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There are many reasons why Indigenous People in Canada are more likely to experience police violence: the historical context such as colonialism; reserve system; the Pass System; RCMP assisting in removing children from their families to attend Indian residential schools; the 60s Scoop; the RCMP Starlight tours where RCMP abandoned multiple Indigenous people in Saskatchewan in freezing temperatures; RCMP having been named complacent in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls genocide by the National Inquiry; and the forcible removable of Indigenous Peoples from unceded lands to make way for industry projects they haven’t given free, prior and informed consent to.  Canadian prisons are also overloaded with Indigenous inmates- what’s even more shocking is that Indigenous women make up around 60% of females in custody, although they make up less than 5% of the total population. In fact, more Native women are behind bars than Native men in Canada.  There are extensive inequities with adequate housing; healthcare; access to clean water and poverty affecting First Nations.  This is a systemic oppressive phenomenon that puts our people at the forefront of police violence. I believe it’s the fallout of failed reconciliation, policy reform and ongoing systemic racism within institutions and society. Yet September is reconciliation month in Canada and what’s unfolding is indicative of the true state of reconciliation.  Meanwhile people are dying disproportionately. Not just from police violence but from suicide, MMIWG, drug overdoses and other traumatic events. Justice, reconciliation, and systemic change is needed to upend this crisis. Painting by Kent Monkman