In order to understand the relationship between sexual violence and access to justice in the lives of Indigenous peoples, this report provides a contextual account of the historic and ongoing role of sexual violence and law in settler colonialism. Historic processes of colonization are active in shaping Indigenous peoples’ lives today. The imposition of patriarchy and racism through the Indian Act and residential schools was key to colonization in Canada. The Indian Act legislated Indigenous rights through a gender binary which replaced culturally-distinct understandings of gender, erasing gender diversity from legal and policy frameworks while imposing a hierarchy which devalues women and girls.
The ongoing marginalization of Indigenous women resulting from governmentally legislated patriarchal models of leadership is a key factor in shaping access to justice and sexual violence today, Further, widespread abuse and family and cultural breakdown resulting from the residential school system continue to be widely understood as a root cause of sexual violence among Indigenous people today. These impacts are evident in state-run child welfare regimes into the present day. Sexual violence is understood to be part of a continuum of colonial violence. Sexual assault is often treated as expected in the lives of Indigenous people, particularly women and girls, through stereotypes which blame survivors themselves for the violence.