Whereas:

- Every 48 hours in Canada a woman or girl is murdered, most often by a man.

- When there are multiple or overlapping identities or discriminations (e.g., sex/gender, race, class, age, sexuality, ability, geography), the risk of femicide is compounded significantly.

- When women and girls are killed by violence, it is almost always in the context of their intimate and/or familial relationships with men.

- Indigenous women and girls are at an increased risk of femicide compared to non-Indigenous women and girls and killed at disproportionately higher rates, leading to the genocide of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

- Femicide rates have been increasing steadily since 2019 and remained stubbornly stable prior to this, underscoring that prevention efforts need to be more nuanced and focused on the contexts of male violence against women.

- Femicide is not yet officially recognized in Canadian legislation or in the Criminal Code, despite at least 22 other countries doing so, with others pending.

We the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:

1)  Declare femicide an urgent emergency in Canada and prioritize it accordingly.

2)  Expedite the process of implementing the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, including establishing bilateral agreements with provinces and territories in order to support the Plan’s implementation, and ensure this work is community-led and robustly funded.

3)  Expedite the process of implementing the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan, as well as the 231 Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and ensure this work is Indigenous-led and robustly funded.

4)  Formally recognize femicide as a distinct form of violence that differs from homicide, in legislation and/or in the Criminal Code. Already achieved in at least 22 countries, there are many benefits to doing so including:

- Canada can send a clear message that male violence against women and girls will not be tolerated and that the lives of women and girls hold inherent value to society.

- We can listen to women, respond to them when they feel in danger, or ask for help to protect themselves and/or their children.

- We can provide consistent and sustained funding for organizations and their representatives who respond to male violence against women and provide frontline services for women experiencing abuse, and those who prevent male violence against women through advocacy and education activities which aim to eradicate it from its roots. These two pillars (prevention and response) must receive robust, sustained and long-term funding. This includes Indigenous-led organizations, Indigenous women’s organizations, grassroots organizations, and community groups.

- We can invest in consistent, quality training for all sectors that respond to male violence against women and girls, especially criminal justice professionals, moving beyond the ‘check box’ approach to training that often prevails.

- We can consider creating and funding a task force to address the femicide emergency.

- We can legitimize femicide and MMIWG2S as a social problem worthy of urgent attention and raise its visibility. 

- We can collect more nuanced and focused data that can contribute to the prevention of femicide, specifically those at highest risk.

- We can increase public understanding about how and why women and girls are being killed in distinct ways that differ from homicides of men which informs more nuanced and effective preventions.

- We can recognize that male violence against women, including femicide, can be hate-motivated violence. Misogyny often motivates male violence against women and girls in the same way that religion or race motivates violence against various groups.

- We can increase public understanding of the wider societal impacts of male violence against women and girls.

- We can help to strengthen the human rights and freedoms of all women and girls and make access to justice more equitable for all women and girls. 

- We can increase public and professional recognition and awareness of the killing of women and girls, including MMIWG2S, a crucial first step to reducing femicide. 

- We can include legislation that recognizes the various ways that sex/gender intersects with other identities that compounds one’s experiences and impacts of violence. 

- We can respond to the 231 Call for Justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls which calls on the federal government to consider violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people as an aggravating factor at sentencing, and to amend the Criminal Code accordingly.

- We can provide better legal protection to women and girls, especially those who are Indigenous, Black, part of other racialized communities, living with disabilities, living in rural communities, migrant women, LGBTQI2S+ people, and other marginalized women and girls.

- We can contribute to the de-normalization of male violence against women and girls, too often framed as a private issue rather than public violence that has widespread, societal impacts. 

- We can challenge entrenched hierarchies of “worthy subjects”, which often leaves the victimization of women and girls invisible and outside the boundaries of those who deserve attention, especially the victimization of Indigenous, Black and other marginalized women.

- We can begin to counteract the historical and contemporary normalization, minimization, and tolerance of various forms of male violence against women and girls, including by states/governments.

- We address the systemic issues contributing to male violence against women and girls, and work toward a more safe and equitable society for all.