Canada must not ignore Indigenous 'genocide', landmark report warns.

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Up to 4,000 Indigenous women and girls killed or missing.
Justin Trudeau: ‘We have failed you. We will fail you no longer’.

Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is presented with the final report into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Gatineau, Quebec, on Monday. Photograph: Chris Wattie/Reuters
▼ Canadians can no longer turn a blind eye to the “genocide” of Indigenous peoples in the country, a landmark reporton missing and murdered women has concluded.
Indigenous communities across the country have for decades attempted to convey the depth and scope of a tragedy that has haunted thousands of families.
As many as 4,000 Indigenous  women and girlsare believed to have been killed or gone missing in Canada over the past 30 years – although the true number of victims is unlikely ever to be known.
On Mondaythe findings of a three-year inquiry were released at a solemn ceremony in Quebec, attended by victims’ families, survivors, Indigenous leaders and senior government officials.
“This is an uncomfortable day for Canada,” said the prime minister, Justin Trudeau. “We have failed you. We will fail you no longer.”
The inquiry’s final report, a 1,200-page catalogue of historical and contemporary injustices, concludes that decades of policy and state indifference amounted to  genocide against Indigenous  peoples.
The report’s authors were blunt in their assessment: “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention … This is every Canadian’s responsibility not to turn a blind eye.”
The report, called Reclaiming Power and Place, marks the government’s most signifiant attempt at determining the scope of the epidemic of violence that has claimed the lives of thousands of indigenous women.
“The violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA [two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual] people is a national tragedy of epic proportion,” wrote the chief commissioner, Marion Buller.
Commission members conceded that the term “genocide” is likely to provoke controversy in the country but said they carefully examined the United Nations  definitionof the term – as well as its original intent from the 1940s.
“Genocide is the sum of the social practices, assumptions, and actions detailed within this report,” they wrote.
Indigenous activists hailed the report as an important turning point.
“It’s powerful. It’s sad. It angers me. But it’s also hopeful because it shows the real strength, resilience and determination of Indigenous women and girls,” said Pam Palmater, a Mi’kmaq law professor at Ryerson University. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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