What if it was your daughter?

A national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women is urgently needed

Stephen Harper should stop ignoring the facts, take a hard look at the shocking statistics about missing and murdered Indigenous women and call for an immediate national inquiry.

“Stephen Harper’s comments yesterday show his callous disregard for the plight of some of the most marginalized people in our country - Indigenous women,” said NDP Status of Women critic, Niki Ashton (Churchill). “In this time of grief, friends and family of Tina Fontaine needed compassion and leadership. From this prime minister, they got neither.”

A recent RCMP Report indicated that approximately 1,200 Indigenous women have gone missing or have been murdered over the last 30 years. Young Indigenous women are seven times more likely to be murdered than non-Indigenous young women. Despite calls from leaders, Aboriginal groups, Premiers and opposition parties, Stephen Harper has done little to address the disproportionate level of violence faced by Indigenous women.

“What is clear is that we need to get to the root causes, address the disproportionate levels of poverty, end the violence, and ultimately reform the system that enables it. We need to examine the issue and get answers – there must be a national inquiry”, added Ashton.