![]() Art installation inspired by The REDress Project (Vancouver, Canada, National Day for Vigils for MMIW, 2016) | |
Abbreviation | MMIW |
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Formation | Canada and United States |
Purpose | Movement to increase awareness of disproportionate violence experienced by Indigenous Canadian and Native American women |
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), also known as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and more broadly as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) or Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP), are instances of violence against Indigenous women in Canada and the United States,[1][2] notably those in the First nations in Canada and Native American communities,[3][4][5] but also amongst other Indigenous peoples such as in Australia and New Zealand,[2] and the grassroots movement to raise awareness of MMIW through organizing marches; building databases of the missing; holding local community, city council, and tribal council meetings; and conducting domestic violence trainings and other informational sessions for police.[6]
Law enforcement, journalists, and activists in Indigenous communities in both the US and Canada have fought to bring awareness to the connection between sex trafficking, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and the women who go missing and are murdered.[7][8][9] From 2001 to 2015, the homicide rate for Indigenous women in Canada was almost six times higher than that for other women.[10]: 22 In Nunavut, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and in the provinces of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan, this over-representation of Indigenous women among homicide victims was even higher.[10]: 22 In the US, Native American women are more than twice as likely to experience violence than any other demographic; one in three Indigenous women is sexually assaulted during her life, and 55.5% are violently assaulted by an intimate partner. 66.4% have experienced psychological aggression from an intimate partner. 67% of assaults that are reported involve non-Indigenous perpetrators, while 70% of assaults go unreported.[11][12][13][14][15][a]
MMIW has been described as a Canadian national crisis[17][18][19] and a Canadian genocide.[20][21] In response to repeated calls from Indigenous groups, activists, and non-governmental organizations, the Government of Canada under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau established a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in September 2016.[22][23] According to the inquiry's backgrounder, "Indigenous women and girls in Canada are disproportionately affected by all forms of violence. Although Indigenous women make up 4 per cent of Canada's female population, 16 per cent of all women murdered in Canada between 1980 and 2012 were Indigenous."[24] The inquiry was completed and presented to the public on June 3, 2019.[22] Notable MMIW cases in Canada include 19 women killed in the Highway of Tears murders, and some of the 49 women from the Vancouver area murdered by serial killer Robert Pickton.[25]
In the US, the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was reauthorized in 2013, which for the first time gave tribes jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute felony domestic violence offenses involving both Native American offenders as well as non-Native offenders on reservations.[26][b] In 2019, the House of Representatives, led by the Democratic Party, passed H.R. 1585 (Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019) by a vote of 263–158, which increases tribes' prosecution rights much further. The bill was not taken up by the Senate, which at the time had a Republican majority.[28]
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has recommended that the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States, in cooperation with UN entities, "organize an international expert group meeting, by 2021, on ongoing issues of violence against indigenous women and girls in the region, including trafficking as well as the continuing crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women."
With issues concerning jurisdictional power and poor communication between families and local, state, tribal, and federal authorities contribute to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Intersection between Sex Trafficking and MMIW&C
A number of studies, reports, and congressional hearings now connect man camps—which can be used in mines and other extractive efforts as well—with increased rates of sexual violence and sex trafficking. ... The most well-documented cases thus far have occurred in the Tar Sands region of Alberta, Canada, as well as in western North Dakota and eastern Montana—an area known otherwise as the Bakken oil fields—though such activity is in no way exclusive to the region.
Dozens of families travelled to the Innu community of Mani-Utenam near Sept-Iles to share their emotional stories, many opening up about allegations of rape, murder, and harassment at the hands of police.
A previously reported statistic that, "Among [American Indian and Alaska Native] victims of rape or sexual assault, 86 percent described the offender as non‐Indian" is accurate according to Perry's analysis (2004) in American Indians and Crime: A BJS Statistical Profile, 1992–2002. However, Perry's analysis includes reports by both Native men and women victims of rape or sexual assault. Given this brief's focus on violence against Native women, we include the updated rate of 67 percent reported by Native women victims of rape or sexual assault indicated in Bachman, et al., (2008).
Table A.5: American Indian or Alaska Native Female Victims: Sexual violence in lifetime by interracial perpetrator confidence interval (likelihood) weighted estimate (weighed based on percentage of population) 91.9% to 100.5% and intraracial perpetrator 10.8% to 30.4%
Natives are more likely to be victims of crime than are any other group in the United States. People of a different race committed 70% of violent victimizations against Natives. The report also notes the rate of violent crime experienced by Native women between 1992 and 1996 was nearly 50% higher than that reported by African American males, long known to experience very high rates of violent victimization. According to the Department of Justice, 70% of sexual assaults of Native women are never reported, which suggests that the number of violent victimizations of Native women is higher (Ibid.).
According to the Department of Justice, 86 percent of rapes and sexual assaults against Native American women are committed by non-Native American men.
After years of debate and inaction, the Canadian government has finally launched an inquiry into the national crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
State 'actions and inactions and ideology' blamed for allowing attackers to get away with violence over nearly 50 years
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