible to the wider public, preventing the necessary public outcry and political pressure for change.
- Government Inaction: Despite numerous calls for action and reports detailing the crisis, government responses have often been slow, fragmented, and insufficient. The lack of fully implemented recommendations from inquiries like Canada’s National Inquiry is a testament to persistent political will deficits.
The Power of Advocacy: From Grassroots to National Stages
The struggle for justice for MMIWG2S+ has been overwhelmingly driven by Indigenous families, grassroots activists, and community organizations. For decades, they have organized vigils, marches, and awareness campaigns, often with minimal resources, to keep the memory of their loved ones alive and demand accountability. The "Red Dress Project," for instance, initiated by Métis artist Jaime Black, uses red dresses hung in public spaces to symbolize the missing and murdered, creating a powerful visual reminder of their absence and the urgency of the crisis.
Advocacy has led to significant, though often incomplete, policy shifts:
- Canada’s National Inquiry: Culminating in 231 Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, and all Canadians, this inquiry provided a comprehensive framework for addressing the root causes and consequences of the violence. While implementation has been slow, the Inquiry’s final report fundamentally shifted the national discourse, forcing an acknowledgement of the genocidal nature of the crisis. "The Inquiry gave voice to the voiceless, but the work isn’t over until every Call for Justice is acted upon," stated a representative from the Native Women’s Association of Canada.
- United States Legislation: In recent years, the U.S. has seen legislative efforts like Savanna’s Act (2020), which aims to improve data collection and coordination between law enforcement agencies, and the Not Invisible Act (2020), which established a joint Department of Justice and Department of Interior advisory committee to make recommendations on the issue. The Department of the Interior has also launched a Missing & Murdered Unit (MMU) within the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services, dedicated to investigating unsolved cases. These are crucial steps, but their effectiveness depends on robust funding, cross-jurisdictional collaboration, and genuine commitment to Indigenous-led solutions.
Challenges and the Path Forward
Despite these gains, significant challenges persist. Political will can wane, funding remains inadequate, and the systemic biases embedded within institutions are deeply entrenched. Furthermore, the very communities advocating for change are often disproportionately affected by the trauma, creating a cycle of exhaustion and grief.
Advocating for MMIWG2S+ on Turtle Island demands a multi-faceted approach, centered on decolonization and Indigenous self-determination:
- Implement All Calls for Justice and Recommendations: Governments in both Canada and the U.S. must fully fund and implement the recommendations from their respective inquiries and task forces. This includes allocating resources for culturally appropriate services, housing, education, and healthcare for Indigenous communities.
- Indigenous-Led Solutions: The solutions must come from Indigenous communities themselves. This means supporting tribal law enforcement, Indigenous healing initiatives, community-led safety plans, and culturally relevant justice models that prioritize restorative justice and community well-being.
- Address Root Causes: Advocacy must target the underlying socio-economic factors that contribute to vulnerability: poverty, homelessness, inadequate housing, lack of clean water, food insecurity, and insufficient access to education and employment opportunities.
- Reform Law Enforcement and Justice Systems: This requires mandatory cultural competency training for all police officers, prosecutors, and judges; improved data collection and sharing; clear protocols for missing persons investigations; and accountability mechanisms for officers who fail to adequately respond to Indigenous cases.
- Public Awareness and Education: Ongoing public education is vital to dismantle stereotypes, challenge racism, and foster empathy and understanding. The crisis must remain in the public consciousness, moving beyond periodic headlines to sustained national attention. Allies have a critical role to play in amplifying Indigenous voices and demanding action.
- Support for Families and Survivors: Provide comprehensive, trauma-informed support services for families of MMIWG2S+ individuals and for survivors of violence, including mental health services, legal aid, and financial assistance.
The crisis of MMIWG2S+ is a profound stain on the conscience of Turtle Island. It is a testament to the enduring impacts of colonialism and the urgent need for reconciliation that moves beyond symbolic gestures to concrete, transformative action. The call for justice is not just for those who are missing or murdered; it is a call for the restoration of dignity, safety, and self-determination for all Indigenous peoples. It is a demand that Indigenous lives matter, that their stories be heard, and that the cycle of violence finally be broken. The future of Turtle Island depends on our collective will to answer this call, not with empty promises, but with unwavering commitment and justice realized. The silence has been broken; now, it is time for a reckoning.
