To: The Right Honorable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

The scale of violence faced by Indigenous women in Canada requires a comprehensive and coordinated response.

I welcome the recent commitment by Canadian officials to develop a national plan of action to ensure Indigenous women's safety, economic security and well-being.

I urge your government to work with Indigenous women to develop a comprehensive strategy to:

• Ensure Indigenous women's access to justice, including effective and unbiased police response to all cases of missing and murdered women,
• Improve public awareness and accountability through the consistent collection and publication of comprehensive national statistics on rates of violent crime against Indigenous women,
• Eliminate discrimination in funding of government services for Indigenous women and families,
• Address the root causes of violence against Indigenous women, including by closing the economic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.