Preventing violence against indigenous women and girls

Preventing violence against indigenous women and girls Tamara Bernard is an award-winning expert and PhD candidate specializing in Indigenous gender-based violence. Through her leadership roles at Lakehead University, the Ontario Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, and her firm, Tamara Kwe Indigenous Consulting, she advocates for culturally grounded, Indigenous-led approaches to justice and systemic safety. When discussing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), we are not referring to isolated incidents of violence. Rather, we are confronting a systemic and deeply rooted crisis shaped by the ongoing impacts of colonialism, racism, and gender-based violence. The disappearances and deaths of Indigenous women and girls occur within a broader context of intersecting harms, including human trafficking, intimate partner violence, poverty, the opioid crisis, and chronic gaps within social, health, and justice systems. These patterns are further compounded by systemic barriers that limit access to culturally appropriate services, protection, and early intervention. Understanding MMIWG as a structural and collective issue – rather than individual tragedies – requires transformative responses that address the underlying systems that continue to place Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people at disproportionate risk.