Violence Against Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA People

Violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people is a tragedy affecting First Nations, Métis, and Inuit individuals and communities. Compared to non-Indigenous populations, Indigenous women and girls go missing or are murdered at disproportionately high rates. The statistics are troubling. See The Native Women’s Association of Canada Fact Sheet: Violence Against Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA People in Canada (October 2020).

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls took it upon themselves to include 2SLGBTQQIA people into the work of the Inquiry. Commissioners of the Inquiry heard that the risk of harm that Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA face is very great. A brief overview is provided in the following news report.

Indigenous LGBTQ people face visibility issues, major service gaps, MMIWG inquiry hears

The 2S at the beginning of the acronym is for Two-Spirit. See further in this chapter for a teaching on what it means to be Two-Spirit. For clarification here is what the acronym 2SLGBTQQIA stands for.