Families urge ‘hard reset’ of MMIW commission

The families of missing and murdered Indigenous women say a national inquiry has already failed and are calling for “a hard reset” on the process.

They made emotional pleas Wednesday as two of the inquiry commissioners appeared at the Assembly of First Nations annual meeting to explain the inquiry process, including how to register and give testimony.

Gerri Pangman, whose sister and aunt were killed in separate incidents decades apart, said the inquiry is a failure because it doesn’t hold police to account.

Another woman, Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, said the inquiry has failed because families don’t believe in the process and the process doesn’t feel safe.

The two-year, $53.8 million study is designed to examine the root causes of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

Commissioner Michele Audette told the meeting that there was a lack of communication at the beginning, in part because the commissioners were told not to speak, but she said keeping silent was a mistake.

The commission has said it is moving ahead with its work, including nine hearings this fall beginning in September in Thunder Bay, Ont.