PROBE DOESN’T GO FAR ENOUGH, SAY ACTIVISTS
FAMILY SUPPORT
OTTAWA • The announcement of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls “completely ignored” the issue of helping families navigate the policing and justice systems, say advocates, even as police representatives insist they will fully co-operate.
Canadian federal ministers unveiled their $53.86-million plan Wednesday for the inquiry, tasked with studying systemic causes of — and institutional responses to — disproportionate levels of violence against indigenous women and girls.
Inquiry commissioners include indigenous provincial judge Marion Buller, acting as chief; former Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) president Michèle Audette; and Qajaq Robinson, Marilyn Poitras and Brian Eyolfson, all from law backgrounds.
They can compel witness testimony, including from police. But they cannot order police investigations or reopen cases, even if they identify misconduct. They can only track the progress of their referrals to oversight bodies.
Many families of the missing and murdered allege police failings and even coverups, however.
“We do not feel at this time that the balance has been achieved” between supporting families and identifying systemic issues, NWAC said in an assessment of the inquiry’s terms of reference, adding that the plan “completely ignored” a recommendation to include mechanisms to help families deal with difficulties with the judicial system.
Francyne Joe, president of the B.C. NWAC, said the announcement Wednesday was exciting but anticlimactic. “There’s a lot of concern. One of the issues that wasn’t really identified in the terms of reference is the role that the policing organizations are going to play,” she said, echoing concerns raised Wednesday by Amnesty International.
“Cases that have been closed, we need to reopen those cases to review, to ensure that those police did the right investigation and came to the right conclusion,” Joe said.
Nikki Fraser, the regional youth representative for NWAC in western Canada, has seen two of her own family members go missing with no explanation. The inquiry was “a long time coming,” she said, and it was “a little disappointing” to not see more “concrete accountability” for police built into the investigation.
Still, Saskatoon police chief Clive Weighill, president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said police would “co-operate with all facets of the inquiry.”
“We know during the course of the inquiry some police investigations will come under criticism,” he said. “We know that some files in the past have not been handled adequately.”
Weighill said chiefs of police across Canada “would be more than happy” to reexamine existing files and have oversight on those files, based on families’ concerns. Addressing concerns that police could lawyer up for inquiry testimony, he said, “the last thing we want is to get caught up in a bunch of legal wrangling.”
An Ontario Provincial Police spokesman, Sgt. Peter Leon, said the force is “very much prepared to participate” in the inquiry, and if new information comes to light on cases, “we will certainly follow up.”
Mounties spokeswoman Const. Annie Delisle said the RCMP “fully supports any initiative that will benefit indigenous communities and address the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women.”
But Vanessa Watts, director of the indigenous studies
WE KNOW THAT SOME FILES IN THE PAST HAVE NOT BEEN HANDLED ADEQUATELY.
program at McMaster University, was skeptical.
“If there is an admission of misconduct or discrimination, which families know to be true — they know that to be true, that’s their experience, by and large — what will the police be compelled to do? Are they going to make an apology to families? Are they going to commit to changing how they investigate?” she posited. “I don’t know about that.”
For his part, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said he sees the inquiry as a step forward, and even if commissioners lack legal muscle they can bring any wrongdoing to light. “I encourage the commissioners to not leave any stone unturned.”
The inquiry officially launches Sept. 1, with what Indigenous Minister Carolyn Bennett said is unprecedented co-operation from all provinces and territories.
Its mandate lasts until Dec. 31, 2018, though an interim report is to be issued by Nov. 1, 2017, and final recommendations are to be delivered by Nov. 1, 2018.
Justice Canada is also putting an additional $16.17 million toward “family information liaison units” in provinces and territories, tasked with offering support and seeking information on behalf of families.