AFN forum establishes conditions for MMIW inquiry

February 5, 2016

Deborah Ginnish travelled almost the entire country to have a say in what the Assembly of First Nations has set as its conditions in moving forward on a national public inquiry on murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.

“Even (Wednesday) night driving in on a taxi (from the Edmonton International Airport), these are the highways and roads, and you think about the women, who have gone through here and have gone missing. It’s just empty and cold,” said Ginnish, who came from the Membertou First Nation, in Nova Scotia.

In 2010, Amber Tuccaro flew into Edmonton from Fort McMurray for a medical appointment. She went missing. Two years later her body was found in a field 12 km east of Leduc. In that same area, the bodies of two other missing Indigenous women were discovered, Katie Sylvia Ballantyne and Delores Brower, over a 12-year period.

Ginnish lost her niece to violence 10 years ago on the Membertou First Nation. Her family still grieves and so does her community, she says.

“It’s important for our families to have a family member as part of (this forum), to be able to give that voice that may not be heard,” said Ginnish.

Cheryl Maloney, president of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association of Canada, who came with Ginnish, agrees.

“If this is lost to families and it goes to politicians or technical people … we just get wound up in these briefing notes and we don’t know, and we can just pretend we know, and then the recommendations are not going to be meaningful to the families,” she said.  “And it’s dangerous when politicians and technical people try to answer questions they don’t know.”

The AFN took direction from families, as well as women’s and Indigenous organizations, on Thursday in setting conditions that it hopes will lead to a “meaningful national inquiry (where) our women are front and centre,” said British Columbia Regional Chief Shane Gottfriedson, who holds the AFN portfolio for murdered and missing Indigenous women.

Those six conditions are: to conduct an open and transparent examination of the socio-economic, political and historical factors that lead to increased vulnerability among Indigenous women; examine police practices and protocols in investigating missing Indigenous women and in communicating with families; identify the barriers in implementing recommendations from previous inquiries and reports; provide a safe forum for families to participate; innovative practices and community-based supports in preventing violence and achieving reconciliation; and provide tangible recommendations and an implementation plan to prevent violence and improve responses where women are missing or murdered.

“It’s really hard for a family to come out and participate in this. It’s an act of kindness and love and compassion for them. It’s self-sacrificing to go and participate. But the reason they do it is so that what happened, what they lost, what their loved ones needed, may be there for other young girls,” said Maloney. “We’re not doing this to look at blame or what happened. That’s a waste of our energy and heart and soul. We need to move forward, find solutions to everything.”

The AFN will submit its report to the ministers responsible for the national inquiry by Feb. 15.

The AFN, along with other national Aboriginal organizations, federal, provincial and territorial representatives will meet in Winnipeg Feb. 26 for the second national roundtable on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.