List of Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls

This list of names is unfortunately only partial, we tried to list as many names as possible but no official and complete list exists at present. Here is a brief history of past approaches.

The Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) has developed the Sisters In Spirit program to raise awareness about violence against Aboriginal women and girls (Jacobs and J. Williams, 2008 in Brant Castellano, Archibald and DeGagné, 2008). Within 30 years of operation, this program has made it possible to identify and prove over 582 cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls (NWAC, 2009 in Labrecque 2014). In order to develop the program and its research, 10 million dollars was expected from the government. However, this sum was instead allocated to the Canadian Police Information Center, the RCMP, as of 2010.

In 2013, a database was created by this government body listing “all missing persons or unidentified human remains” (Labrecque, 2014). However, as pointed out by the NWAC, this new database is not restricted to Aboriginal women, which results in rendering the ethnic and racial dimensions of this issue invisible.¹

¹ Source: Jacobs, Beverley and Andrea J. Williams. (2008). Legacy of Residential Schools: Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women. In Brant Castellano, Marlene; Archibald, Linda and Mike DeGagné (dir). From Truth to Reconciliation: Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools. Ottawa: FADG, p.137-163. Labrecque, Marie-France. (2014). From Ciudad Juárez to the Highway of Tears: These Aboriginal Women Murdered with Complete Impunity. Research and Knowledge Network Relating to Aboriginal Peoples (DIALOG) and Institut national de recherche scientifique (INRS): Research Paper, Cahier DIALOG no. 2014-01, Montreal.