About the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Commemoration Fund call for proposals

The Department for Women and Gender Equality works to advance equality for women in Canada. One of the ways it does this is through the Women’s Program, which provides financial support to projects that focus on overcoming systemic barriers and that address the following three priority areas:

• Ending violence against women and girls;
• Improving women's and girls' economic security and prosperity; and,
• Encouraging women and girls in leadership and decision-making roles.

Indigenous women and girls and LGBTQ2S individuals face staggering and disproportionate rates of gender-based violence. According to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than any other women in Canada, and 16 times more likely than Caucasian women. The National Inquiry’s interim report contained a number of recommendations on concrete actions to address and prevent violence against Indigenous women and girls and LGBTQ2S individuals. One of the recommendations is the establishment of a commemoration fund.

The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Commemoration Fund will support Indigenous organizations to work with families, survivors and/or communities to develop and implement commemoration initiatives.

The objectives of the Commemoration Fund are to:

• Honour the lives and legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and LGBTQ2S individuals; and,
• Increase awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and LGBTQ2S individuals.

The expected results of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Commemoration Fund call for proposals are:

• Short term: Commemoration initiatives are developed to support communities in honouring the lives and legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2S individuals.
• Medium term: Indigenous organizations and those affected by the issue, including families, survivors and communities, work together on initiatives to honour the lives and legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2S individuals.
• Long term: Increased awareness within communities across Canada about the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2S individuals.

Applicant Guide

The Applicant Guide provides information to help organizations complete their application.

Organizations must read the Applicant Guide in its entirety before completing their application, as it contains important details on the information and supporting documentation that the Department requires to assess applications.

Apply

Eligible organizations are invited to apply to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Commemoration Fund call for proposals.

Although organizations are encouraged to submit one application involving several communities for this call for proposals, an organization could submit multiple applications in which they would engage different communities.

The deadline for completed applications was March 28, 2019 at 11:59 a.m. (noon) Pacific Daylight Time. Applications submitted after this deadline are ineligible.

You are strongly encouraged to use your FluidReview account when applying, or to create an account in FluidReview, the Department’s application software, as soon as possible.

Next steps

The Department anticipates communicating decisions made regarding applications starting in summer 2019. All decisions will be confirmed via email.

Not all eligible applications will be approved under this call for proposal. Funding is limited and subject to the the Department’s annual budget considerations and allocation of funds by Parliament.

Project activities must not begin before confirmation of approval is obtained. Expenses incurred before a funding decision is made are ineligible.

Successful organizations must agree to defer any public announcements until the Minister for Women and Gender Equality has publicly announced the project.

Enquiries

If your enquiries haven’t been answered in the Applicant Guide, we invite you to consult the questions and answers or to contact the Women's Program national or regional offices.