Ottawa promises an “unflinching” MMIWG inquiry

Throat singers Charlotte and Abby Carleton prepare to perform towards the end of the Aug. 3 launch of the MMIWG inquiry. (VIDEO CAPTURE)

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett speaks Aug. 3 at the launch of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman in Gatineau, Que. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GOV. OF CANADA)

(Updated 5 p.m. Aug. 3)

Pledging to do an “unflinching” examination of the root causes of violence against Indigenous women and girls, three federal ministers on Aug. 3 announced who will sit on their long-awaited Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Woman and Girls and how the inquiry will work.

Ottawa will spend $53.86 million on the inquiry, which is expected to complete its work in about two years, by end of 2018.

The commission of inquiry’s work will likely start Sept. 1, 2016 and continue until Dec. 31, 2018.

At the same time, Justice Canada will spend $11.67 million over three years to help the families of murdered and missing Indigenous women communicate with police and justice system officials, and to help ease their trauma, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould announced.

And Justice Canada will spend another $4.5 million on victim’s services, Wilson-Raybould said.

That money, $16.17 million in total, will be distributed among provincial and territorial governments, who are responsible for justice and policing in Canada.

Carolyn Bennett, the minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, said all provincial and territorial governments in Canada have now signed on to the inquiry.

That’s important, because it allows the inquiry to look into policing and justice matters that fall under provincial-territorial jurisdiction.

Patty Hajdu, the minister responsible for the status of women, said the inquiry will cast an “unflinching gaze” at the systemic problems that have led to the highly disproportionate number of deaths.

“Every Indigenous woman and girl has the right to live free of violence,” Hajdu said.

The five commissioners, whose names have already been leaked to the media are:

• Commission Chair Marion Buller, a First Nations judge who sits on the B.C. provincial court;

• Michèle Audette, the former president of Femmes autochtones du Québec;

• Qajaq Robinson, a Nunavut-born Inuktitut-speaking lawyer who is vice president of Tungasuvvingat Inuit and who also worked as a Crown prosecutor in Nunavut for four years;

• Marilyn Poitras, a Métis lawyer who is an assistant professor of law at the University of Saskatchewan; and

• Brian Eyolfson, a First Nations lawyer who now works as an acting deputy director at the Ontario ministry of aboriginal affairs.

“They will listen in French, English and Inuktitut,” Bennett said of the five commissioners.

The inquiry commissioners will also have the ability, if they choose, to create regional and issue-specific advisory committees composed of elders, youth, family members of victims, local organizations, and representatives of national Indigenous organizations.

“We were told it should not have a one-size-fits-all approach and must recognize the diversity of indigenous peoples in Canada and the regional differences,” Bennett said at the Aug. 3 press conference.

The commission’s marching orders state that is mandated to look at and report on the systemic causes of violence against Indigenous women and girls and why they are more vulnerable to such violence.

“The underlying factors could be historical, social, economic, institutional or cultural – it will be up to the commission to decide what underlying factors it will decide to examine and report on,” a federal government document said.

And that will include policing, child welfare, coroners, and other government policies and practices.

Hajdu said it’s clear that Indigenous women and girls have been victimized by many years of colonialist and racist government practices.

“Changing these attitudes and practices will require a steady and an honest gaze. Just as important, the inquiry must also examine how racism and sexism are embedded in the very institutions that are supposed to help and protect women and girls,” Hajdu said.