Inquiry ‘offloading’ responsibility: MP
In a tense exchange with the chief commissioner of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women Thursday, an Indigenous NDP MP accused the inquiry of “offloading” its responsibilities onto local governments and organizations.
The four commissioners appeared before the House of Commons Aboriginal affairs committee Thursday to report on the progress of the inquiry, which has been plagued by accusations of slow progress, poor communication and several high-profile resignations.
“I’ve been, over the summer, meeting families in my riding and some across the province,” said northern Saskatchewan MP Georgina Jolibois, the NDP’s deputy critic for Indigenous affairs. “I do have concerns about your report, because it’s contradicting what’s happening on the ground.”
Jolibois said she’s heard that the inquiry is leaving local communities and organizations to do a lot of the legwork to identify survivors and families and register people to speak at the hearings. “There seems to be a lot of offloading that is occurring right now.”
Chief commissioner Marion Buller explained that the inquiry works in partnership with local communities, but also sends its own staff into communities across the country.
But Jolibois was unsatisfied with Buller’s response, and repeatedly cut her off. “I’m looking for more answers than what you’re giving,” she said.
Jolibois later told the Post that one of the main concerns for people in her riding is the cost of attending hearings. Currently, the closest hearing is scheduled for Saskatoon in November, but Jolibois said that’s a 10-hour drive from some parts of her riding. She said families want to be reimbursed for their travel costs, but she’s so far been told that won’t happen.
“I didn’t gain the understanding that (the commissioners) thoroughly know the layout of northern, remote and rural reserves across Canada,” she said. “I had more questions than answers today.”
However, commissioner Michèle Audette, who hails from an Innu community in Quebec, countered that the commissioners do understand the realities of life in remote regions. “And if your community wants the national inquiry to visit, I guarantee we’ll visit,” she told the committee.
The commissioners also talked about the logistical challenges they’ve faced, including delays in getting staff hired and offices and equipment set up and running.
Asked whether they now have working computers, Audette said “Sometimes yes, sometimes no.”
She explained that they still have problems with internet connections, and that they don’t yet have a shared network for all the computers. “It’s a year now, so I’m anxious to have it,” she said.
Buller said the inquiry has faced delays because it’s overseen by the Privy Council Office, meaning it can take months to buy a computer or hire someone new.
“We are bound by the same rules that apply to government departments across the country,” she said. But because of the inquiry’s time constraints, “Every day counts. Every delay is bigger for us than it is for a government department.”
Buller conceded that progress has been slow and communication has been poor. But she said the inquiry will still submit an interim report by November, which will largely be based on research and the testimony from hearings in Whitehorse held this spring. However, it will come too soon to include forensic analysis of police investigations, she said.
The inquiry’s final report is due in November 2018, though the commissioners are expected to request an extension. Buller said the inquiry had spent eight per cent of its $53-million budget by the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year, and will have spent 75 per cent of its budget by the end of this fiscal year. She couldn’t say whether the commissioners will ask for more money along with an extension.
Audette said the commission has now signed up 735 individuals to testify at hearings across the country.