User:GAnderson8/sandbox

Canada
Proper statistics of femicide in Canada can be difficult to come across since possible acts of femicide are regularly labelled as the killing of a spouse. However, femicide is a widespread violent act that takes place in countries all over the world and Canada is no exception. In 2019, there was a total of 678 homicides Canada-wide, of these cases 144 of the victims were female. Additionally, the rate at which female victims were killed by a spouse or intimate partner, was over 8 times greater than the number of males killed by a spouse or intimate partner.

Historically speaking, less data exists regarding femicide in Canada, however, what is available shows a disproportionate amount of violence and femicide towards Indigenous women. Reports of the last few decades indicate over 600 murders of Indigenous females in Canada. Unfortunately, in many cases homicidal acts towards Indigenous females often aren’t characterized as femicides, indicating that not all victims of femicide are treated in the same framework. Yet the research indicates that certain ethnic groups are at a greater risk for femicide compared to the rest of the population. To understand these statistics in Canada, an intersectional approach must be considered to recognize the historical and ongoing effects of colonialism that disproportionately target Indigenous peoples within the country. Canada’s continued negligence as a state to examine the effects of colonialism on Indigenous peoples has related to the high risk of femicide and violence for Indigenous women and girls. Failure to acknowledge the deaths of Indigenous women ignores the decades of inequality and injustice that have and continue to be perpetuated by colonialism.

Colonialism produces a sense of dominant authoritative power that allows for the disregard of Indigenous individuals and in this case a disregard for the murders of Indigenous females. Indigenous women are reported to be five times more likely to experience violence and death compared with other groups in Canada. These murders are acts of racialized violence in addition to the gendered violence of femicide. However, more often than not these murders are regarded as a spousal homicide rather than femicide, disregarding the violence and oppression Indigenous females face. In the mid-twentieth century, Indigenous women and girls were forced and coerced into undergoing sterilization procedures as an act of femicide at fourteen different Indian Hospitals across the state that were federally operated. Sterilization policies were implemented as a way to reduce the size and influence of Indigenous communities, resulting in there being about 1200 cases of forced or coerced sterilization that directly targeted the reproduction rights and properties of Indigenous women and girls. Exclusionary politics and legal discrimination throughout the history of Canada, means that the violence faced by Indigenous women and girls has gone unacknowledged, serving to further state-controlled colonial power over Indigenous peoples. The scattered reports of femicide in Canada indicate a lack of understanding of how various acts of gender, race, class, and sexuality all intersect to create the environment of violence Indigenous women are subjected to. While femicide in Canada affects all women, it disproportionately targets the lives of Indigenous women and girls due to historical and ongoing actions of colonialism within the state.