Manitoba unveils $20M strategy to 'empower and protect' Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit people
4-year MMIWG2S+ strategy includes $15M endowment fund for families of victims
A new $20-million provincial strategy aims to "empower and protect" Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse Manitobans and prevent future MMIWG2S+ cases, the province says.
The four-year strategy is named Mino'Ayaawag Ikwewag, which means "all women doing well" in Anishinaabemowin, Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said at a Friday news conference.
The strategy is not just a document, but "the culmination of over 30 years of tireless advocacy led by the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit [people], alongside the courageous and unwavering leadership of Indigenous women," Fontaine said.
"The need for this strategy is undeniable. Manitoba has long been called 'ground zero' for the MMIWG2S epidemic."
The strategy takes a "whole-of-government" approach, and contains 10 pillars, the province said in a Friday news release.
They focus on access to culture, economic opportunities, education, food security, health services, housing, healthy communities, justice and safety, transportation and matriarchal leadership, the province said.
Fontaine said the Matriarch Circle — a group of Afro-Indigenous, Anishinaabe, Anishininew, Nehethowuk, Dakota Oyate, Denesuline, Inuit and Métis women, youth and gender-diverse people — was integral to the development of the strategy.
She said it's the first government strategy in Canada envisioned and led by Indigenous women, but added the work cannot depend on government alone.
"Every Manitoban has a role in bringing Mino'Ayaawag Ikwewag to life," said Fontaine.
"Success is about ensuring that violence ends."
Indigenous women more than victims: minister
A $15-million endowment fund to help the families of MMIWG2S+ is included in the strategy funding, which the province previously announced and said will be managed by the Winnipeg Foundation.
The endowment fund will disburse $650,000 in the first year, 60 per cent of which will go to a community organization. Families of MMIWG2S+ can apply for some of that funding, Fontaine said.
That money will support families who are searching for a loved one and need help to pay for hotels, gas, missing persons posters or to go to a traditional ceremony, she said.
The other 40 per cent will go to Indigenous organizations in the province that are working on projects involving MMIWG2S+ issues.
The strategy also includes $2.2 million directed at programs and services for Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse Manitobans.
Another $750,000 has been set aside for a safe ride program that helps to safely return absent youth in the foster care system, $160,000 for Fisher River Cree Nation's planned Osborne Street healing space to help urban Indigenous people.
The strategy is a response to the final report of the National Inquiry into MMIWG, completed in 2019, which laid out 231 Calls for Justice with the goal of ending violence against Indigenous women and girls.
Bernadette Smith, Manitoba's minister for housing, addictions and homelessness, said the strategy comes at a "critical time," marking a pivotal shift which acknowledges Indigenous women and girls as more than just survivors and victims.
"These pillars will guide the work that my department does each and every day," she said at the news conference.
With files from Ian Froese