This blueprint is a call to action for the Canadian federal government to launch an immediate public inquiry into the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG). Policies, programming, and campaigns will be community-specific and developed within an intersectional feminist framework to prevent gender-based violence. The NAP presents four sections: prevention measures, service responses, legal and justice responses, and social policy responses. In addition, culturally-relevant supports are necessary for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit women.

In the absence of a National Action Plan, responses to VAW in Canada are largely fragmented, often inaccessible, and can work to impede rather than improve women’s safety. Current initiatives at the federal level lack coordination, rely too heavily on the criminal justice system, and fail to acknowledge the gendered dimension and root causes of violence against women. Violence against women refers to any act, intention or threat of physical, sexual or psychological violence that results in the harm or suffering of women and girls, including restrictions on their freedom, safety and full participation in society.