Consider the final statements from the MMIWG Inquiry, specifically the right to culture and the right to health. Explain in your own words how settler colonialism in Canada is the cause of the increased rates of poor health among Indigenous Peoples, or the higher rates of violence Indigenous Peoples face. For example, you might want to link colonialism to the deliberate freezing deaths of Indigenous Peoples across Canada, or “starlight tours” as exposed by the work of Sherene Razack (available online).
Consider the following excerpt from the Final Report of the MMIWG Inquiry:
“We do know that thousands of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA have been lost to the Canadian genocide to date. The fact that First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples are still here and that the population is growing should not discount the charge of genocide; the resilience and continued growth of these populations don’t discount the many actions detailed within this report, both historical and contemporary, that have contributed to endemic violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Ultimately, and despite different circumstances and backgrounds, what connects all these deaths is colonial violence, racism and oppression.
Canada is a settler colonial country. European nations, followed by the new government of “Canada,” imposed its own laws, institutions, and cultures on Indigenous Peoples while occupying their lands. Racist colonial attitudes justified Canada’s policies of assimilation, which sought to eliminate First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples as distinct Peoples and communities.
Colonial violence, as well as racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, has become embedded in everyday life – whether this is through interpersonal forms of violence, through institutions like the health care system and the justice system, or in the laws, policies and structures of Canadian society. The result has been that many Indigenous people have grown up normalized to violence, while Canadian society shows an appalling apathy to addressing the issue. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls finds that this amounts to genocide.”