A new "Circle" will guide resource extraction companies on MMIWG2S+ safety and accountability
A member of the new Circle for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People (MMIWG2S+) and Resource Development sees the group’s work as an opportunity to advance several of the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry.
The Circle comes out of the federally mandated Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee set up in 2016 for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project and will advise other resource extraction companies undertaking any future projects.
Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, chair of the National Family and Survivors Circle, is part of the new 13-member group.
“This work is an important step in the right direction in relation to resource extraction …,” said Anderson-Pyrz in an interview with APTN News.
“I think we can really develop a very useful tool and procedural and guiding documents that can really support when resource extraction is occurring, some protocols that need to be followed and what safety mechanisms are put into place.”
The unveiling of the Circle comes on the National Day of Action for MMIWG2S+.
The Circle is intended to address Calls for Justice 13.1 to 13.5 of the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which call upon resource-extraction and development industries to consider the safety and security of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in all aspects of a project.
The inquiry found that resource development projects can “exacerbate the problem of violence against Indigenous women and girls” from non-Indigenous men, as well as within Indigenous communities. It said Canada’s resource sector employs about two million people and the majority are men housed in temporary work camps also known as “man camps”.
A 2022 report by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women – in response to the national inquiry – found a significant link between resource extraction and violence against Indigenous women in Canada. It made more than a dozen recommendations aimed at keeping women and girls safe while extraction projects are underway.
Group announced on National Day of Action
Another member of the Circle is Tracy Friedel of the Lac Ste. Anne Métis in Alberta. She served on the Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee for the Trans Mountain expansion project.
Friedel says the Circle is taking what they learned during that project to the next level.
“These are systemic issues that we’re dealing with,” Friedel told APTN, “in terms of temporary work camps, the influx of workers, and to really address issues of race and gender-based violence and discrimination.
“They’re quite difficult to chip away at in the context of a specific project. So, what we’re aiming to do now that construction is complete, we’re really looking to broaden this out.”
Friedel says the Circle’s goals include increased safety and accountability for Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people.
“We’ve been working quite diligently over the years to try to transform the regulatory space regarding this project (Trans Mountain expansion) so that there’s more of a line of sight on some of these issues,” Friedel added.
“It will translate into more safety and security at the local and regional level, but, at the end of the day, we’re looking to transform the regulatory system so it better accounts for these types of things.”
To do that, Friedel says they’re calling on governments and the regulatory bodies to come to the table and work collaboratively with them.
With the Trans Mountain pipeline online since the middle of May, Friedel says they want to “raise the bar” on how projects are handled in the future. Both the federal ministers of Energy and Natural Resources and Crown-Indigenous Relations are on board, she said.
“This initiative directly works to respond to and honour the Calls for Justice, while focusing greater attention on the urgent need for systemic change,” said Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson in a statement.
“It is a call for collaborative action that requires the full commitment of federal leaders to confront the interconnected issues of violence, racism, poverty, and displacement, which continue to disproportionately affect Indigenous communities.”
Call to Action 13.2 of the final report of the MMIWG2S+ called on government and regulatory agencies to complete gender-based socio-economic impact assessments on all proposed projects as part of their decision making and ongoing monitoring of projects. It also stated that project proposals must include provisions and plans to mitigate risks and impacts identified in the impact assessments prior to being approved.
Friedel said there needs to be appropriate monitoring of resource projects once they’re approved and improved reporting back to communities.
“Currently, there’s not a lot of transparency there in terms of some of the stuff that we know goes on with respect to large influxes of non-local workers into particular areas.”
According to Friedel, there were five work camps in B.C. during the Trans Mountain expansion project, but only about 20% of non-local workers stayed in them.
“The rest were staying in all kinds of accommodations – apartments, rented houses, hotels, motels, RV parks and even camping in private fields,” Friedel said. “Oversight over those workers outside of the work day requires enhanced policies and education, so they understand where they are and what the expectations are in terms of behaviour outside of work.”
Anderson-Pyrz says five years after the release of the final report of the national inquiry, there’s some frustration with how long it is taking to see results from the 231 Calls for Justice, but she feels this new circle is a step in the right direction. Members are currently meeting in Vancouver to figure out where to start.
“Is it moving fast enough? Absolutely not. We continue to go missing at alarming rates, we continue to experience violence at alarming rates, we’re continuing to be murdered at alarming rates. Ultimately, we’re trying to do something different to really create pathways of prevention, safety and security for MMIWG2S+.”
