No More Stolen Sisters

A human rights response to discrimination and violence against Indigenous women #MMIW Canada

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Violence Against Indigenous Women Is a Human Rights Issue

Violence against women, and certainly violence against Indigenous women, is rarely understood as a human rights issue. When governments, media and the general public consider violence against women, it is often described as a criminal concern or a social issue. It is both of those things, of course. But it is also a human rights issue.

Indigenous women and girls have the right to be safe and free from violence.

When a woman is targeted with violence because of her gender or Indigenous identity, her fundamental rights are abused. And when state authorities do not offer her adequate protection because of her gender or Indigenous identity, those rights are violated.

Read Amnesty's Report
Woman holds up sign "No More Stolen Sisters"

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada

Suppose you are an Indigenous woman or girl in Canada. In that case, whether you live on reserve or in an urban area, regardless of your age or socio-economic status—the simple fact that you are an Indigenous woman or girl means that you are at least three times more likely to experience violence and at least six times more likely to be murdered than any other woman or girl in Canada. This violence is a national human rights crisis, and it must stop.

Why are the rates of violence so high?

  • Racist and sexist stereotypes lead perpetrators to believe that they can get away with committing acts of violence against Indigenous women and girls. 
  • The many legacies of colonialism increase the risk of experiencing violence—from impoverishment to the lasting harm from residential schools to the disempowerment of Indigenous women and girls in their own communities. 
  • Decades of government and law enforcement inaction to end the violence. 


Amnesty International stands in solidarity with the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and Indigenous peoples’ organizations to demand real action to prevent more sisters from being stolen.

Notes and orange knots hang on a wooden tipi
Notes and orange knots hang on a wooden tipi erected at the entrance of Pikogan, Quebec, Canada on September 9, 2021. - The monument sits as a reminder of the unmarked graves in various Residential Schools throughout Canada. Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV//AFP via Getty Images.

What needs to happen to stop the violence?

A concerted, national response that is comprehensive, coordinated, well-resourced, and developed in collaboration with Indigenous women and girls themselves.

It should include the following: 

  • A national action plan to end violence against women which addresses the root causes of violence and identifies holistic, culturally-appropriate ways in which to prevent violence and to support those impacted by violence. 
  • A national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women focused on exposing the nature of this violence and ensuring government and police accountability for an effective and coordinated response. 
  • A regular, comprehensive data collection on violence against Indigenous women in official crime statistics.
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No More Stolen Sisters

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Lifesaver: Help protect the planet and Indigenous rights

A woman wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans stands as she gazes toward a river. (Alli McCracken/Amnesty International)

Incoming British Columbia government must stop criminalization of Indigenous land defenders

Three women Indigenous and environmental rights defenders pose outdoors in front of a garden

‘Why We Say NO’: Ecuador rights defenders’ Canada tour earns important media attention 

Canada must Protect Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People

End violence against Indigenous women & 2SLGBTQQIA+ land & water defenders in Canada

Indigenous women, Two Spirit and gender diverse defenders not only experience criminalization and surveillance but also state-sanctioned sexual and gender-based violence in their attempts to preserve their lands and waters and heal their communities. Stand in solidarity with Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ land and water defenders.

Take Action Today

Take Action

Violence against Indigenous women and girls isn’t just an Indigenous issue or a women’s issue. It is a Canadian issue and to end the violence each one of us must commit to taking action in our daily lives. What can you do?

Engage your elected representatives. Let them know how important this issue is to you. And most importantly, listen to the voices of those impacted by the violence, and honour their words with your own words and actions.

Additional Resources

No More Stolen Sisters Reports

Amnesty International’s 2004 Stolen Sisters report was one of the first reports to systematically document the pattern of violence experienced by Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Due to continued government inaction to end the violence, the findings and recommendations in the 2004 report, and its 2009 update, are as relevant today as they were at the time of publishing.

Conversations with Grassroots Activists

Amnesty International proudly stands in solidarity alongside grassroots activists from across Canada who continue to work tirelessly to end violence against Indigenous women and girls. Here are some of our conversations with them.

Films

A number of documentaries have been produced which draw attention to the issue of violence against Indigenous women and girls. Amnesty International has copies of the documentary Highway of Tears available for activists to borrow. Contact us for more information.

Indigenous Women and Resource Development

Amnesty International is in the process of conducting research into the human rights impacts of large-scale natural resource development in northeastern British Columbia, with a particular focus on the region’s urban centre, Fort St. John. Part of this research focuses on the human rights impacts on women and girls, and particularly Indigenous women and girls.

Why? Because every year women from Fort St. John travel to Ottawa with a banner listing the missing and murdered women and girls in their community—and every year the banner includes more names. And because, as a wide range of people and organizations from this region have pointed out, environmental assessments and other decision-making processes around large-scale natural resource development projects need to pay more attention to their impact on people’s lives and the social fabric of the communities they live in.

Staff from Amnesty International Canada and our global movement—Indigenous Rights campaigner Craig Benjamin and Women’s Rights campaigner Jackie Hansen, have made several trips to communities in the Peace region of northeastern BC to gain a better understanding of the patterns of violence facing Indigenous women in this region. They have also learned more about the experience of resource develoment in the Peace region, including the impacts on Indigenous peoples in the region, and how the impacts may be different for people of different genders. Finally, have learned about the steps being taken — and the steps that still need to be taken — to make sure that urgent social concerns like the safety of Indigenous women and girls are part of future plans.

The scale of resource development underway or planned in Fort St. John and the Peace region reflect a national pattern. The federal government has predicted that over 600 major natural resource development projects will get underway in the next decade. Amnesty International does not take a position either for or against such development. However, we do call for rigorous protection of human rights in the decision-making process. And in our view, the current process by which such projects are reviewed and decided on doesn’t pay enough attention to the rights of Indigenous peoples or to the potential harmful impacts of projects on host communities, including specific impacts on women and girls.

Additional Resources

Recommended Links

Learn More

Out of Sight, Out of Mind Report

Gender, Indigenous rights, and energy development in northeast British Columbia, Canada

Join Amnesty International’s campaign to make sure the safety and wellness of Indigenous women and girls in northeast BC, Canada, an area with massive hydroelectric, oil, gas, and coal projects, is not #OutofSightOutofMind!

Discussion Paper on Feminist Foreign Policy

Amnesty's submission to the Senate Environment Committee in support of gender-based analysis in Bill C-69

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