She says she was devastated when the Harper government refused to launch a national investigation into the hundreds of cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada.
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A family member of several indigenous BC women who vanished, were killed or have been injured says she’s not sure if she’s ready to embrace a national examination of missing and murdered aboriginal women.
We’ve been hearing about an upcoming investigation into the cases of over 1,000 missing or murdered Indigenous women in Canada since the end of past year. “Judge Buller-Bennett will bring leadership and experience to this important and historic process”.
That’s what should happen, but in Canada aboriginal woman and girls have been going missing for decades, never to be found.
It is hoped some of that may may change with the announcement Wednesday that Canada’s federal government is handing over the reins of its long-awaited inquiry into Canada’s most enduring mystery-of-the-missing to five new commissioners.
The Native Women’s Association of Canada, along with other organizations including the Assembly of First Nations, have been pushing for the inquiry to examine the magnitude of the problem. That allows the commissioners to examine the actions of all jurisdictions, including the role that provincial and municipal police forces and child-welfare agencies may have played.
The national inquiry – created to be arm’s length from government once it is up and running on September 1 – is expected to last at least two years and cost at least $53.8 million.
The number of missing or murdered indigenous women in Canada has not escaped the attention of members of the global human rights community, who will keep a close eye on a national inquiry they say is long overdue.
The National Inquiry has been given a budget of $53.86 million to hold the inquiry, which will conclude in December 2018.
The federal justice department is devoting $11.7 million over three years so that provinces and territories can establish family information liaison units within their existing victims services departments. Amnesty International criticized the terms for not specifically addressing police procedures – a serious issue given the many indigenous women who have suffered abuse at the hands of police.
Doyle-Bedwell said she fears that the families of those 36 missing and murdered women and girls may go unheard due to the lack of representation from the Atlantic region.
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.
“I lift up our sisters for this work, and I stand with them as we embark on what is sure to be a hard road ahead and a necessary path on our journey”. North Wilson said. “They are the ones who deserve the credit for the fact that we are now talking about an inquiry because they pushed the issues”.
The inquiry will be led by five commissioners and chaired by BC First Nations Judge Marion Buller.
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“If they leave any part – police actions, community, the root causes, or the treatment of indigenous women in society – if they leave any of it out, they won’t have a good report”.
