Smith’s sister is one of more than 164 indigenous women now listed as missing in Canada.
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Wilson-Raybould said the commissioners will have the power to refer information they receive regarding criminal investigations or allegations of misconduct to the appropriate authorities.
It’s also been given a hefty budget ($53.8 million for the duration of the inquiry) and a reasonable amount of leeway when it comes to who it interviews or summons as witnesses and what documents it can request.
Though the federal government has launched the commission, each province has agreed to allow the commissioners to look at all jurisdictions, including whether local law enforcement or governments played a part.
“For over a decade, the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls have been demanding action”.
A year later, it said 32 aboriginal women had been murdered and 11 more had disappeared since it first reported on the issue.
“Every Indigenous woman and girl has the right to live free of violence”, Hajdu said.
Besides Buller, the four commissioners, three women and one man, are former president of the Native Women’s Association Michele Audette, lawyer Qajaq Robinson, University of Saskatchewan professor and Métis Marilyn Poitras and Ontario human rights expert Brian Eyolfson.
It’s expected to be completed at the end of 2018.
“A 2014 study by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found that almost 1,200 aboriginal women were murdered or went missing between 1980 and 2012”.
The federal government has appointed five commissioners to lead the public inquiry, which will begin its work on September 1.
The inquiry is to start at the beginning of September and, according to the government, run through the end of 2018, at a cost of $53.9 million Canadian dollars (more than $40 million US dollars).
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.
The federal government has announced who will chair the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and it will be a B.C. First Nations judge.
Sheila North Wilson, Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, said she hopes the inquiry examines the Indian Act, along with any processes that have affected indigenous women and girls.
Bennett said the inquiry will reflect what the government heard during pre-inquiry consultations: that policing and child welfare policies will be put under the microscope, that it will not take a one-size-fits-all approach and will take into account regional differences when crafting recommendations. But police services have long maintained that they need to protect important information about these cases in order to solve them.
“The B.C. government is pleased to confirm B.C.’s support for, and intention to participate fully in, the national inquiry”.
“We’re committed to working on the details to make sure that this inquiry works for the families and that we see justice”, she said.
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Bridget Tolley from the Kitigan Zibi reserve near Maniwaki, Que., said she has searched for answers for 15 years.
