Whereas:
- Every 48 hours in Canada a woman or girl is murdered,
most often by a man.
- When there are multiple or overlapping
identities or discriminations (e.g., sex/gender, race, class, age, sexuality,
ability, geography), the risk of femicide is compounded significantly.
- When women and girls are killed by violence, it
is almost always in the context of their intimate and/or familial relationships
with men.
- Indigenous women and girls are at an increased
risk of femicide compared to non-Indigenous women and girls and killed at
disproportionately higher rates, leading to the genocide of Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
- Femicide rates have been increasing steadily
since 2019 and remained stubbornly stable prior to this, underscoring that
prevention efforts need to be more nuanced and focused on the contexts of male
violence against women.
- Femicide is not yet officially recognized in
Canadian legislation or in the Criminal Code, despite at least 22 other
countries doing so, with others pending.
We the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the
Government of Canada to:
1) Declare femicide an urgent emergency in Canada
and prioritize it accordingly.
2) Expedite the process of implementing the National
Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, including establishing bilateral
agreements with provinces and territories in order to support the Plan’s
implementation, and ensure this work is community-led and robustly funded.
3) Expedite the process of implementing the Missing
and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action
Plan, as well as the 231 Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry into
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and ensure this work is
Indigenous-led and robustly funded.
4) Formally recognize femicide as a distinct form
of violence that differs from homicide, in legislation and/or in the Criminal Code.
Already achieved in at least 22 countries, there are many benefits to doing so
including:
- Canada can send a clear message that male
violence against women and girls will not be tolerated and that the lives of
women and girls hold inherent value to society.
- We can listen to women, respond to them when
they feel in danger, or ask for help to protect themselves and/or their
children.
- We can provide consistent and sustained funding
for organizations and their representatives who respond to male violence
against women and provide frontline services for women experiencing abuse, and those
who prevent male violence against women through advocacy and education
activities which aim to eradicate it from its roots. These two pillars (prevention
and response) must receive robust, sustained and long-term funding. This
includes Indigenous-led organizations, Indigenous women’s organizations,
grassroots organizations, and community groups.
- We can invest in consistent, quality training
for all sectors that respond to male violence against women and girls,
especially criminal justice professionals, moving beyond the ‘check box’
approach to training that often prevails.
- We can consider creating and funding a task
force to address the femicide emergency.
- We can legitimize femicide and MMIWG2S as a
social problem worthy of urgent attention and raise its visibility.
- We can collect more nuanced and focused data
that can contribute to the prevention of femicide, specifically those at
highest risk.
- We can increase public understanding about how
and why women and girls are being killed in distinct ways that differ from
homicides of men which informs more nuanced and effective preventions.
- We can recognize that male violence against
women, including femicide, can be hate-motivated violence. Misogyny often
motivates male violence against women and girls in the same way that religion
or race motivates violence against various groups.
- We can increase public understanding of the
wider societal impacts of male violence against women and girls.
- We can help to strengthen the human rights and
freedoms of all women and girls and make access to justice more equitable for
all women and girls.
- We can increase public and professional
recognition and awareness of the killing of women and girls, including MMIWG2S,
a crucial first step to reducing femicide.
- We can include legislation that recognizes the
various ways that sex/gender intersects with other identities that compounds
one’s experiences and impacts of violence.
- We can respond to the 231 Call for Justice
of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
which calls on the federal government to consider violence against Indigenous
women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people as an aggravating factor at sentencing, and
to amend the Criminal Code accordingly.
- We can provide better legal protection to women
and girls, especially those who are Indigenous, Black, part of other racialized
communities, living with disabilities, living in rural communities, migrant
women, LGBTQI2S+ people, and other marginalized women and girls.
- We can contribute to the de-normalization of
male violence against women and girls, too often framed as a private issue
rather than public violence that has widespread, societal impacts.
- We can challenge entrenched hierarchies of
“worthy subjects”, which often leaves the victimization of women and girls
invisible and outside the boundaries of those who deserve attention, especially
the victimization of Indigenous, Black and other marginalized women.
- We can begin to counteract the historical and
contemporary normalization, minimization, and tolerance of various forms of
male violence against women and girls, including by states/governments.
- We address the systemic issues contributing to
male violence against women and girls, and work toward a more safe and
equitable society for all.