NWAC’s research has found that the intergenerational impact and resulting vulnerabilities of colonization and state policies—such as residential schools, the 60s Scoop, and the child welfare system—are underlying factors in the outcomes of violence experienced by Aboriginal women and girls. [...] The majority of disappearances and deaths of Aboriginal women and girls occurred in the western provinces of Canada. [...] While NWAC has made great strides in bringing to light issues of violence leading to the disappearance and death of Aboriginal women and girls, Aboriginal women continue to be the most at risk group in Canada for issues related to violence, and continue to experience complex issues linked to intergenerational impacts of colonization, particularly those resulting from residential schools and the ch [...] In 2005, NWAC secured funding for the Sisters In Spirit initiative – a five-year research, education and policy initiative supported by Status of Women Canada to address the root causes and trends of missing and murdered women and girls. [...] The overrepresentation of Aboriginal women in Canada as To address the issue of violence, one must understand victims of violence must be the history and impact of colonization on Aboriginal understood in the context of a peoples in Canada.