Federal delay of MMIWG action plan sparks dismay
Chief commissioner of inquiry doesn’t believe pandemic is real reason
OTTAWA—Disheartened, disappointed, disbelieving. But still determined.
Indigenous women and leaders fighting to end violence against Indigenous women say that’s how they feel about Wednesday’s anniversary of the final report of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Families of victims who shared painful testimonies about the deaths and disappearances of their loved ones hoped their truths would spark immediate action and meaningful change.
But Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett’s announcement last week that Ottawa is delaying its national action plan because of the COVID-19 pandemic has instead sparked widespread dismay.
“These families opened their hearts and soul about their missing daughter, their mother, their sister, their aunt, their wives. And how heartbreaking is that when you feel there is some hope, that the government is truly listening to you, when nothing has been done in a year,” said Lorraine Whitman, president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada.
“For that excuse to be used, that’s an embarrassment to the government.”
The inquiry delivered its final report June 3, 2019, with a stunning conclusion that decades of systemic racism and humanrights violations had contributed to the deaths and disappearances of hundreds of Indigenous women and girls in Canada and that it constituted a genocide.
Many were hopeful the national action plan promised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when the report was released would be delivered in time for the June 3 anniversary this year — something Bennett promised in December.
Marion Buller, chief commissioner of the inquiry, said she doesn’t buy the pandemic as an explanation for the delay.
“The government has had 10 months prior to the real hit of COVID in order to lay the groundwork,” she said.
“To say COVID is slowing things down, or we can’t do our work because of COVID because we can’t meet, et cetera, really isn’t a viable excuse because of all the time that passed prior to the real big wave of COVID
hitting Canada.”
The inquiry was launched in August 2016 and heard from more than 2,300 people over two years.
The recommendations for action spanned themes of health, justice, security and culture, including a number of calls for more effective responses to human-trafficking and sexual exploitation and violence, including in the sex industry.
A national action plan was at the top of the list.
Buller says she is concerned not only by the delay in the plan, but also by the lack of transparency in what work has been done and when the final plan will come.
Bennett would not commit to a timeline, citing COVID-19 uncertainties.
Michele Audette, who also served as an inquiry commissioner, said she wasn’t surprised to see Ottawa delay its response.
She believes even before the pandemic, the fall federal election and the countrywide protests over running a pipeline through traditional Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia earlier this year distracted the government.
“Of course, I am also disappointed, I had so much hope before the inquiry and more during the inquiry and of course after also,” Audette said.
Rebecca Kudloo, president of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, said she had hoped to see Ottawa’s plans for moving forward and finding healing in time for the anniversary.
“I’m disappointed ... especially for the victims’ families who participated,” she said. “It was very painful and for it to be delayed again is disappointing to them.”
She pressed Bennett last week for a timeline, and is pushing for a new December deadline.
Buller and others who work closely with the families of victims say they are in the dark not only about timing, but also about who has been included in Ottawa’s work on this file.
On Monday, Trudeau said the COVID-19 pandemic has interfered with the government’s plans.
“Right now, in this challenge around COVID, many of our partner organizations are very much focused on supporting their communities,” he said.
“We continue to work on the strategy to fight gender-based violence and respond to the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls inquiry, but the work is affected because of COVID-19. But it remains a priority not just for us, but for all Canadians that we will continue to work on.”