For Immediate Release
June 21, 2024
MHA Lela Evans (Torngat Mountains) made the following statement for National Indigenous Peoples Day:
The five-year anniversary of the MMIWG report has just passed and I am deeply disappointed that only 2 of the 231 Calls for Justice have been completed to date. These calls for action clearly outline what Canada must do to end and redress its genocide against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Governments, federal and provincial, cannot continue to talk about reconciliation without admitting that they have failed to live up to their legal obligations outlined in the report.
The highway of tears leading from Indigenous communities across Canada symbolizes the harm and hardship Indigenous women face during their struggle to escape the poverty and marginalization that Indigenous communities face. Sadly, many of our indigenous women continue to lose their lives in the struggle years after the inquiry findings. The calls for action are about ending the genocide by changing the structures and the systems that sustain violence; this is an essential legal obligation of all governments in Canada.
The genocide of Indigenous women, girls, and 2 spirit people is still occurring around the country. The Native Women’s Association of Canada says it is clear that there is an ongoing emergency, even after five years since the final MMIWG2S report was released. We remember all the indigenous mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, grandmothers, nieces, and cousins who were murdered. We must honour their memories by ensuring the socio-economic conditions and racism that led to their deaths are removed from our society. The federal and provincial governments must not be allowed to continually fail to take action that is clearly laid out in the calls to justice.
Reconciliation is not just words. It is action.
In my District of Torngat Mountains, made up entirely of Indigenous communities, we see the harms caused by the continued lack of support from governments. Our communities have the highest costs for food, housing, and fuel in the province. We also experience the highest rates of suicide in the province. We wanted action to accompany the Premier’s apologize for residential schools, but that was an expectation too high for him and his government. So we will have to satisfy ourselves with the words, rather than socio-economic advances we desperately need.
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For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media Relations Manager, NDP Caucus at 330-0328 (o), or stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca
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