Despite many calls for a restart, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is pushing on, with hearings in Smithers last week beginning a series of meetings this fall.
As both the commissioners and the government have refused to start over, the inquiry will have to demonstrate that families can trust the process — something that looks doubtful. Some people have taken the leap of faith, walking 350 kilometres from Prince Rupert to Smithers and then testifying on the opening days of the hearings.
About 40 people signed up to speak, publicly or privately, at the hearing in Smithers, which ran through Thursday. With visits planned for nine communities this fall, the commissioners hold the hopes of hundreds of families in their hands.
A series of delays and resignations, including that of commissioner Marilyn Poitras this summer, have shaken the faith of those who have advocated for decades for answers.
Indigenous women have a murder rate six times higher than other Canadian women. Treating those deaths as just another crime has done nothing to reduce the toll. Family members who have been waiting to testify want to know that their loved ones are taken seriously and to know if there is a way to save other daughters, sisters and mothers.
It seems an almost impossible task, but it will go nowhere without the trust of families and communities. Trust was damaged by the delays and poor communications. The hearing in Smithers is only the second; the first was held in Whitehorse, but then others were put over until this fall.
Some families and groups such as the Ontario Native Women’s Association have pulled their support for the inquiry. They say that without new leadership and terms of reference, the inquiry is doomed to fail the people who desperately need it to succeed.
Many families want the cases of their loved ones to be reopened, seeking more than general answers on how to repair a system that is stacked against Indigenous people. The inquiry is not set up to give them what they seek.
Poitras and other critics have said the inquiry is crippled by its “status quo colonial model.” It’s not clear what a different model would look like or whether such a fundamental correction could be executed in midstream.
Starting over is possible. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission at one point teetered on the precipice, losing all its original commissioners. But Judge Murray Sinclair led it out of disarray and wrote a report that has been widely praised.
Like many others, we have called on the missing-women commission and the government for a reset, and that is still our position. But if that doesn’t happen, the inquiry has the daunting task of changing direction in the midst of its deliberations.
As the hearings resume, the next few weeks will demonstrate whether families can put their trust in the inquiry. To fail them now would be to pile tragedy on top of tragedy.
