Violence against Indigenous women in Winnipeg case ‘purposeful and racially motivated’: OCRCC responds

Published On: May 27, 2024

In 2022, four women were targeted, harmed and killed by the same man in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Rebecca Contois, 24, Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26, and an unidentified woman who has been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, by community leaders, were all Indigenous. 

Violence committed against Contois, Harris, Myran and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe included physical and sexual violence. As this case now goes to trial, prosecutors said of the man charged: “His actions were intentional, purposeful and racially motivated”[1].

Too many atrocities like this affect Indigenous women, children, and gender-diverse people. Sexual violence and femicide affects different people in different ways across Canada, and Indigenous women, children, and gender-diverse people are particularly impacted. For example:

  • First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people in Canada are at greater risk of being targeted for acts of lethal violence: a Canadian national inquiry found that Indigenous women and girls are 16 times more likely to be slain or to disappear than white women[2].
  • Indigenous women in Canada today are three times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be violently or sexually assaulted[3].
  • Nearly 1 in 10 Indigenous women were victims of a violent crime in 2019[4].

The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) points to many ways in which violence against Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, Transgender, and Gender-Diverse+ People is maintained. These pathways, outlined by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, include: 

  1. Historical, multigenerational, and intergenerational trauma
  2. Social and economic marginalization
  3. Maintaining the status quo and institutional lack of will
  4. Ignoring the agency and expertise of Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, Transgender, and Gender-Diverse+ People[5].

Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres OCRCC) stands in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples and their communities in the face of these acts of gender-based violence.

In addition, we wish to raise the visibility of these realities impacting Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people. In order to respond to and prevent these acts of anti-Indigenous violence, survivors and victims must be seen and heard. Communities can take action by acknowledging historical trauma impacting Indigenous Peoples, disrupting social marginalization, and listening to the experiences of Indigenous Peoples.

 

Violence is often gendered and racialized

The harm and exploitation of Indigenous bodies through violence is rooted in Canada’s colonial legacy. 

Violence brought by colonialism “upon Indigenous Peoples was normalized through the propagation of degrading cultural and sexual myths concerning Indigenous women and men”[6], as well as ideas of white superiority and white womanhood[7]. In our colonial history, those that harmed or killed Indigenous people were rarely held accountable for their actions. Today, this pattern continues:

“In the Canadian context, and in reference to Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, some examples include: deaths of women in police custody; the failure to protect Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people from exploitation and trafficking, as well as from known killers; the crisis of child welfare; physical, sexual, and mental abuse inflicted on Indigenous women and girls in state institutions…and more”[8].

The term femicide conveys motivation: in femicide, those that kill are motivated by a sense of a right to do so, or an assumption of ownership over a woman, women or other feminized people[9]. When charges were laid related the deaths of Contois, Harris, Myran and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, the Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA) recognized the femicides as “a national tragedy, and another example of racism and hate”[10] targeting Indigenous communities.

In addition to the violence that took the lives of Contois, Harris, Myran and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, additional systemic harms have also occurred. In 2022 when the crimes came to light, Winnipeg police cited costs, health and safety issues as barriers to retrieving Harris and Myran’s remains, which they knew lay in a Manitoba landfill[11]. While these barriers may be a reality, the resistance to search for the missing victims devalues Indigenous bodies, and increases risk to Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people. It also conveys low system and public investment in justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and gender-diverse people.

Today, police believe Harris’s and Myran’s remains are still in the Prairie Green landfill in Manitoba; the location of Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe’s remains is not known[12].

 

Work remains to address violence against Indigenous women, children, and gender-diverse people

Acts of violence against Indigenous women, children, and gender-diverse people impact individuals and communities. They also reproduce racist and colonial attitudes. 

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Final Report points out that persistent “human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause” behind rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people in Canada[13]. 

Here’s what you can do to help: 

  • Talk about Contois, Harris, Myran and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe with others you know, and how this case reflects many other incidences of violence against Indigenous women, children, and gender-diverse people.

 

  • Center the knowledge of Indigenous communities when it comes to addressing sexual and other forms of gender-based violence.

 

 

 

  • Insist that Canada and the province you live in provide intentional resources for Indigenous organizations supporting women, girls and gender diverse people. The Native Women’s Association of Canada says: “There can be no more aspirational documents…The next steps must be concrete, actionable, costed, and quickly put into effect”[14].

 

 

Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) is a network of community-based sexual assault centres in Ontario. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, get help here.

 

[1] Gowriluk, Caitlyn for CBC News. May 08, 2024. Actions of man who killed 4 Indigenous women ‘purposeful and racially motivated,’ Crown argues as trial begins. Jeremy Skibicki, 37, has admitted to killings; defence argues he should be found not criminally responsible

[2] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). Report released June 2019.

[3] Native Women’s Association of Canada. 2021. NWAC ’s Action Plan to End the Attack Against Indigenous Women, Girls, and Gender-Diverse People: 5. 

[4] Statistics Canada (Samuel Perreault, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics). Release date: July 19, 2022. Victimization of First Nations people, Métis and Inuit in Canada.

[5] Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC). NWAC 2022 – 23 MMIWG2S Action Plan | Annual Scorecards: 4.

[6] Nonomura, Robert. (2020). Trafficking at the Intersections: Racism, Colonialism, Sexism, and Exploitation in Canada. Learning Network Brief (36). London, Ontario: Learning Network, Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children: 8-9.

[7] Pietsch, N. “‘Doing Something’ About ‘Coming Together’: The Surfacing of Intersections of Race, Sex, and Sexual Violence in Victim-Blaming and in the SlutWalk Movement.” This Is What a Feminist Slut Looks Like: Perspectives on the SlutWalk Movement, edited by Alyssa Teekah et al., Demeter Press, Bradford, ON, 2015, pp. 77–91.

[8] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Volume 1a. Online: 53.

[9] Baker, L., (July 2015).  Issue 14: Femicide.  Learning Network Brief (29).  London, Ontario: Learning Network, Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children.

[10] Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA).  December 6, 2022. Ontario Native Women’s Association Outraged by Winnipeg Murders and Violence that Continues to Plague Indigenous Women Nationally.

[11] Gowriluk, C. for CBC News. Dec 11, 2022. A timeline of what we know about 4 slain Winnipeg women and alleged serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.   

[12] Gowriluk, Caitlyn for CBC News. May 10, 2024. Women’s remains believed to have spent 2 weeks in same Winnipeg dumpster before going to landfill, trial hears.

[13] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Webpage: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/

[14] Native Women’s Association of Canada. 2021. NWAC ’s Action Plan to End the A tack Against Indigenous Women, Girls, and Gender-Diverse People. 4. 

 

 

 

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