One year after the 2020 mass shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia by Gabriel Wortman politicians recognized the tragic day with moments of silence, tweets of remembrance and kind words, and speeches honouring the victims. Yet, none of these acts have significantly shifted either public policy or the societal normalization of intimate partner violence. This lack of action stems from the masculine nature of the state, which has a tendency to subvert feminist issues and voices.
The formal definition of a vulnerable child or youth used by most Canadian provinces points to factors such as age, disability and, more vaguely, the general risk of abuse or neglect. But these factors do not encompass indigenous women and girls. Consequently, to fully understand the meaning of vulnerability and it’s relationship to colonialism, racism, misogyny and sexism, there is a need to use an intersectional lens that takes Indigenous feminist thought into account.