It wasn’t until Canada’s first aboriginal justice minister took the stage to outline a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women that the tears began to stream down Lorelei Williams’ face and she let herself believe that this time things might be different.
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LeBourdais says the federal government is finally taking the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women seriously.
Earlier this year, Ontario participated in the second National Roundtable on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Winnipeg.
Chief commissioner Marion Buller, who is a judge in British Columbia, is a member of the Mistawasis First Nation, while fellow commissioner Marilyn Poitras is a Harvard Law School graduate who teaches at the University of Saskatchewan’s college of law.
“Just because there are only a few number (of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls) here in the Atlantic, they’re not willing to put a commissioner or get a commissioner from this area?”
“Many of the families feel the cases of their particular loved ones were mishandled, that there was police misconduct or they were closed prematurely, and that they didn’t see justice”.
Marion Buller, named chair of the commission overseeing the inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, is flanked by fellow commissioners August 3 following the formal announcement of the inquiry in Gatineau, Que.
The commissioners will have the power to issue subpoenas and to compel witnesses to testify.
Holly Jarrett, Loretta Saunders’ cousin, says while the inquiry is a positive step, she’s anxious Canada’s justice system won’t get a close enough look.
Five independent commissioners will provide recommendations to deal with violence against the country’s indigenous women.
“[Throughout Inuit Nunangat] there are very few resources in those small communities”, she said.
No Atlantic Canada representation among appointed commissionersHart Perley from Tobique First Nation in N.B. travelled to Halifax to take part in the January 20 meeting about an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.
The Liberal government originally committed $40-million over two years to conduct the inquiry.
She said policing and the child welfare system would also be examined, while Minister of Status of Women Patty Hadju said the inquiry would look at institutional sexism and racism.
Beverley Jacobs, a lawyer and advocate for families, said she likes that the terms of reference are broad. But police services have long maintained that they need to protect important information about these cases in order to solve them.
In 2014, the RCMP created a database of murdered and missing Indigenous women which contained the cases of over a thousand Indigenous women who had been murdered from 1980 to 2012 and 169 missing Indigenous women dating back to 1952.
She said there will be a feedback loop between the victim support services and the commission to ensure families are satisfied with the help they’re getting.
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She also pointed to the justice system, saying sentencing guidelines also need to be reviewed.
