Yet the response, received in a 54-page compilation of internal emails, indicates the force does not separately track cases of murdered and missing Indigenous women, despite calls for greater transparency and a new approach to its relationship with Indigenous communities.
In March 2020, The Tyee requested the total resources spent investigating cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls between Jan. 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020.
A tally of responses forwarded from divisions across Canada shows the RCMP spent just over $3.6 million during the 15-month period, a small slice of its $3.5-billion annual budget.
However that total is incomplete and does not provide a full picture of how Canada’s national police force addresses what the national inquiry described as “genocide” against Indigenous women.