Native Women’s Association of Canada applauds first steps in creating MMIWG alert system, urges that consultations be expedited| Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC)

GATINEAU, Que. – The Native Women’s Association of Canada is pleased to learn that the federal government is beginning work on the long-overdue public alert system for missing Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people.

“NWAC has been calling for the creation of this system for many years,” said NWAC President Carol McBride.

“Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit, transgender and gender-diverse people are being targeted by a genocide. An alert system will not only increase the number of eyes looking for victims of this violence during critical hours, it signals that the government is taking the deaths and disappearances seriously.”

NWAC would like to thank NDP MP Leah Gazan for her efforts to make the Red Dress Alert system a reality. And it applauds the Liberal government’s determination to consult with survivors, frontline workers, and families of the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls as it decides how best to implement the alert program. NWAC is ready to participate in that consultative process.

But Ms. McBride cautioned that the consultations should have a fixed deadline, and they must be concluded well before the next federal election.

“This is a matter of life and death. Lives continue to be lost to this violence at an alarming rate,” said Mrs. McBride, noting that it has been four years since the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls called for a nationwide emergency number that could be accessed when disappearances occur.

“We cannot risk having this important initiative die in the consultation process,” said Mrs. McBride. “Let’s get this alert system up and running. Let’s take the steps necessary to stop this genocide.”

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About The Native Women’s Association of Canada

The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is a national Indigenous organization representing political voices of Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit, transgender, and gender-diverse people in Canada. NWAC is inclusive of First Nations—on- and off-reserve, status, non-status, and disenfranchised—Inuit, and Métis. An aggregate of Indigenous women’s organizations from across the country, NWAC was founded on a collective goal to enhance, promote, and foster social, economic, cultural, and political well-being of Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit, transgender, and gender-diverse people within their respective communities and Canadian societies.

À propos de l'Association des femmes autochtones du Canada

L'Association des femmes autochtones du Canada (AFAC) est une organisation autochtone nationale qui représente la voix politique des femmes, des filles, des transgenres, des bispirituels et des personnes de sexe différent au Canada, y compris les membres des Premières nations vivant dans les réserves et hors réserve, les Indiens inscrits et non inscrits, les personnes privées de leurs droits, les Métis et les Inuits. Regroupant des organisations de femmes autochtones de tout le pays, l'AFAC a été fondée dans le but collectif d'améliorer, de promouvoir et de favoriser le bien-être social, économique, culturel et politique des femmes autochtones au sein de leurs communautés respectives et des sociétés canadiennes.

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Native Women’s Association of Canada applauds first steps in creating MMIWG alert system, urges that consultations be expedited

NWAC President Carol McBride: “Let’s get this alert system up and running. Let’s take the steps necessary to stop this genocide.”