UN high commissioner urges redress as Canada responds to MMIWG inquiry

OTTAWA — The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says it is important for Canada to develop a plan that includes redress for victims and families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Michelle Bachelet, who met today with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, says she hasn’t read the full report from the national inquiry, which was released earlier this month.

But Bachelet says the government’s response plan needs to include some form of redress for the Indigenous women, girls, LGBTQ and two-spirit people affected by the long-standing tragedy.

The commission released 231 recommendations, framed as “calls for justice,” including developing an effective response to human-trafficking cases and sexual exploitation and violence.

The commission also documented the issue as a “deliberate race, identity and gender-based genocide.”

A spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office says the national inquiry’s finding of genocide obliges the federal government in Canada to “assess these serious claims.”

The office of Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett says the federal government’s job, along with the provinces and territories, is to develop a national action plan, and will speak to the initial steps in the coming weeks.

 

The Canadian Press