A new report on missing and murdered women in B.C. calls for a range of measures to address the problem, including the immediate implementation of safe public transportation along Highway 16.

In a report released today (January 12), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also supports a national action plan or inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

“This initiative must be organized in consultation with indigenous peoples, particularly indigenous women, at all stages from conception, to establishing terms of reference, implementation and evaluation,” the document reads.

The commission states that to address violence against women, “the underlying factors of discrimination that originate and exacerbate the violence” need to be addressed.

The approach advocated by the commission includes addressing “the persistence of longstanding social and economic marginalization.” It calls for effective measures to fight poverty, improve education and employment, guarantee adequate housing, and “address the disproportionate application of criminal law against indigenous people.”

The report also urges better coordination between levels of government, the development of data collection systems for accurate statistics on missing and murdered indigenous women, and guaranteed access to legal aid for family members of the missing and murdered.

The commission notes that indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been murdered at a rate four times higher than the representation of indigenous women in the Canadian population.

The report was prompted by a request from the Native Women’s Association of Canada and the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action. Hearings were held on March 28, 2012 and March 12, 2013, and the commission visited Canada from August 6 to August 9, 2013.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is affiliated with the Organization of American States and is based in Washington, D.C.

Native Women’s Association of Canada vice-president Dawn Harvard called the report “ground-breaking.”

"This is not a matter of choice,” Harvard stated in a news release. “Our obligations under international human rights law require us to eliminate the discrimination which causes the violence and to ensure that Canada's institutions—including the police and the justice system—respond effectively when Indigenous women disappear or are murdered.”

The Assembly of First Nations said today that a national roundtable on missing and murdered indigenous women will be held on February 27 in Ottawa.