Manitoba Indigenous chiefs frustrated, call for more action over MMIWG
Global News
Indigenous leaders in Manitoba say solutions for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls laid out after a 2019 inquiry need to be put into action as the tragedies continue.
Dozens of people gathered at Odena Circle at The Forks Sunday night demanding a state of emergency be declared to stop the hurt and trauma for more families in the future.
This comes after police charged a Winnipeg man with first-degree murder in the deaths of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Rebecca Contois, as well as that of a woman yet to be identified who elders are calling “Buffalo woman.”
“We have to come here over and over again for these tragic events,” Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee said.
First Nations Chiefs in Manitoba say they’re frustrated with a lack of action after another tragedy involving Indigenous women.
As some wonder what can be done, chiefs say the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls has answers.
“It is collecting dust and it’s up to the governments to take it off the shelf,” Settee said.
The 2019 final report on MMIWG had 231 calls for justice and laid out four ways to get there. It includes addressing intergenerational trauma, social and economic marginalization and institutional lack of will, in addition to empowering the expertise of Indigenous women and girls.
“Sit down with us; let’s work on this together,” Settee said. “We have the solutions but we don’t have the resources and if they want us to do the job for them we will – just give us the resources. We’ll do it.”