Answering Calls for Justice within PSIs from the National Inquiry on MMIWG

	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	Answering MMIWG Calls for Justice within PSIs
2	Created by Courtney Skye for Courage to Act
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4	Calls for Educators	Responsibility	Authority	Task	Support	Informed
5	Calls for Educators	Who is in charge of making sure the work is done?	Who has final decision over the result of the work?	Who is completing what task?	Who is involved to provide support to the work?	Who is informed that the work has been done (or will be started)?
6	We call upon all elementary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions and education authorities to educate and provide awareness to the public about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and about the issues and root causes of violence they experience. All curriculum development and programming should be done in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, especially Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Such education and awareness must include historical and current truths about the genocide against Indigenous Peoples through state laws, policies, and colonial practices. It should include, but not be limited to, teaching Indigenous history, law, and practices from Indigenous perspectives and the use of Their Voices Will Guide Us with children and youth.
7	We call upon all educational service providers to develop and implement awareness and education programs for Indigenous children and youth on the issue of grooming for exploitation and sexual exploitation.
8	Calls for Health and Wellness Service Providers	Responsibility	Authority	Task	Support	Informed
9	Calls for Health and Wellness Service Providers	Who is in charge of making sure the work is done?	Who has final decision over the result of the work?	Who is completing what task?	Who is involved to provide support to the work?	Who is informed that the work has been done (or will be started
10	We call upon all governments and health service providers to recognize that Indigenous Peoples – First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, including 2SLGBTQQIA people – are the experts in caring for and healing themselves, and that health and wellness services are most effective when they are designed and delivered by the Indigenous Peoples they are supposed to serve, in a manner consistent with and grounded in the practices, world views, cultures, languages, and values of the diverse Inuit, Métis, and First Nations communities they serve.
11	We call upon all governments and health service providers to ensure that health and wellness services for Indigenous Peoples include supports for healing from all forms of unresolved trauma, including intergenerational, multigenerational, and complex trauma. Health and wellness programs addressing trauma should be Indigenous-led, or in partnership with Indigenous communities, and should not be limited in time or approaches.
12	We call upon all governments and health service providers to support Indigenous-led prevention initiatives in the areas of health and community awareness, including, but not limited to programming: • for Indigenous men and boys • related to suicide prevention strategies for youth and adults • related to sexual trafficking awareness and no-barrier exiting • specific to safe and healthy relationships • specific to mental health awareness • related to 2SLGBTQQIA issues and sex positivity
13	We call upon all governments and health service providers to provide necessary resources, including funding, to support the revitalization of Indigenous health, wellness, and child and Elder care practices. For healing, this includes teachings that are land-based and about harvesting and the use of Indigenous medicines for both ceremony and health issues. This may also include: matriarchal teachings on midwifery and postnatal care for both woman and child; early childhood health care; palliative care; Elder care and care homes to keep Elders in their home communities as valued Knowledge Keepers; and other measures. Specific programs may include but are not limited to correctional facilities, healing centres, hospitals, and rehabilitation centres.
14	We call upon governments, institutions, organizations, and essential and non-essential service providers to support and provide permanent and necessary resources for specialized intervention, healing and treatment programs, and services and initiatives offered in Indigenous languages.
15	We call upon institutions and health service providers to ensure that all persons involved in the provision of health services to Indigenous Peoples receive ongoing training, education, and awareness in areas including, but not limited to: • the history of colonialism in the oppression and genocide of Inuit, Métis, and First Nations Peoples; • anti-bias and anti-racism; • local language and culture; and • local health and healing practices.
16	We call upon all governments, educational institutions, and health and wellness professional bodies to encourage, support, and equitably fund Indigenous people to train and work in the area of health and wellness.
17	We call upon all governments and health service providers to create effective and wellfunded opportunities, and to provide socio-economic incentives, to encourage Indigenous people to work within the health and wellness field and within their communities. This includes taking positive action to recruit, hire, train, and retain long-term staff and local Indigenous community members for health and wellness services offered in all Indigenous communities.
18	We call upon all health service providers to develop and implement awareness and education programs for Indigenous children and youth on the issue of grooming for exploitation and sexual exploitation.
19	Calls for Justice: Industries, Institutions, Services, and Partnerships	Responsibility	Authority	Task	Support	Informed
20		Who is in charge of making sure the work is done?	Who has final decision over the result of the work?	Who is completing what task?	Who is involved to provide support to the work?	Who is informed that the work has been done (or will be started
21	We call upon all media, news corporations and outlets, and, in particular, governmentfunded corporations and outlets; media unions, associations, and guilds; academic institutions teaching journalism or media courses; governments that fund such corporations, outlets, and academic institutions; and journalists, reporters, bloggers, film producers, writers, musicians, music producers, and, more generally, people working in the entertainment industry to take decolonizing approaches to their work and publications in order to educate all Canadians about Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. More specifically, this includes the following:
22	Ensure authentic and appropriate representation of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, inclusive of diverse Indigenous cultural backgrounds, in order to address negative and discriminatory stereotypes.
23	Support Indigenous people sharing their stories, from their perspectives, free of bias, discrimination, and false assumptions, and in a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive way.
24	Increase the number of Indigenous people in broadcasting, television, and radio, and in journalist, reporter, producer, and executive positions in the entertainment industry, including, and not limited to, by: • providing educational and training opportunities aimed at Indigenous inclusion; and • providing scholarships and grants aimed at Indigenous inclusion in media, film, and music industry-related fields of study.
25	Take proactive steps to break down the stereotypes that hypersexualize and demean Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and to end practices that perpetuate myths that Indigenous women are more sexually available and “less worthy” than non-Indigenous women because of their race or background.
26	Calls for Justice for All Governments: Culture	Responsibility	Authority	Task	Support	Informed
27	Calls for Justice for All Governments: Culture	Who is in charge of making sure the work is done?	Who has final decision over the result of the work?	Who is completing what task?	Who is involved to provide support to the work?	Who is informed that the work has been done (or will be started)?
28	We call upon all governments to ensure that all Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are provided with safe, no-barrier, permanent, and meaningful access to their cultures and languages in order to restore, reclaim, and revitalize their cultures and identities. These are rights held by all segments of Indigenous communities, from young children to Elders. The programs and services that provide such access should not be tied exclusively to government-run cultural or educational institutions. All governments must further ensure that the rights of Indigenous children to retain and be educated in their Indigenous language are upheld and protected. All governments must ensure access to immersion programs for children from preschool into post-secondary education.
29	We call upon all governments to provide the necessary resources and permanent funds required to preserve knowledge by digitizing interviews with Knowledge Keepers and language speakers. We further call upon all governments to support grassroots and community-led Indigenous language and cultural programs that restore identity, place, and belonging within First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities through permanent, no-barrier funding and resources. Special measures must include supports to restore and revitalize identity, place, and belonging for Indigenous Peoples and communities who have been isolated from their Nations due to colonial violence, including 2SLGBTQQIA people and women who have been denied Status.
30	We call upon all governments, in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, to create a permanent empowerment fund devoted to supporting Indigenous-led initiatives for Indigenous individuals, families, and communities to access cultural knowledge, as an important and strength-based way to support cultural rights and to uphold selfdetermined services. This empowerment fund should include the support of land-based educational programs that can assist in foundational cultural learning and awareness. This empowerment fund will also assist in the revitalization of distinct cultural practices as expressed by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, with eligibility criteria and decision making directly in their hands.
31	Calls for Justice for All Governments: Health and Wellness	Responsibility	Authority	Task	Support	Informed
32	Calls for Justice for All Governments: Health and Wellness	Who is in charge of making sure the work is done?	Who has final decision over the result of the work?	Who is completing what task?	Who is involved to provide support to the work?	Who is informed that the work has been done (or will be started
33	We call upon all governments to ensure that the rights to health and wellness of Indigenous Peoples, and specifically of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, are recognized and protected on an equitable basis.
34	We call upon all governments to provide adequate, stable, equitable, and ongoing funding for Indigenous-centred and community-based health and wellness services that are accessible and culturally appropriate, and meet the health and wellness needs of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The lack of health and wellness services within Indigenous communities continues to force Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to relocate in order to access care. Governments must ensure that health and wellness services are available and accessible within Indigenous communities and wherever Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people reside.
35	We call upon all governments to fully support First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities to call on Elders, Grandmothers, and other Knowledge Keepers to establish community-based trauma-informed programs for survivors of trauma and violence.
36	We call upon all governments to ensure that all Indigenous communities receive immediate and necessary resources, including funding and support, for the establishment of sustainable, permanent, no-barrier, preventative, accessible, holistic, wraparound services, including mobile trauma and addictions recovery teams. We further direct that trauma and addictions treatment programs be paired with other essential services such as mental health services and sexual exploitation and trafficking services as they relate to each individual case of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
37	We call upon all governments to establish culturally competent and responsive crisis response teams in all communities and regions, to meet the immediate needs of an Indigenous person, family, and/or community after a traumatic event (murder, accident, violent event, etc.), alongside ongoing support.
38	We call upon all governments to ensure substantive equality in the funding of services for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as well as substantive equality for Indigenous-run health services. Further, governments must ensure that jurisdictional disputes do not result in the denial of rights and services. This includes mandated permanent funding of health services for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people on a continual basis, regardless of jurisdictional lines, geographical location, and Status affiliation or lack thereof.
39	We call upon all governments to provide continual and accessible healing programs and support for all children of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people and their family members. Specifically, we call for the permanent establishment of a fund akin to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and related funding. These funds and their administration must be independent from government and must be distinctions-based. There must be accessible and equitable allocation of specific monies within the fund for Inuit, Métis, and First Nations Peoples.
40	Calls for Justice for All Governments: Human Security	Responsibility	Authority	Task	Support	Informed
41	Calls for Justice for All Governments: Human Security	Who is in charge of making sure the work is done?	Who has final decision over the result of the work?	Who is completing what task?	Who is involved to provide support to the work?	Who is informed that the work has been done (or will be started
42	We call upon all governments to provide supports and resources for educational, training, and employment opportunities for all Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. These programs must be available within all Indigenous communities.
43	We call upon all governments to support the establishment and long-term sustainable funding of Indigenous-led low-barrier shelters, safe spaces, transition homes, secondstage housing, and services for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people who are homeless, near homeless, dealing with food insecurity, or in poverty, and who are fleeing violence or have been subjected to sexualized violence and exploitation. All governments must ensure that shelters, transitional housing, second-stage housing, and services are appropriate to cultural needs, and available wherever Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people reside.
44	We call upon all governments to ensure that adequate plans and funding are put into place for safe and affordable transit and transportation services and infrastructure for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people living in remote or rural communities. Transportation should be sufficient and readily available to Indigenous communities, and in towns and cities located in all of the provinces and territories in Canada. These plans and funding should take into consideration: • ways to increase safe public transit; • ways to address the lack of commercial transit available; and • special accommodations for fly-in, northern, and remote communities.
45	Calls for Justice for All Governments: Justice	Responsibility	Authority	Task	Support	Informed
46	Calls for Justice for All Governments: Justice	Who is in charge of making sure the work is done?	Who has final decision over the result of the work?	Who is completing what task?	Who is involved to provide support to the work?	Who is informed that the work has been done (or will be started
47	We call upon all governments to ensure that protection orders are available, accessible, promptly issued, and effectively serviced and resourced to protect the safety of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
48	We call upon all governments to increase accessibility to meaningful and culturally appropriate justice practices by expanding restorative justice programs and Indigenous Peoples’ courts.
49	Calls for Justice for All Canadians	Responsibility	Authority	Task	Support	Informed
50	Calls for Justice for All Canadians	Who is in charge of making sure the work is done?	Who has final decision over the result of the work?	Who is completing what task?	Who is involved to provide support to the work?	Who is informed that the work has been done (or will be started
51	Denounce and speak out against violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
52	Decolonize by learning the true history of Canada and Indigenous history in your local area. Learn about and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ history, cultures, pride, and diversity, acknowledging the land you live on and its importance to local Indigenous communities, both historically and today.
53	Develop knowledge and read the Final Report. Listen to the truths shared, and acknowledge the burden of these human and Indigenous rights violations, and how they impact Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people today.
54	Using what you have learned and some of the resources suggested, become a strong ally. Being a strong ally involves more than just tolerance; it means actively working to break down barriers and to support others in every relationship and encounter in which you participate.
55	Confront and speak out against racism, sexism, ignorance, homophobia, and transphobia, and teach or encourage others to do the same, wherever it occurs: in your home, in your workplace, or in social settings.
56	Protect, support, and promote the safety of women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people by acknowledging and respecting the value of every person and every community, as well as the right of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to generate their own, self-determined solutions.
57	Create time and space for relationships based on respect as human beings, supporting and embracing differences with kindness, love, and respect. Learn about Indigenous principles of relationship specific to those Nations or communities in your local area and work, and put them into practice in all of your relationships with Indigenous Peoples.
58	Help hold all governments accountable to act on the Calls for Justice, and to implement them according to the important principles we set out.
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60	Suggested Citation:
61	Skye, C. (2020, July 30). Answering Calls for Justice for PSIs from the National Inquiry on MMIWG. Retrieved from Courage to Act website: https://www.couragetoact.ca/blog/callsforjustice
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