Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak Supports a Careful Approach to Calls for Justice

Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak is awaiting the government’s careful response to the Calls for Justice as laid out in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Final Report as well as LFMO’s Calls for Miskotahâ, or Calls for Change.

This week, the federal government announced that it would be delaying the release of its National Action Plan because of the setbacks brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was due to be released following the first anniversary of the release of the Final Report on June 3, 2020.

President Melanie Omeniho of LFMO stated the importance of a solution-focused and strengths-based approach to the Calls for Justice and Calls for Miskotahâ to ensure lasting systemic change. President Omeniho stated that, “LFMO understands the urgency and has also been dealing with the unique and emergent needs that COVID-19 has brought to our communities. In our own engagement efforts, the pandemic has brought forward challenges including in areas of violence against women. While we are persisting through, LFMO is grateful to take the time to do this work correctly so that we don’t fall short of what our communities expect or need.”

In addition to its own Métis-specific MMIWG Final Report in June 2019 and its own 62 Calls for Miskotahâ, LFMO has been holding and will continue to hold provincial engagement sessions to gather input from Métis survivors, families, communities, and leadership to address the immediate needs of Métis women and girls.

“A careful approach includes not just the federal government’s response, but a collective response from all levels of government and all Canadians,” said President Omeniho. “This must be done well and done right. We must honour the stories shared by the survivors and families during the National Inquiry process. They must be reassured that their contributions to the process have not fallen aside or shelved. The memories of the women lost to us must always be at the fore of all engagements and at the center of a National Action plan”.

—
Photo Credit: LFMO