Marion Buller is the chief commissioner of the inquiry into murdered and missing Aboriginal women.
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Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett, making the announcement alongside Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu, said this marks the first time all provincial and territorial governments have agreed to fall under a national inquiry. The ministers are also expected to meet the families of some victims following the announcement.
The inquiry is the culmination of years of lobbying by native leaders, activists, and victims’ families seeking to know why more than 1,200 indigenous women were murdered or have gone missing over three decades.
– Brian Eyolfson, a First Nations lawyer based in Ontario. For months, the government has been holding information sessions, meeting with families to gather input on what th inquiry should include.
The probe should last two years and will cost nearly $54 million.
It is expected that the commissioners could face a number of challenges during the course of their work, such as the need to examine the nature of violence against indigenous women in urban centres and in indigenous communities themselves.
The inquiry will seek to address a “pattern of vulnerability and injustice”, she said.
Wilson-Raybould said Wednesday that by examining root causes, including past and present systemic and institutional barriers, the commission will play a key role in defining actions needed to protect the human rights of indigenous women and girls. “That’s at the heart of the issue … it is a Canadian problem”.
Wilson-Raybould, a former B.C. regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, appeared to be almost overcome with emotion at one point as she looked out across a room filled with the family members of missing and murdered women.
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In May 2014, the RCMP released a report documenting almost 12-hundred murdered and missing women between 1980 and 2012. “They will also help families deal with the trauma of their loss, and help them connect to the resources they require”.
