A/HRC/41/42/Add.1 84. During her visit, the Special Rapporteur was informed of the work of the inquiry in Quebec dealing with the investigation of misconduct and violence of police forces against indigenous women in the province. The mandate of the inquiry includes investigating specific cases. She has also been made aware of a similar request for an inquiry in relation to the death of an indigenous woman, Tina Fontaine, in Winnipeg. The request included the need to examine the failure of the entire social child welfare and criminal justice system to protect children under their responsibility. 3. Violence against women and girls with disabilities 85. In line with of the most recent concluding observations to the State party under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Special Rapporteur expressed serious concern about the high incidence of violence against women and girls with disabilities. Although all relevant federal and provincial legislation already prohibits violence against persons with disabilities, the law has not been successful enough in the prevention of or reduction in violence. On the basis of information received and the shelters that she visited, services for assistance and home support or adapted transportation lack accessibility for women with disabilities.46 86. Women with disabilities are at risk of many forms of violence: neglect, physical, sexual and psychological abuse and financial exploitation. Because there is a lack of accessible and affordable housing, women with disabilities are forced into institutions and become more vulnerable to abuse. They are twice as likely as women without disabilities to be victims of violent crime and to be sexually assaulted, 47 and they are particularly vulnerable to being trafficked for the purposes of sexual and labour exploitation. 87. According to the British Columbia Aboriginal Network on Disability Society, the rate of disability among indigenous persons in Canada is two to three times higher than the national rate. Indigenous women and black women with disabilities are also overrepresented in the prison population, and among victims of trafficking and the homeless population. 88. The lack of comprehensive data on violence against women with disabilities stems from a lack of self-reporting by women victims with disabilities. This is due to the stigmatization faced by them because they are women with disabilities, which is exacerbated by factors such as race and age. 4. Violence against women asylum seekers and refugees 89. The Special Rapporteur acknowledged the long-standing policy of Canada to welcome immigrants. During her visit, however, she collected information about immigration and refugee policies and practice carried out by the Canada Border Services Agency, under which women, including pregnant women, and children can be detained indefinitely. 90. Migrant women are made more vulnerable to violence and abuse through their employment relationships, precarious migration status, gendered pathways to migration and being survivors of gender-based violence, as well as discriminatory policies concerning child custody and protection. Such vulnerability is even worse for black women, LGBTQ2 individuals and women with disabilities. 91. Although gender is not explicitly grounds for refugee protection under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada has interpreted gender to be one of the enumerated grounds as a “particular social group”. Under section 96 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a convention refugee must establish a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of membership in a specific social group and must show that they are unable or unwilling to avail themselves of 46 47 16 Submission by DisABle Women’s Network Canada. See Statistics Canada, “Criminal victimization in Canada, 2014” (2015).