LRWC, together with the BC CEDAW group, made submissions in February to CERD on violence against Aboriginal women and girls. CERD published its Concluding Observations on Canada 9 March 2012. In response to a request from the Department of Canadian Heritage, LRWC and BC CEDAW provided a further report outlining suggestions for implementation of CERD recommendations. This report was sent to the Continuing Committee of Officials on Human Rights (CCOHR) recommends that Canada establish a national inquiry into the murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls that is grounded in a thorough and careful examination of the root causes of the violence, including the historic discrimination and the disadvantaged social and economic conditions of Aboriginal women and girls that make them vulnerable to extreme violence. The inquiry should be developed through consultation with the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and other Aboriginal and women’s organizations, which must be assured of funded counsel of their own choosing. The communication also endorses NWAC’s recommendation that the inquiry “should include a review of practices and measures related to child welfare, social assistance, housing, criminal justice, policing, and incarceration and identify where systemic correction is needed to dismantle institutionalized sexism and racism.”
The submissions can be viewed here: Implementation of CERD and CAT recommendations on violence against Aboriginal Women and Girls
