CEDAW
Learn more about the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
An introduction to the solidarity campaign
Early in 2015, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will release reports on their 2013 investigations into the murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.
Many organizations and individuals have been working for years to address this violence. The Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) and the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) requested formal investigations by the CEDAW Committee and the IACHR. The violence against Canada’s Aboriginal women and girls is a human rights crisis for the country, and FAFIA and NWAC believe that scrutiny by international experts will help to advance their rights.
The investigations are the first inquiries by international human rights bodies into violations of the human rights of Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. We invite you to learn more and to help spread the word about the human rights of Aboriginal women and girls.
To join our network or if you have any questions, email Cherry Smiley at: solidarityfafia-afai.org
MURDERS & DISAPPEARANCES OF ABORIGINAL WOMEN AND GIRLS
Aboriginal women and girls experience extremely high levels of violence in Canada. Aboriginal women in Canada report rates of violence including domestic violence and sexual assault 3.5 times higher than non-Aboriginal women. Young Aboriginal women are five times more likely than other Canadian women of the same age to die of violence. Aboriginal women and girls experience both high levels of sexual abuse and violence in their own families and communities, and high levels of stranger violence in the broader society.
Above: Jeanette Corbière Lavell, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, and Sharon McIvor, Representative of FAFIA at the IACHR (March 2012).
Between 2005 and 2010, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), through its Sisters in Spirit project, documented the disappearances or murders of 582 Aboriginal women and girls over twenty years. But in 2010, the Government of Canada cut NWAC’s funding for this ground-breaking research project and NWAC was unable to continue this work.
NWAC has always believed that the scope of the violence is far greater than the cases it has been able to document through public sources. For many years, the inadequacy of data that identifies the victims and perpetrators of murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls by race has been well known and acknowledged, including by Statistics Canada.
Late in 2013 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) commissioned a study on murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls and released its findings in May 2014. The RCMP documented 1,181 murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls between 1980 and 2012 with information from over 300 police forces. This confirmed the broad scope of the violence and the over representation of Aboriginal women and girls among murdered and missing women in Canada.
Above: Tracy Robinson, President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) chairing the Thematic Briefing with FAFIA and NWAC.
TWO FACETS OF THE VIOLENCE
Two facets of the violence have been identified by Aboriginal women, families, and non-governmental organizations:
- The failure of the justice system in Canada to protect Aboriginal women and girls from violence, to investigate promptly and thoroughly when they are missing or murdered, to exchange information effectively between federal, provincial and territorial policing agencies in order to solve cases, and to prosecute and punish perpetrators; and
- The failure of governments in Canada to address and remedy the disadvantaged social and economic conditions in which Aboriginal women and girls live, which make them vulnerable to violence and unable to escape from it.
These are intertwined facets of Canada’s failure to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women, and to advance the equality of Aboriginal women and girls. The adoption of measures to address one facet, without addressing the other, will perpetuate, rather than remedy, the violence.
- Statistics Canada’s most recent data on the social and economic conditions of Aboriginal women and girls reveals that:
- 37 % of First Nations females (off-reserve) live in poverty (below Canada’s low-income cut-offs), as do 23 % of Métis and Inuit females. This is more than double the rate for non-Aboriginal women; (there are no poverty statistics for First Nations women living on reserve);
- Women who leave violent relationships often have to resort to reliance on social assistance, which does not provide them with enough income to support themselves and their children. Children can then be removed because of “neglect”, or because the children have witnessed violence.
- 18 % of Aboriginal women aged 15 and over are single parents, compared with 8 % of non-Aboriginal women, and they have larger families than single non-Aboriginal women;
- Aboriginal women are afraid to report violence, and often afraid to leave violent partners because of fear of removal of their children.
- 44 % of Aboriginal women and girls living on reserves live in homes that need major repairs; 31 % of Inuit women and girls live in crowded homes, compared to 3 % of non-Aboriginal females. In reserve communities, 26 % of First Nations women and girls were living in crowded conditions;
- Aboriginal women and girls are also disproportionately criminalized and incarcerated in Canada. The Aboriginal population in Canada is approximately 3.8 percent (in 2006), yet 34 percent of incarcerated women are Aboriginal, and in the last 10 years the number of federally-sentenced Aboriginal women in custody has increased by 86.4 per cent, compared to 25.7 per cent over the same period for Aboriginal men.
- 35 % of Aboriginal women aged 25 and over have not graduated from high school. Only 9 % of Aboriginal women aged 25 and over have a university degree, compared with 20 % of their non-Aboriginal counterparts;
- A disproportionate number of the most vulnerable street prostituted women are Aboriginal women, who struggle with addiction, homelessness, and chronic, often life-threatening, health problems.
- 13.5 % of Aboriginal women are unemployed, compared with 6.4 % for non-Aboriginal women. Among First Nations women, those living on reserve experienced the highest unemployment rate (20.6 %);
- Aboriginal women and girls are funneled into prostitution because of their economic and social marginalization, and engagement in prostitution further increases levels of vulnerability to coercion, abuse and violence;
- Aboriginal women are at greater risk than non-Aboriginal women of having their children removed by authorities under child protection legislation because of “neglect.” “Neglect” is often legislatively defined in a way that makes it the equivalent of poverty.
- There is a higher incidence of chronic health conditions among Aboriginal women;
- Aboriginal children are nearly ten times more likely to be “in care” than non-Aboriginal children, and experts say that there are more Aboriginal children in care now than there were during the residential school era.
- In 2001, the estimated life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal females was five years less than their non-Aboriginal counterparts.
COMMENTARY BY INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS BODIES AND EXPERTS
In the periodic reviews of Canada that have taken place between 2005 and 2012, United Nations human right bodies have recognized the seriousness of the human rights violations that are occurring. They have also recognized the two interlocking facets of the crisis of murders and disappearances, and the range of state obligations that are engaged. United Nations treaty bodies have commented with concern, sometimes at length, including:
- the Human Rights Committee;
- the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
- the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination;
- the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women;
- the Committee Against Torture;
- the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The extreme violence against Aboriginal women and girls in Canada was also documented by Rashida Manjoo, United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, in her 2012 report on gender-based killings.
During the Universal Periodic Review of Canada by the Human Rights Council in 2009, recommendations were made to Canada regarding violence against women, and against indigenous women in particular. Canada accepted the underlying principles in these recommendations, which included recommendations that Canada remedy police failures to deal with violent crimes against Aboriginal women and girls, and that Canada address the low socio-economic status of Aboriginal women and girls as a factor that contributes to the violence against them.
In 2013, during the second Universal Periodic Review of Canada, these recommendations were made again, with more specificity, by twenty five participating countries.
However, in 2013, Canada refused to accept any recommendations “if they call for specific actions that are not under consideration at this time…”. In other words, Canada agreed only to recommendations regarding measures that it is already implementing. Canada refused recommendations regarding a national public inquiry on murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls, and a national action plan to address violence against Aboriginal women and girls.
IACHR
Learn more about the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
NATIONAL PUBLIC INQUIRY
In Canada, support for a national public inquiry is broad. It is supported by the National Aboriginal Organizations, by the governments of all provinces and territories, by women’s organizations, human rights organizations, trade unions, and faith groups. Despite this, the Government of Canada refuses to establish a national public inquiry. Neither has it taken the active and co-ordinated steps necessary to address the causes and consequences of the violence.
OUR SOLIDARITY NETWORK
We are proud of our growing solidarity network. Click the button below to view/join our list of partners and supporters:
The CEDAW Inquiry
Article 8 Inquiry
Undertaking an inquiry into systemic discrimination is one of the powers of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (UN CEDAW Committee). In countries like Canada that have agreed to the be bound by the terms of both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Convention) and the Optional Protocol to the Convention, the Committee can initiate an inquiry “if it receives reliable information indicating grave or systematic violations by a State Party of rights set forth in the Convention.”
CEDAW Inquiry in Canada
In 2008, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women reviewed Canada’s 6th and 7th reports on its compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In its reports to the Committee at the time of this review, both the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) brought to the attention of the Committee the murders and disappearances of hundreds of Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. In its Concluding Observations, the Committee urged Canada to address this issue on an urgent basis.
Canada was asked to report back on its actions in one year, and it did so in 2010. That year, the CEDAW Committee informed Canada that it “regrets the lack of substantive progress … and the lack of measures for prevention of such cases in the future.”
In January 2011 and September 2011, FAFIA and NWAC requested the Committee to initiate an inquiry into the murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls in Canada under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
In December 2011, the Committee announced that it had initiated an inquiry under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol.
A report from this inquiry is expected early in 2015.
Timeline
UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) comes into force
Canada ratifies CEDAW
UN Optional Protocol to CEDAW comes into force
Canada ratifies Optional Protocol to CEDAW
FAFIA draws attention to missing and murdered Aboriginal women during CEDAW Committee’s review of Canada’s compliance
The CEDAW Committee states concern about the disappearances and murders of Aboriginal women and girls. The Committee recommends Canada begin thorough investigations and examine the root causes of the violence
Canada reports back on actions it has taken in response to CEDAW recommendations. NWAC, FAFIA and others provide follow-up reports indicating Canada had taken no adequate action
CEDAW Committee concludes that their recommendations have not been implemented
FAFIA makes a formal request to the CEDAW Committee to initiate an inquiry into Canada’s missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol
NWAC makes a formal request to the CEDAW Committee for an inquiry under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol
CEDAW Committee announces it will conduct an inquiry into Canada’s missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls
FAFIA and NWAC request the CEDAW Committee to come to Canada to hear directly from Aboriginal women and from women’s and human rights organizations as a part of their inquiry. The letter is endorsed by over 150 organizations
CEDAW Committee comes to Canada to investigate murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and Optional Protocol
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) oversees the implementation of the Convention in the states that have signed on and agreed to be bound by it. (This formal agreement is usually called ratification). Canada ratified the Convention on December 10, 1981.
The Convention requires Canada to remove all discrimination against women in law, policy and practice. It includes a number of specific rights:
- The right to equal personhood and to equal protection of the law
- The right to vote and hold public office
- The right to equal education
- The rights to work and equal pay for work of equal value
- The right to social security
- The right to safe working conditions
- The right to health care, including family planning
- The right to adequate living conditions, including adequate housing, and
- The rights to parenthood and to equal legal rights during marriage.
Optional Protocol
We require nothing less than transformation: of the relationship between Aboriginal women and girls and those who are supposed to help and protect them; between Aboriginal peoples and the government, police and justice systems; and of the way that we think about and respond to violence in Canada.Michèle Audette, President, NWAC
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is a separate supplementary document to the Convention, which not only allows the Committee to initiate an inquiry but also allows an individual or a group of individuals to submit a complaint (called a communication) to the Committee if they believe a Convention right has been violated and the complaint cannot be resolved in Canada. Canada ratified the Protocol on October 18, 2002.
So Canada has agreed to fully implement the rights in the Convention, and also agreed that Canadian women can use the procedures in the Protocol if their Convention rights are violated.
In response to a communication alleging a violation of one of these rights, the Committee can decide whether a violation of a right has occurred and, if it has, make recommendations that the state must consider and respond to.
It’s not only a Manitoba issue. It’s not a Winnipeg issue. It’s not a Regina, Saskatoon or Edmonton issue. It’s not a ‘[highway] of tears’ issue. It’s not a Pickton murders rampage-type issue. There are 1,200 murdered and missing women, for Pete’s sake.Eric Robinson, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Province of Manitoba
Inquiry Submissions & Reports
The following are the submissions that FAFIA and NWAC made to the UN CEDAW Committee regarding the murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.
To join our network or if you have any questions, email Cherry Smiley at: solidarityfafia-afai.org
The inter-american commission on human rights
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is the consultative and advisory body on human rights which is part of the Organization of American States (OAS). The OAS, which is based in Washington D.C., is a regional organization of the United Nations for the 35 independent states in the Americas. The Commission has seven members from different member states. As a member of the OAS, Canada is bound to respect, protect and fulfill the rights set out in the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man (sic).
The IACHR meets twice a year and, at each session, it holds thematic briefings. Non governmental organizations (NGOs) from any member state of the OAS can apply for an opportunity to provide an in-person briefing for the Commission on any important human rights issue. The government of the state is required to send representatives to attend and reply. Thematic briefings are like mini hearings. Each briefing lasts one hour.
Above: NWAC and FAFIA representatives at the March 2012 Thematic Briefing before the IACHR in Washington, DC.
IACHR Investigation in Canada
FAFIA and NWAC applied and were granted two thematic briefings in March 2012 and March 2013 on murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. (See following submissions and videos). As a result of these briefings, the Commission decided to send two Commissioners, Tracy Robinson and Dinah Shelton, to Canada in August 2013 for a visit to investigate and report on this human rights issue. Release of the report on this IACHR investigation is expected in early 2015.
Left: Tracy Robinson (left), President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and Rose-Marie Antoine (right), Rapporteur for Canada, at the thematic briefing with FAFIA and NWAC.
To join our network or if you have any questions, email Cherry Smiley at: solidarityfafia-afai.org
Thematic Briefing Videos
Thematic Briefing IACHR March 2012, Washington, D.C.
Thematic Briefing IACHR March 2013, Washington, D.C.
Other Procedures at the IACHR
An individual or group in Canada can submit a complaint (called a petition) to the Commission if, in their view, Canada has violated any of the rights that are set out in the Declaration. The Declaration includes rights that are key for women, including:
- The right to life, liberty, and security of the person
- The right to equality before the law and due process of law
- The right to education and culture
- The right to work and fair pay
- The right to social security.
Canadians can seek the assistance of the Commission regarding violations of any right in the Declaration, and a petition can refer to either an act by Canada or a failure to act. A petition can lead to oral hearings before the Commission, and to reports, recommendations, and to a visit to Canada to investigate.
Canada has not ratified the American Convention on Human Rights, or other conventions, like the Convention of Belem do Para on the rights of women, which are under the IACHR’s jurisdiction. Because of this lack of formal agreement, Canada is not bound to respect the rights in them. Therefore Canadians cannot make complaints to the IACHR regarding violations of rights in the Convention. Also, human rights issues in Canada cannot be taken to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, as Canada has not recognized the jurisdiction of this Court.
Nonetheless, the IACHR is an important and useful human rights body for Canadian women. Click here to find out more about IACHR procedures.
Documents
To join our network or if you have any questions, email Cherry Smiley at: solidarityfafia-afai.org
Indian Act Sex Discrimination
The Government of Canada Must End the Sex Discrimination in the Indian Act Now
Any Tuesday…
Photo by Lynn Gehl. Lynn Gehl’s poster for the Marche Amun, Parliament Hill, 2010
Any Tuesday, at a Cabinet meeting, the Government of Canada can remove the sex discrimination from the Indian Act that has been there for 143 years. They can do it any Tuesday because, in 2017, when the Indian Act was being amended one more time, the Senate of Canada insisted that all sex discrimination should be removed. Because the Senate intervened, Bill S-3 contains provisions that would eliminate the discrimination once and for all. But those provisions have not been brought into force. Cabinet can decide to bring them into force by Order in Council, at any regular meeting…any Tuesday.
Until the outstanding provisions are proclaimed, Bill S-3 maintains the decades old sex-based hierarchy between Indian men and their descendants and Indian women and their descendants. This hierarchy has existed since 1876, and amendments to the Indian Act in 1985, 2010, and 2017 have not removed it. Indian women and their descendants still do not enjoy equality with their male counterparts with regard to entitlement to status or transmission of status to their descendants. This violates the right of First Nations women to equality and to equal enjoyment of culture.
First Nations women and their descendants who have repeatedly challenged this discrimination, Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations and individuals, women’s, human rights, labour and faith groups, have joined together to call on the Government to remove the sex discrimination immediately, before the election. The signers of this letter say 143 years of discrimination against First Nations women and their descendants is enough. Read the letter here.
UN Human Rights Committee Rules Indian Act Still Discriminates Against First Nations Women
Over the last twenty years, many United Nations treaty bodies have urged Canada to remove the sex discrimination. The latest UN intervention came in January 2019, when the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled on Sharon McIvor’s petition, and found that the sex discrimination in the Indian Act violates Canada’s obligations under international human rights law to ensure equality for women and equal enjoyment of culture. The UN Human Rights Committee directs Canada to remove the sex discrimination fully and finally, and to ensure that First Nations women and their descendants are granted full 6(1)(a) status on the same basis as First Nations men and their descendants.
Viviane Michel and Sharon McIvor, singing at the Marche Amun, Parliament Hill 2010.
The UN Human Rights Committee ruling on Sharon McIvor’s petition is here.
For background information on Indian Act sex discrimination, click here.
Members of the Senate, allies, and the Famous Six. Photo credit: David Chartrand
The Senate of Canada champions sex equality for First Nations Women
On February 28, 2019, the Senate of Canada passed a motion unanimously calling on the Government of Canada to bring into force the outstanding provisions of Bill S-3 in order to eliminate the remaining sex discrimination in the Indian Act.
This motion was introduced by Senator Lillian Dyck, who is a First Nations woman, a member of the Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, and the first female First Nations Senator in Canada. She is one of the Famous Six and she introduced this motion.
That the Senate, in light of the decision made by the United Nations Human Rights Committee of January 11, 2019, which ruled that ongoing sex-based hierarchies in the registration provisions of the Indian Act violate Canada’s international human rights obligations, urge the federal government to bring into force the remaining provisions of Bill S-3, An Act to amend the Indian Act in response to the Superior Court of Quebec decision in Descheneaux c. Canada (Procureur general), which would remedy the discrimination, no later than June 21, 2019.
Senator Lillian Dyck, and allied Senators Marilou McPhedran and Kim Pate, posed questions to the Government Leader in the Senate regarding Bill S-3 and the UN McIvor decision. Read this excerpt from Senate question period here (It is the section that starts at “Indian Act – Elimination of Sex Based Discrimination”)
Supporters of Immediate Elimination of Sex Discrimination from the Indian Act:
The Senate of Canada
Native Women’s Association of Canada
Quebec Native Women/ Femmes Autochtonnes du Québec
Ontario Native Women’s Association
B.C. Assembly of First Nations
Amnesty International Canada
Amnistie Internationale Canada Francophone
National Council of Women
Canadian Federation of University Women
Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action
Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund
YWCA
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Association of University Teachers
Public Service Alliance of Canada
Canadian Union of Public Employees
Sharon McIvor
Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, C. M.
Yvonne Bedard
Senator Sandra Lovelace-Nicholas
Dr. Lynn Gehl
Jeremy Matson
Dr. Pamela Palmater
Dr. Cindy Blackstock
Ellen Gabriel
Dr. Dawn Harvard Lavell
United Nations Human Rights Committee
United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, its causes and consequences
…And hundreds more organizations and individuals (see letter).
Here are 6 things you can do:
- Even if you have signed the letter, please email or phone Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Justice Minister, David Lametti, Minister for Women and Gender Equality, Maryam Monsef, and Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett, asking them to implement the UN Human Rights Committee decision in McIvor and pass an Order in Council bringing the outstanding provisions of Bill S-3 into force. Here is a suggested text:
I am contacting you to call for the immediate removal of all sex discrimination from the Indian Act. I urge you to bring the outstanding sections of Bill S-3 into force before June 21, 2019. Discrimination against First Nations women has no place in Canada.
Email addresses and telephone numbers:
[email protected]; telephone: 613-992-4211
[email protected] and aadnc.minister.aandc@
[email protected]; telephone: 613-995-6411
[email protected]; telephone: 613-943-6636
- Cabinet meets every Tuesday. Send your email once a week, marking it in the subject line ANY TUESDAY.
- Join Dr. Lynn Gehl in her campaign “17 Tuesdays for 6(1)a All the Way!” through #17Tuesdays.
- Use Twitter and Facebook to support this campaign. Use the hashtags #17 Tuesdays or #AnyTuesday.
- Please sign on to the Quebec Native Women’s petition here.
- Forward this message to your networks through newsletters, email, and social media.
Bill S-3
Since its inception, the Indian Act has accorded privileged forms of Indian status to male Indians and their descendants. By comparison, Indian women and their descendants have been treated as lesser in worth, and as second-class Indians.
On June 1, 2017, the Senate of Canada unanimously passed an amendment to Bill S-3. This amendment, which has been dubbed the ‘6(1)(a) all the way’ amendment, would, for the first time, entitle Indian women and their descendants to full 6(1)(a) Indian status on the same footing as Indian men and their descendants.
The Government of Canada has rejected this equal status amendment and wants the Senate to pass Bill S-3 without eliminating all the discrimination against First Nations women and their descendants. Learn about the Famous Six and read their message here.
The Famous six: (left to right top row) Senator Lillian Dyck, Senator Sandra Lovelace-Nicholas, Dr. Lynn Gehl; (left to right bottom row) Sharon McIvor, Jeannette Corbiere-Lavell, Yvonne Bedard
Find background information on Indian Act sex discrimination and Bill S-3 here and follow this link to register and watch the webinars hosted by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and FAFIA on the Indian Act.
Please join us in fighting to end discrimination against women in the Indian Act. Here’s what you can do:
- Sign on to this letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Canada asking him to remove the sex discrimination from the Indian Act now To sign on, send us an email at [email protected] with your name, if you are signing as an individual, or the name of your organization, and/or the name of all the individuals at your organization that would like to sign on. Please send your sign on by November 7th.
- Contact your Member of Parliament Go to this website to find your MP’s contact information and follow this link for a sample email to send to your Member of Parliament.
- Contact Senators from your province or territory Go to this website to find Senators’ contact information and follow this link for a sample email to send to Senators from your province or territory.
Here is the letter addressed to the Prime Minister, with all the signatures!
To join our network or if you have any questions, email: bills3fafia-afai.org
Links to other resources
To join our network or if you have any questions, email Cherry Smiley at: solidarityfafia-afai.org