Ending gender-based violence, helping support women and girls in Indigenous communities, 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and their economic empowerment was the focus of the Status of Women’s 43rd annual forum yesterday in the city of Yellowknife.
The forum was co-chaired by the Honourable Rechie Valdez, who is Canada’s Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), and the Honourable Lucy Kuptana, who is the Minister Responsible for Housing Northwest Territories and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women for GNWT.
“In the North, we know that safety, healing, and empowerment begin with listening to communities and honouring cultural strengths. By sharing perspectives from across the country, we can shape solutions that reflect the lived realities of all women and gender-diverse people. This year’s meeting reinforced our shared commitment to advance culturally grounded approaches, elevate regional voices, and work together to build safer, more inclusive spaces for all Canadians,” said Minister Kuptana in an announcement following the forum.
Among the shared priorities as expressed by leaders at the forum are goals to ending gender-based violence, helping support women and girls in Indigenous communities, the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, and ensuring focus on the economic empowerment of women, Minister Valdez told True North FM.
Minister Valdez is working with ministers including Minister Lucy Kuptana, Minister Responsible for Status of Women and Indigenous leadership and MP Minister of Indigenous and Crown Relations Rebecca Alty, continuing progress on National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.
“Achieving gender equality requires bold leadership, strong partnerships, unwavering persistence, and decisive action. As Canada’s new Minister of Women and Gender Equality, I am proud to stand beside provincial and territorial Ministers, Indigenous leaders and community partners in moving this critical work forward. This meeting reinforces our shared responsibility to create safer, more inclusive communities for everyone in Canada to thrive, lead, and succeed,” said Minister Valdez.
To ensure that the action plan is focussed on helping to support all women across the country, including in the NWT, Minister Valdez said it’s important to consider nuances and complexities unique to place. These include local context and for cultures and traditions, “all across the Northwest Territories and that includes Rural and remote communities as well,” she affirmed.
Here, where over half of the population identifies as First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities who live alongside a many cultural groups that have come to call the territories there home.
The first day that Minister Valdez arrived she spoke with Indigenous leadership and representatives to begin discussions.
“That was a very powerful conversation, really hearing directly on the ground of the lived experiences and the realities of Indigenous women and girls, of the Murdered Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, that certainly did come up.”
The forum was preceded by a meeting with Indigenous leaders and representatives. The discussions engaged with common priorities, including addressing violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people, combatting human trafficking, and promoting economic empowerment.
“These important conversations ensure Indigenous perspectives are included to help shape strategies that are responsive to the distinct realities, histories, and needs of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people and foster lasting progress in gender equality through culturally informed, community-driven solutions,” said a representative with Women and Gender Equality Canada.
“Some of the things we’ve been hearing is how we can continue to address those issues and concerns,” said Minister Valdez, who emphasized the importance of working with Indigenous leadership across the territories alongside ministers.
Minister Valdez spoke of the ways that goals of economic empowerment can be connected to ending gender-based violence, supporting Indigenous communities, and empowering women and gender diverse people in the economy.
She said that these goals can potential to be strengthened by infrastructure development in the North but emphasized only through consultation with Indigenous leadership and communities.
“Women’s economic empowerment that is going to be done through helping support women entrepreneurs and there is some very positive stats around Indigenous, entrepreneurs Indigenous, entrepreneurs especially women are exploding in terms of the growth you’re seeing Indigenous women, take on the whether that’s beading or whether that’s like helping support local communities on their ground, supporting creating food businesses, it’s really inspiring to see that and our government is here to help support them,” said Minister Valdez.
“We’re seeing such a significant portion of women, especially in the Northwest Territories, who are doing really amazing things,” she continued.
Minister Valdez said that at the federal level and territorial level change is aimed at transformation and healing, such as removing longstanding barriers to trade across the country and consulting with Indigenous communities for upcoming infrastructure projects will help people across the NWT, including women, girls, Two Spirit and gender diverse folks across the territories to reach goals of economic empowerment.
“We’re bringing down interprovincial, trade barriers and the second piece is huge, which is the development of national infrastructure projects, which will benefit all Canadians, and those National infrastructure projects – as we’re deciding on which infrastructure projects that we’re going to proceed with, there will be Indigenous consultation happening beforehand,” assured Minister Valdez.
“While we’re deciding on which National projects to proceed with, we will ensure that we will do so in consultation with Indigenous leadership and that’s vitally important to us, we will be doing that in advance this summer. And then second to that, again, every decision we’re going to make is ensuring that we’re also focused on meeting our climate goals,” continued Minister Valdez.
During the forum yesterday, the ministers highlighted the milestones reached to date as highlighted in their first Annual Progress Report on the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence*
The ministers also looked ahead at the ongoing work they have committed to undertake. The forum upholds a united commitment at all levels of government to respond to the needs of victims, survivors, their families, and the organizations that help support them.
Leadership emphasized the need to continue working together to strengthen services and programs that are evidence-based and recognize the specific realities of the provinces and territories. Leaders also emphasized the importance of including men and boys in mobilizing efforts of preventing gender-based violence.
At the meeting the ministers outlined the importance of increasing participation and retention of women in high-growth and high-paying sectors and ensuring that women have equal opportunities in Canada’s evolving economy.
The ministers also looked at the expanding influence of artificial intelligence and its impact on online harassment and gender-based violence. Ministers agreed that there is a need for more data and research to inform strategies to address the issue, foster safer digital environments, and include opportunities for women in the field.
Ministers concluded the 43rd annual FPT Ministers’ meeting with a renewed resolve to work together on advancing gender equality, increasing women’s economic empowerment and prosperity and ending gender-based violence. Ministers agreed to make further efforts to communicate, coordinate, and further improve the complementarity of funding offered to women’s and gender equality organizations in the provinces and territories.
