The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations says national plan to address family violence not being implemented quickly enough

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations says a national plan to address family violence and violent crimes against Aboriginal women and girls is not being implemented quickly enough and will lead to more untimely deaths. The federal government has announced the National Action Plan will not be implemented for another six-and-a-half months.

“According to current statistics where an average of approximately 38 Indigenous women and girls have been murdered or gone missing annually, that is potentially another 20 Indigenous women and girls that will be murdered or missing before this action plan is implemented and that is not acceptable,” said Vice Chief Kim Jonathan. “The question remains how many more Indigenous women will fall victim to violence before governments implement a full national inquiry.”

The FSIN, which represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan, has continued to call for a national inquiry to address the issues around missing and murdered Indigenous women. The action plan, the organization reports, falls short on addressing the sociological factors that lead to racialized, sexualized violence against Indigenous women in Canada, especially on-rNew poverty funding programs in place

eserve. The action plan does not propose to address nor examine institutionalized racism in the justice system, for example.

The FSIN has much cause to worry. Ten RCMP detachment areas across Canada are identified as having the highest risk for violence against women, and six are in Saskatchewan, though RCMP are not identifying the communities to avoid “stigmatizing” them. “They know (about the violence), we know it, and we’re having discussions now with respect to the challenges within their communities,” said Supt. Tyler Bates, the RCMP’s director of national Aboriginal policing and crime prevention services.

FSIN Grand Chief Perry Bellegarde said he’s glad Canada is acknowledging the national crisis of violence against Aboriginal women, but says “actions need to be immediate.” He said having six out of the top 10 communities at risk in the province says First Nations have been “marginalized in the economy” and “living in poverty for far too long.” Bellegarde said “It is alarming and we’ve got to start working collectively together because there’s high social costs to poverty,” Bellegarde said.