APTN National News
In continuing to reject calls for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, the Harper government announced Monday its plan to address the violence with a $25 million five-year plan.
High risk communities will be targeted with “community safety plans” as identified by the RCMP with funding of $8.6 million over five years.
Further money, $7.5 million, will go to helping victims, and the remaining going towards raising awareness, such as “to engage men and boys and empower women and girls.”
The RCMP reported in May the force uncovered nearly 1,200 cases of murdered or missing Indigenous women over the last 30 years.
The majority of the tally was solved murders, but the report found Indigenous women were five times more likely to be murdered or go missing despite making up a tiny fraction of the general population.
The Harper government has refused to call an inquiry, despite calls for one from premiers to Aboriginal leaders to grassroots activists.
The Conservatives repeated over the summer “action” was needed, not another study.
As part of the “action plan” the feds plan to establish a secretariat to “ensure close coordination at the federal level, provide Aboriginal families and communities with information on the resources available to them to address this issue, and prepare regular progress reports on the status of these government initiatives.”
The full report can be read here.
