By Megan Sarfas | Published 13th January 2026

The indigenous peoples of Canada were the first inhabitants of the country. There are three categories to the indigenous population: the First Nations people, the Inuit and the Metis. Whilst Indigenous rights are now enshrined into the Constitution Act (section 35), the Indigenous and the colonial-settlers had a tumultuous relationship which saw the degradation and diminishing of the Indigenous identity for a long period of time. One of the most prominent issues that remains in modern Canada is the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Whilst Indigenous women only make up 4% of the female population, they account for 16% of all female homicide victims, and are 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than non-indigenous women.Additionally, indigenous women make up 50% of trafficking victims within Canada, with 25% of those being children. The Assembly of First Nations, in its 2025 progress report on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls stated that they found the response to trafficking to be “underfunded and inconsistent across sectors and regions”.

During his term, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau worked with indigenous populations to improve societal inequalities affecting indigenous people. Along with addressing the calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Trudeau’s government introduced the piloting of a system titled the ‘Red Dress Alert’. The alert, in partnership with the provincial government of Manitoba, would provide a notification when an Indigenous women, girl, two-spirit or gender-diverse person goes missing, to bring it to public attention and try to ensure the safety of the missing person. This would work with a 24/7 telephone line allowing people to report their missing loved ones. These reports were assessed by law enforcement, who would then announce a public alert. However, as this program is in partnership with the Manitoba government, the system would only be introduced in that province, and the rest of Canada would not have access to it.

Despite the appearance of meaningful work, indigenous leaders were disappointed with the lack of practical progress by the government, with only two of the 231 calls for justice having been fully implemented in the five years since the report on the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous women and Girls. The Red Dress Alert remains in implementation stage, but it has been described as urgent by indigenous communities in Manitoba. Since the recent change in leadership, newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney has troubled indigenous populations further with his failure to address the issue at all. His mandate submitted to the Cabinet in May 2025 failed to make any mention of women whatsoever, let alone indigenous women. 

Despite the apparent issues, Trudeau’s government showed promise in addressing the misjustice occurring towards indigenous women in Canada, but Carney’s introduction appears to have halted any meaningful progress. It is not yet clear whether Carney’s silence on the ongoing indigenous femicide is due to lack of priority, or lack of care whatsoever. The rest of his term will likely bring that information to light.

Editor: Emma Burgess