‘The justice institution has failed us’: Killers of Indigenous women less likely to face murder charges
Indigenous women and girls are killed at rates six times higher than non-Indigenous women — yet the perpetrators are frequently convicted of lesser offences than those guilty in the deaths of non-Indigenous victims.
In virtually all cases involving Indigenous women, the victim and accused knew each other.
The Investigative Journalism Bureau reviewed 1,329 cases in which women and girls were killed or died under suspicious circumstances in Canada between 2019 and 2025. Just over 25 per cent — or 340 victims — were Indigenous. Of those cases, 165 have been resolved in court.
Seventy-six of the Indigenous cases that were resolved in court — or 46 per cent — ended with a finding of manslaughter, which criminal lawyers say is characterized by a lack of intent to kill. Manslaughter was the singlemost common sentencing outcome in the homicides of Indigenous females.
In contrast, of the 384 concluded cases involving non-Indigenous victims, only 24 per cent ended with a manslaughter outcome. The most common finding was second-degree murder, the outcome in 137 — or 36 per cent — of these cases.
Second-degree murder carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison, while manslaughter carries no minimum sentence unless a firearm is involved.
The numbers appear to show differences in how Indigenous and non-Indigenous cases are dealt with, said Michael Spratt, an Ottawa criminal defence lawyer for 20 years.
“When you look systemically … [Indigenous women’s] lives and their health and their safety are not valued as highly,” he says.
“It is something that should cause further inquiry.”
The IJB analysis uncovered several anomalies in how the justice system deals with those who kill Indigenous women.
For instance, the most serious charge in Canada’s justice system is first-degree murder, carrying a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Only 25 per cent of those accused in the deaths of Indigenous women and girls faced that charge. In cases with non-Indigenous female victims, first-degree murder charges were laid 37 per cent of the time.
When an Indigenous woman is killed, 64 per cent of cases end with a plea bargain, compared to 57 per cent in cases with a non-Indigenous victim. (The average sentence for the death of Indigenous and non-Indigenous women remains the same: just over 10 years.)
Legal experts say the reasons behind the numerical discrepancies are complex.
Indigenous people are over-represented in the Canadian justice system compared to their share of the population, as both victims and accused, according to StatCan.
Lawyer Marion Buller, a former judge, chief commissioner of the 2016 Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry and an elder from the Mistawasis Nehiyawak First Nation, says the IJB’s findings reflect “important systemic problems” that impact the outcomes of cases involving female Indigenous victims.
“If police don’t see the life as being as important … how does that affect how they collect the evidence that goes before the prosecutor? Or a prosecutor says, ‘I’ll take a guilty plea to manslaughter so we don’t have to clog up the courts with three months’ or two months’ worth of trial time,’” said Buller.
“We Indigenous women, for the most part, live in the margins — in the shadows. Our lives just simply aren’t as valuable as other people’s lives.”
The IJB’s analysis also showed 16 per cent of killings or suspicious deaths of Indigenous women in the last seven years are unsolved, a rate four percentage points higher than for non-Indigenous cases.
Ann Maje Raider, executive director of the Liard Aboriginal Women’s Society in the Yukon, says a perception of greater leniency in the justice system around the deaths of Indigenous women is making the problem worse.
“(Perpetrators) know they’re not going to get anything,” Raider says. “And the reason is that the justice institution has failed us.”
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Almost all — 97 per cent — of female Indigenous victims in the IJB’s database whose outcomes were known were killed by someone they knew. The figure is also high — 90 per cent — for non-Indigenous victims.
Of the accused in Indigenous cases whose previous history was available to reporters, almost all — 94 per cent — had red flags in their past, such as arrests and convictions, contact with child services or significant mental health issues.
In remote areas, including reserves, restraining orders are often ineffective in keeping perpetrators away from victims , says Buller. Because of this, Indigenous women and girls face unique challenges to protect themselves from fatal violence. For many, access to resources and shelters is limited or non-existent, while stigma from speaking up is profound.
Arrests for violent crimes become a “revolving door,” said Isabel Daniels, an Indigenous woman and co-founder of Velma’s House for survivors of exploitation and human trafficking in Winnipeg. Daniels believes Canada needs a network of 24/7 safe houses and shelters to keep Indigenous females safe, especially in remote communities.
“Safety is just a word in a dictionary for Indigenous women,” said Daniels.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs says the justice and police systems need improvements that tackle the issues of abusers not being charged or convicted, or sometimes receiving “inconsequential” sentences.
“Until that changes, we’re going to see a continuation and an escalation in intimate partner physical assaults and murder,” said Phillip.
— With files from Jenna Olsen, Dori Seeman and Lindsay Carte.
The Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health is a collaborative investigative newsroom supported by Postmedia that partners with academics, researchers and journalists while training the next generation of investigative reporters.
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