GATINEAU, Que.—Family members wiped away tears Wednesday, Aug. 3, as the federal government outlined the terms of an inquiry into the phenomenon of missing and murdered aboriginal women—along with a price tag that is nearly $14 million higher than expected.
Three cabinet ministers were on hand inside the Museum of History’s great hall—a space bedecked with long houses, totem poles and artwork dedicated to Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples—to hand the reins of the nascent inquiry to independent commissioners.
Those commissioners will provide concrete recommendations to federal, provincial, and territorial governments about how to deal with the disproportionate rates of violence and crime against Canada’s indigenous women and girls.
Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould heralded Wednesday’s events as evidence that the Liberal government is committed to honouring the lives of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
Wilson-Raybould, a former B.C. regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, appeared to be nearly overcome with emotion at one point as she looked out across a room filled with the family members of missing and murdered women.
