The recent June 2025 disappearance of a 12-year-old Indigenous girl has once again exposed the deep and ongoing failures of police institutions to uphold their responsibilities to children—especially Indigenous girls—who are made vulnerable by systemic neglect and racism.
Despite decades of public inquiries, commissions, and commitments to do better, police continue to use harmful and dehumanizing language that shifts blame onto children rather than recognizing their right to protection and care. Describing a missing 12-year-old as engaging in a “high-risk lifestyle” is not only factually incorrect—it is an act of institutional violence. This framing diminishes urgency, emboldens predators, and signals to the public that some lives matter less.
We are particularly alarmed that this failure occurred under the leadership of individuals who were directly involved in the Vancouver Police Department during the era of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry. There is no excuse. The lessons were clear. The calls for justice were loud. And yet, the patterns persist.
At BWSS, we have worked iwith police agencies across the province for over 40 years, providing training, consultation, and crisis response rooted in feminist, decolonial, and trauma-informed practice. We have also been unwavering in our accountability demands when these institutions fail to act in the best interests of survivors.
We are calling for:
- A full public retraction of the harmful language used in this case.
- Immediate reforms to communication protocols to reflect trauma- and violence-informed, child-centred standards.
- A formal public apology to the child, her family, and Indigenous communities.
- A meeting between police leadership and community organizations—including Indigenous- anti-violence, women’s and youth-led groups—to address systemic failures in how missing Indigenous girls are treated.
We also lift up and thank our colleagues at Justice for Girls for their leadership in calling for an Amber Alert in this case, and we express deep appreciation to the broader coalition of organizations who are mobilizing to demand accountability.
The institutions responsible for public safety must stop retraumatizing communities already burdened by grief, erasure, and injustice. The failure to act with urgency and respect in the disappearance of an Indigenous child is not a public relations mistake—it is a moral failure with life-and-death consequences.
We will continue to fight for a system where Indigenous girls are seen, protected, and valued—not criminalized, dismissed, or forgotten.
