Cabinet talked with families in setting inquiry guidelines

OTTAWA— As the Liberal government begins consultations on the scope of the upcoming national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, some families have already made their wishes known.

“It has always been families who are out on the frontlines and who have been doing the work. They are the ones who have had to do pretty well everything on their own, so it’s time that we support them and have that support for them to make sure their own voices are heard,” said Beverley Jacobs, a lawyer and advocate for families.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during the election campaign to devote $40 million over two years to a national inquiry into the more than 1,200 First Nations, Métis and Inuit women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing in Canada.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Status of Women Minister Patricia Hajdu — the three cabinet ministers charged with setting up the inquiry — will reveal the details of the preinquiry consultation process Tuesday afternoon. “Women and families and communities have been waiting for a long, long time to have this inquiry, and so it’s really exciting times for us to get started, and I think for us it’ll be really making sure that we move forward carefully with thoughtfulness and inclusion, and I think getting it right the first time,” Hajdu told reporters after question period Monday.

That consultation process is expected to focus heavily on the families of victims, and some of those families have created a “working document” outlining their shared vision for the process and scope of a national inquiry.

“On this, the families have to lead. Anything less is unacceptable,” says the document, which grew out of ideas shared at a gathering of Manitoba families Oct. 29 and follow-up discussions.

The document, which was not intended to be exhaustive or representative of all families affected by this issue, calls for an indigenous-led, travelling, dual-track inquiry that examines the policies and systemic issues — including colonialism and racism — as well as review individual cases and how they were investigated and prosecuted.

The document also states family members, indigenous women or elders should be among the commis- sioners, and that no politicians — including indigenous ones — should be appointed to fill these roles.

The families also stress that the government must not wait for the inquiry to run its course before taking action, asking that they begin implementing the more than 700 recommendations that have come from past reports on this issue.

The families also do not want to exclude “two-spirit” and transgender people from the inquiry and that “consideration should also be given to men.”

The document also shares several ideas on how the families can best be included and supported in the process, including access to legal representation — and help to pay for it — so that government and police agencies do not have more lawyers than the families do, which is one of the main criticisms of the inquiry headed by Wally Oppal in B.C.

Jacobs, who helped compile the document, said she will present it when she discusses the work of the Legal Strategy Coalition on Violence against Indigenous Women Wednesday at an Assembly of First Nations gathering in Gatineau, Que.

Trudeau is delivering a speech to the AFN special chiefs assembly Tuesday morning that his director of communications, Kate Purchase, said in an email will focus on “the need for a new nation-to-nation relationship” as well as reinforce campaign promises on First Nations education and the inquiry.

Bennett, who was not available Monday, has said a proper consultation process before the inquiry starts will be central to the success of a national inquiry of this kind and that families of victims must be involved in a meaningful way.