OTTAWA — A Manitoba MP is trying to create an alert system to notify the public when Indigenous women go missing — an endeavour she hopes will lead to fewer deaths and more safe reunions with loved ones.
"This is a critical initiative," New Democrat MP Leah Gazan, who represents the riding of Winnipeg Centre, said last month as a House of Commons committee began studying her"Red Dress Alert" proposal.Gazan's fellow MPs unanimously backed her motion last year declaring the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls a Canada-wide emergency. The motion also called for funding for a new alert system similar to those that exist for missing children and seniors.
Between 2009 and 2021, the homicide rate among Indigenous women and girls was six times higher than for their non-Indigenous counterparts, Statistics Canada concluded in a report released last year. "There was always this common theme of an officer saying, 'Just wait a while, they're probably on a drunk bender, probably partying,'" she recounted.
Jennifer Jesty, who serves as the resiliency manager for the Union of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq, spoke to MPs about her own efforts to get an emergency alert system running for her communities and attempts to minimize police interference. "Because this system was designed by us, for us, we were able to create our own protocols around when, how and why an alert should or shouldn't be sent," Jesty said.
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