2022-23 Horizontal initiative - Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

General Information

Lead department: Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC)

Federal partner organizations: Canadian Heritage (PCH), Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), Public Safety (PS), Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), Department of Justice (DOJ), Libraries and Archives Canada (LAC), Health Canada (HC), Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Transport Canada (TC), Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN), Correctional Services Canada (CSC), Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Statistics Canada (StatCan)

Start date: 2021

End date: 2028

Description: In 2016 and in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action and the decades-long advocacy from families and survivors, the Government of Canada launched the National Inquiry into MMIWG and two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual (2SLGBTQQIA+) people. This inquiry included all provinces and territories and the federal government. It brought together Indigenous leaders, families and survivors, communities, knowledge keepers, experts and institutions from across the country to study and discuss the underlying social, economic, cultural, institutional, systemic and historical causes, policies and practices for this ongoing violence. The work of the National Inquiry ended in June 2019 with the release of Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The report contains 231 Calls for Justice calling upon various organizations to take action to end the causes of this violence, including a call for the Government of Canada, provincial, territorial, Indigenous and municipal governments and Indigenous partners to work together to respond to the issues identified by the Final Report.

On June 3, 2021, the 2021 National Action Plan: Ending Violence Against Indigenous Women, Girls, And 2SLGBTQQIA+ People was released. As one component of the National Action Plan, the Government of Canada developed the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, a set of commitments for departments to support systemic change to address the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. Through investments contained in the Fall Economic Statement 2020, as well as in Budget 2021, federal departments and agencies are working together to build on progress and to confront violence. Through this work, and that of partners, we look to fulfill a shared vision, as elaborated in the 2021 National Action Plan:

The Federal Pathway will evolve to remain effective in ending the national tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, and new investments may be added as they are made. For this reason, the Horizontal Initiative on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People will remain adaptive to new challenges, realities and priorities.

Governance structures: The Horizontal Results Framework on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People (henceforth, HRF on MMIWG and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People) will be reported in the Departmental Plan and Departmental Results Report of the lead department (CIRNAC) and will be implemented through the existing horizontal governance structures, such as but not limited to thematic interdepartmental results working groups, the Director-General (DG) Steering Committee and the Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) Oversight Committee. The ADM Oversight Committee will ensure horizontal results monitoring, reporting, and assessment, including the collection of consistent data.

CIRNAC, through the leadership of the MMIWG Secretariat, will continue to be the lead department and convener for working-level groups, as well as these committees. All partner departments will continue their participation in establishing the governance structure and the financial parameters for the horizontal initiative, provide a complete list to CIRNAC of their activities that are connected to the horizontal initiative, and provide information on relevant departmental activities as required by the Oversight Committee to implement their respective activities connected to the horizontal initiative. Going forward, interdepartmental results working groups, alongside the DG Steering and ADM Oversight Committees, will work collaboratively to ensure the development of results and resource frameworks, data collection and consolidation, and monitoring of performance indicators, unforeseen issues and course corrections that arise during the life of these initiatives and communication strategies.

Through collaboration and co-development with Indigenous partners and provincial and territorial governments, CIRNAC is pursuing the shared vision of the National Action Plan.This vision undergirds all federal efforts to reduce violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. The direction to pursue this vision, encapsulated within the Federal Pathway, will be renewed periodically through collaboration with Indigenous, provincial and territorial partners. Many of the policy levers to affect these outcomes are outside of federal jurisdiction, or in areas of shared jurisdiction. These plans, and related federal investments, will inform the expansion of the Horizontal Results Framework. As new initiatives are developed and implemented, new indicators related to initiatives brought forward by diverse departments and agencies will also be added. This is anticipated to be an ongoing, progressive and whole-of-government process, with regular engagement and reports to Treasury Board. Timelines for these regular engagements will be confirmed as the initial results framework is completed and as new initiatives are brought forward for approval.

Total federal funding allocated (start to end date): To be added as initiatives are confirmed

Total federal planned spending to date: To be added as initiatives are confirmed

Total federal actual spending to date: To be added as initiatives are confirmed

Date of last renewal of the horizontal initiative: Not applicable

Total federal funding allocated at the last renewal and source of funding: Not applicable

Additional federal funding received after the last renewal: Not applicable

Total planned spending since the last renewal: Not applicable

Total actual spending since the last renewal: Not applicable

Fiscal year of planned completion of next evaluation: Not applicable

Planning highlights: CIRNAC will lead all partner departments in the confirmation of the horizontal initiative results framework, including the completion of overall shared outcome(s), thematic shared outcome(s), and scoping of included initiatives. Work will also include confirming the governance structures associated with this horizontal initiative and collecting preliminary information on all scoped-in initiatives.