Scandal of 4,000 missing or murdered indigenous Canadian women

As many as 4,000 indigenous women of Canada are missing or have been murdered, a minister has admitted. A dearth of hard data means it’s all but impossible to pinpoint an accurate figure, said Patty Hajdu, but pointed to research from the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) that puts the figure far higher than the 1,200 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has previously stated. The comment comes after women’s minister Ms Hajdu and Carolyn Bennett, the minister for indigenous affairs and northern development, wrapped up cross-country talks ahead of a formal national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

The gulf between 1,200 and pushing 4,000 is huge. Even if it is somewhere in the middle, it is still an outrageous number to [not have been investigated] until this point.

Dawn Lavell-Harvard, the president of NWAC

Ms Bennett said the RCMP “did their very best” in trying to come up with an accurate number, but she said the testimony she heard at the pre-inquiry talks puts that figure in serious doubt. “We have heard enough stories to hear that if you count these deaths, that were called a suicide or other things, we have anecdotal evidence that the problem is greater,” she said. In December 2015, Canadian authorities charged a man in the death of one indigenous girl whose murder caused a national outcry. Raymond Cormier, 53, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Tina Fontaine, 15, who was found dead in 2014 in Canada’s Red River.

Canada missing