House unanimously supports system to alert public when Indigenous women go missing

NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre Leah Gazan, surrounded by family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people, speaks during a news conference, Tuesday, May 2, 2023 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The House of Commons has unanimously backed a motion to declare the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls a Canada-wide emergency -- and to fund a new system that would alert the public when someone goes missing.

Leah Gazan, who represents a riding in Winnipeg, presented the motion before members of Parliament this afternoon.

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The MP previously led the effort for the House to recognize the residential school system as a genocide, which it did last fall.

Speaking after today's vote, Gazan says she is glad to to see MPs recognize a "truth" in the country, but says it's another thing to act on it.

She and other advocates have been pushing for a public alert system to be established that would send a phone notification when an Indigenous woman disappears.

Gazan has said she imagines it operating like an Amber Alert, which is an emergency notification that goes out when a child is missing and believed to be in danger.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2023.