NDP MP Leah Gazan is standing by her use of the initialism MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ and denouncing those who are mocking her online for using the term.

A clip of the Winnipeg Centre MP saying “the ongoing genocide of MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+” during a news conference in Ottawa went viral this week and sparked backlash, including insults from Elon Musk and U.S. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

“Bigots are bigots,” Gazan told CBC News in response.

“I certainly am really happy that bigots are offended by my positions around equality. What I am concerned about and certainly motivated — continue to be motivated about — is ending systemic racism in this country.”

MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ stands for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual+. It’s derived in part from the more commonly used initialisms MMIWG (missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls) and 2SLGBTQ+.

Gazan calls the pushback a distraction from the continued violence facing Indigenous women and girls, two-spirit and gender diverse people, along with federal funding cuts to programming aimed at prevention.

“My concern is the fact that Prime Minister [Mark] Carney has gutted funding to deal with something that was recognized as a Canada-wide emergency in the House of Commons unanimously across party lines,” Gazan said. 

Gazan used the term during a news conference at the House of Commons on Wednesday about the sunsetting of program funding to Indigenous women’s organizations. The federal government has said conversations about sustained funding are ongoing.

Marion Buller, former chief commissioner of the National Inquiry into MMIWG, calls the situation unfortunate and agrees with Gazan that it serves as a diversion.

“This buzz is distracting from the real issue and that’s the government’s, the federal government’s, sunsetting of funding for Indigenous women and girls’ work,” Buller said.

‘Logical step to be more inclusive’

Buller said the national inquiry expanded its terminology to include 2SLGBTQQIA people not long after it was launched in 2016.

“We were hearing and finding out that Indigenous women and girls, regardless of where they were on the gender spectrum … were experiencing violence, systemic violence, not only just because of their Indigeneity, but because of their gender identity,” Buller said. 

“And since we were charged with looking into all types of systemic violence against women and Indigenous women and girls, it was the logical step to be more inclusive.”

Sen. Michèle Audette, who served alongside Buller as a commissioner on the inquiry, said she remembers an emotional debate behind closed doors at the time. 

“Some were mad,” Audette said. 

Audette said the commissioners heard concerns from Indigenous women who experienced violence by men about expanding the inquiry’s mandate to include trans men. But others felt strongly that they should be included.

In its 2019 final report, the inquiry concluded there is a race-based genocide of Indigenous Peoples, including First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, which especially targets women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

“Personally, I will not use the long acronym,” Audette said.

“If MP Leah Gazan wants to say it, just respect it … if she wants to say it the way she wants to say it, who am I to say she’s wrong?”

Sheila North, Chief of Bunibonibee Cree Nation in Manitoba, agrees. She coined the hashtag #MMIW.

“The ‘I’ to me represented all Indigenous women and the ‘W’ to me represented the female experience, whatever that is,” North said. 

“In hindsight, we definitely could see the need to adapt it and to change it as people need to.”

North says she continues to use MMIW, but supports those who’ve extended the initialism. 

“Leah and others have expanded it to include who they see as victims and survivors and people impacted,” North said.

“I think she and others are doing what they see is best and anyone who criticizes it clearly doesn’t understand the issue.”