Achi news desk-
Canada and Manitoba are collaborating to launch an alert system to notify the public when an Indigenous woman or child goes missing, government officials said Friday in Winnipeg, ahead of a national day to mark the crisis.
The long-awaited Red Dress Alert system is a proposal to prevent deaths and increase safe encounters with loved ones.
Statistics Canada concluded in a report last year that the homicide rate of Indigenous women and girls was six times higher than the rate of their non-Indigenous counterparts.
A national inquiry reported five years ago that they are 12 times more likely to disappear or be murdered.
“Ahead of Red Dress Day, we keep those who have been stolen from their communities and this world in our thoughts, and we center them in our action,” said Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasengri.
“Today, as we announce this partnership to co-develop a red dress alert system with Indigenous partners, we are taking the next steps toward bringing more Indigenous women, girls, bi-spiritual and gender diverse people home.”
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The Manitoba pilot is to be designed with and led by Indigenous peoples, and is expected to help lead to an eventual national alert system.
It will be financed using money set aside in this year’s federal and provincial budgets.
Nahani Fontaine, Manitoba’s minister of women’s affairs and gender equality, said she has heard from community members who believe the alert system can help put Indigenous women and girls at less risk.
“We look forward to working inclusively with Indigenous partners in Manitoba to find the best way forward as we build this pilot project.”
NDP member Leah Azan, whose efforts on the case led a House of Representatives committee to examine the prospect of a national alert system, called the announcement a small but significant step.
MPs in Gaza unanimously supported her motion in the House of Commons last year to declare the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls a Canada-wide emergency.
The proposal also called for the federal government to fund a new alert system similar to Amber Alerts.
Other North American jurisdictions already have similar alert systems, including Washington State’s Indigenous Missing Persons System.
The final report of the 2019 National Inquiry found that intentional rights violations were at the heart of violence against Indigenous women, girls and diverse people.
With the final report came 231 calls for justice directed at governments, social service providers, industry and Canadians, but relatively little progress has been made so far.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
