ONWA Responds to Budget 2026: The Silence on Indigenous Women’s Safety is Deafening

Thunder Bay, ON – As the government of Canada, under Prime Minister Carney, releases its second budget, we recognize and acknowledge the collective efforts of the Cabinet and the public service over the last year to steer this country through an increasingly turbulent world.

The federal government has framed this second budget as an ambitious generational plan designed to give Canadians the freedom to live our lives as we choose, to improve how we care for each other, and to enable us to become the “masters of our destiny”. As we reflect on the spending commitments outlined in this fiscal plan, we are asking who this budget positions as the “masters”, and whose right to self-determination is being prioritized. What’s clear is that it is not Indigenous women. The silence on our rights and our safety is deafening.

Indigenous women have the right to live as we choose, free from violence. Yet ten years after the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was launched in 2016, we remain unsafe, facing disproportionately high rates of violence that have continued unabated:

• Today the homicide rate for Indigenous women is higher than it was in 2016, and 6.5x higher than the rate for non-Indigenous women.

• More than half (52%) of Indigenous women have experienced sexual violence since age 15, compared with 37% of non-Indigenous women. Both lifetime and past-year rates among Indigenous women have increased since the Calls for Justice were issued in 2019.

• Nearly 6 in 10 Indigenous women (57%) have experienced physical assault since age 15, compared with nearly 4 in 10 non-Indigenous women (36%). Both lifetime and past-year rates among Indigenous women have increased since 2019.

This year’s budget presented an opportunity to include Indigenous women in Canada’s nation building agenda by recognizing that our safety is a prerequisite for economic growth and national security. It was an opportunity to address the lack of meaningful investment by this government in ending the ongoing national crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, which continues to undermine community stability, public safety and trust.

Instead, only $3.6 million (or less than 0.0001%) of the $50 billion in proposed new funding for Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples has been allocated specifically to Indigenous women’s safety. This funding will renew the Red Dress pilot, which addresses the aftermath of violence rather than preventing it. The calls from Indigenous women’s organizations across the country to invest in our safety have been ignored.

ONWA is glad to see the investments in First Nations housing, education, and community safety. These resources are urgently needed and part of Canada’s treaty obligations. However, the vast majority (83%) of Indigenous women live outside of Indigenous governed territories, and additional investments are required for urban Indigenous organizations that support Indigenous women, including Indigenous women’s specific agencies.

ONWA also welcomes the broad investments into addressing homelessness, mental health and addictions, gender equality and gender-based violence. However, we are disappointed by the absence of any specific and dedicated funding for Indigenous women who have unique needs best met through our own organizations. We are also concerned by the differential response to Indigenous women’s needs and the ongoing threats to our lives. While the budget is silent on Indigenous women’s safety, for example, we see $70 million being invested in increasing access to menstruation products. Ongoing government inaction on the 231 Calls for Justice and underfunding of our safety allows for the violence against Indigenous women to continue and can be seen as a form of structural violence and systemic discrimination.

Indigenous women are nation builders and we know that strong, prosperous nations are not built by leaving anyone behind; they are built by ensuring everyone is in the circle. Indigenous women and our organizations will continue to do the critical work to heal our families and communities and restore our safety because this is our responsibility as leaders, but we cannot do this work alone. It is time for government to take up its responsibilities as well.

We call on the Prime Minister to meet with Indigenous women’s organizations for a direct and substantive dialogue about the budget, its consequences and solutions. We want a meaningful relationship with this government so that Indigenous women can participate in the federal policy and budget decisions that impact our lives.

ONWA will be holding a joint media event with Native Women’s Association of Canada, Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak, and Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada in Ottawa (Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery, 135-B Press Conference Room) on Thursday November 12, 2026, at 1:30pm to respond to Budget 2026.

For more information and media inquiries, contact: 

Andre Morriseau, Communications Manager

Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA)

Email: amorriseau@onwa.ca

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