The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) is responding to the July 28, 2025, report by Thomson Reuters that confirms a direct link between the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S+) and human trafficking across Canada. The report identifies Manitoba as one of the hardest-hit provinces, accounting for 21% of all cases nationwide, with Winnipeg alone representing 14%.
“This is not new information. It is painful confirmation of what our families, survivors, and Nations have been telling governments for decades,” said AMC Grand Chief Kyra Wilson. “Our women and girls are being targeted, trafficked, and discarded — and Canada still has no comprehensive, resourced plan to stop it. As Nations, we have the solutions to keeping our families safe. Canada needs to work with First Nations leadership to understand the critical resources needed in community.”
Indigenous women in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario are highlighted in the report as key points. They quickly go from being “missing” to being exploited in the online sex trade. Additionally, it supports previous research showing that man-camps, which are short-term industrial work camps associated with resource development projects, are regularly associated with higher rates of trafficking and violence in the vicinity of First Nations communities.
“These aren’t random cases. This is systemic. The presence of industry man camps on or near our territories directly contributes to this crisis,” said Grand Chief Wilson. “And yet, major projects continue to get the green light without enforceable safety guarantees or protections for our people. That’s what colonialism looks like in 2025.”
Few of the recommendations made in the 2019 Final Report of the National Inquiry on MMIWG, which included 231 Calls for Justice, have been put into practice. Canada has not implemented the national, Indigenous-led MMIWG alert system that families and campaigners have called for, nor has it spent allocated funds, especially for emergency assistance and shelters for Indigenous women.
“We just held a historic First Nations Summit with the Prime Minister and our Chiefs did raise these exact concerns,” said Grand Chief Wilson. “Our voices were clear: the MMIWG2S+ crisis must be treated as a national emergency – not buried in bureaucracy, not delayed by jurisdictional confusion, not exacerbated by funding cuts and certainly not ignored until the next tragedy.”
In light of the Build Canada Act, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs is still calling for mandatory social impact assessments for all resource projects, including expedited National Interest Projects, and the full implementation of the 231 Calls for Justice made by the National Inquiry in order to ensure enforceable conditions surrounding the operation of man-camps.
If you are a victim of human trafficking or think someone else may be, contact the Canadian Human Trafficking hotline: Call: 1-833-900-1010 or email hotline@ccteht.ca.