The disappearance of indigenous women and girls in Canada was determined to be genocide by a three-year national inquiry, the findings of which were released at a ceremony in Quebec Monday.
The investigation began after the acquittal of the main suspect in the murder of a 15-year-old girl in 2014 sparked outrage and protests, reports the New York Times.
A 2014 Royal Canadian Mounted police report said that 1,200 indigenous women have gone missing or been killed between 1980 and 2012, although some government officials said the number is as high as 4,000.
The report said that violence against women and girls was a “race-based genocide of Indigenous peoples, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis” enabled by “colonial structures,” reports the Times. The report cited abuses such as forcing indigenous children to attend government run residential schools, and police and justice system failure to address the concerns of indigenous women, according to the Times.
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