"This report is about deliberate race, identity, and gender-based genocide," reads the preface of the newly-completed Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

Those words penned by the report's Chief Commissioner Marion Buller speak volumes as to the enormous weight of the findings within the rest of the 2-part report.

At more than 1000 pages, the report spells out the "inescapable conclusion" that genocide has been committed against MMIWG in our country.

A ceremony was held Monday, June 3 at the Canadain Museum of History in Ottawa to present the findings of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into MMIWG.

"This report is about deliberate race, identity, and gender-based genocide" -Chief Commissioner, Marion Buller

Buller explained Monday that the problem of MMIWG in Canada is a "persistent and deliberate pattern of systemic racial and gendered human and Indigenous-rights violations and abuses, perpetuated historically and maintained today by the Canadian state, designed to displace Indigenous people from their lands, social structures and governments, and to eradicate their existence as nations, communities, families and individuals.”

Amidst cheers and tears from those gathered at the Canadian Museum of History, she announced that the National Inquiry had found, indeed, that the issue of MMIWG in Canada is "genocide."

The chief commissioner said that the report speaks to the tremendous impact of colonialism on Canadian society, still permeating today, and the decision, now, to begin the process of rewriting that history.

The definition of "genocide" used within the Final Report of the National Inquiry is based on the legal definition of the term incorporated into international law in 1948 in review of the extermination programs employed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. It is defined as any of a number of acts done with the intent to "destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." Such actions include killing members of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group, or imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

Canada signed the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by the United Nations, in 1949. It was formally ratified in 1952.

Information within the report was gathered over the course of 24 hearings across Canada and statements from 750 individuals, resulting in over 2,300 people contributing to the report's findings.

Buller said in the report: "As a nation, we face a crisis: regardless of which number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is cited, the number is too great. The continuing murders, disappearances and violence prove that this crisis has escalated to a national emergency that calls for timely and effective responses."

"We have to do better." -Jody Wilson-Raybould

Herself a Cree woman, Buller told those present Monday that a complete shift in Canadian thoughts, perceptions, and actions towards Indigenous people is required to begin to disintegrate the holds of colonialism on our country.

For that change to happen, all levels of government and public institutions must incorporate this radical shift in thinking.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refrained from labelling the treatment of Canadian Indigenous women and girls genocide at Monday's ceremony but spoke to the reality of the present violence still facing Indigenous females today.

“Time and again, we have heard of their disappearance, violence, or even death being labelled low priority or ignored," shared the prime minister.

"We have to face these issues head on," said Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canadian politician. "We have to do better."

The findings of the report, while filled with despair and evidence of neglect by a nation, also spell out a chance for a new beginning, Buller says.

"This report is also about hope. I believe, especially after witnessing the resilience of Indigenous families, survivors and communities, that change will happen."

More than 200 recommendations have been made within the report, addressed to multiple levels of government and their contribution to the crisis of human dignity and safety that the report says has been "centuries in the making."

But the responsibility to respond to the tragic findings of the report rest not only with levels of government and law enforcement across the country but with all Canadian citizens, says the report.

“We encourage you, as you read these recommendations, to understand and, most importantly, to act on yours.”