Feminicide in Canada? Framing the Responsibility of the Canadian State for the Murders and Disappearances of Indigenous Women and Girls

In this paper, I explore the possibility of framing the murders of Indigenous women and girls as feminicide. The term feminicide (feminicidio) represents an adaptation of the radical feminist concept of femicide. Feminicide emerged as a powerful frame in the context of feminist activism against the killing of women in the Mexican state of Chihuahua that borders the United States. What makes feminicidio different from femicide is that it draws attention to the complicity of the state with violence against women by tolerating its impunity, as well as by sustaining systemic gender inequality. Given that the Native Women’s Association of Canada has consistently drawn parallels between the failed response of the Mexican state to gender violence in Chihuahua and that of the Canadian state to the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls in Canada, I suggest that feminicidio has the potential to serve as a frame in their struggles.