How government inaction on MMIWG could harm Indigenous women – TVO

The federal government says it will be late delivering a MMIWG action plan due to COVID-19. Advocates say the pandemic has only emphasized the need for action

OTTAWA — On May 26, the Canadian government said that, due to COVID-19, it would not meet its June target for the release of an action plan based on the final report from the National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The announcement, which arrived a week before today’s one-year anniversary of the 1,200-page document’s publication, has since been met with sharp criticism: Indigenous leaders and advocates have suggested that the global pandemic only emphasizes the need for a plan to address violence against Indigenous women and girls.

“They’re using the pandemic as an excuse. We’re in crisis as Indigenous women — the crisis of COVID and the crisis of violence — and they’re both inseparable,” says Lorraine Whitman, president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, a non-profit organization. As the novel coronavirus persists, Whitman says, Indigenous women in Canada, who are already two and a half times more likely to experience spousal violence, continue to be at heightened risk while isolated at home. “In a perfect world, your home would be a great place to be,” she says. “But this isn’t a perfect world.”

Read More: https://www.tvo.org/article/how-government-inaction-on-mmiwg-could-harm-indigenous-women