Alberta needs to be scheduled on pre-MMIW inquiry meetings

January 6, 2016

A recent list released of stops to be made by the ministers conducting pre-inquiry meetings for murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls does not include either Calgary or Edmonton.

“That is so, so important. It is extremely important that Alberta be included and involved,” said Muriel Stanley Venne, president and founder of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women. “We’ve had our share of terrible, terrible deaths in this province and they continue to happen which is very grievous to me.”

The RCMP released figures that indicated 1,017 Aboriginal women were murdered between 1980 and 2012. Alberta led that list with 206 Aboriginal women killed and British Columbia was second with 205.

Federal ministers Carolyn Bennett (Indigenous and northern affairs), Patty Hajdu (status of women) and Attorney General Jody Raybould-Wilson met with the first group of family members and loved ones impacted by this tragedy in Ottawa in early December. On Tuesday, Bennett and Hajdu were meeting with a group in Thunder Bay. The schedule released for meetings, which are to take place from Jan. 8-22, include stops in the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nova Scotia and multiple stops in BC and Quebec. More meeting dates are to be added as they are confirmed, according to the Indigenous and northern affairs Canada website.

Venne applauds the Liberal government for its approach to setting up the MMIW inquiry, which it announced Dec. 8.

The first phase involves meeting with families of victims, frontline service workers, national Aboriginal, provincial, and territorial representatives. On Tuesday, the federal government launched an online survey. Both the preliminary meetings and the online survey will be used to inform the design of the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, including who should conduct the inquiry, its timeframe, who should be heard as part of the inquiry process, and what issues should be considered. The pre-inquiry phase is expected to take two months.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada is encouraging families to attend the meetings. NWAC is also “respectfully urg(ing)” the government “to consult our organization, our sister organizations, and those with Indigenous lived experience every step of the way.”

“The connection with families is critical … and we have to embrace that grief,” said Venne. She adds that its an important lesson that needs to be learned from the Oppal inquiry held in BC, which narrowly focused on the Pickton investigation and was highly criticized by Aboriginal groups. “If they don’t learn from that I will be so disappointed.”

April Eve Wiberg, with Stolen Sisters, says the inquiry is moving forward in “a good way. It’s definitely a feeling of bittersweetness, a sense of relief, but at the same time, is it’s very sad that these tragedies have occurred and have occurred for so long.”

Wiberg hopes the inquiry brings closure for families looking for answers and justice for those who have passed on.

“Thank goodness we have a provincial government and a federal government that stands behind all of us that have been working towards addressing this issue,” she said.