THUNDER BAY -- Planners for the long-sought inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls are making their first stop outside of Ottawa in Thunder Bay on Wednesday.
The inquiry design meetings will lay the groundwork for the national inquiry into over 1,200 missing and murdered females of indigenous descent across Canada.
Minister of Status of Women and Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu is among three federal ministers that will be overseeing the process, along with Minister of Indigenous Affairs Carolyn Bennett and Minister of Justice Judy Wilson-Raybould.
No timeline has been set for the inquiry itself but Hajdu said the design meetings culminate in an inquiry blueprint the ministers will deliver to cabinet in Februrary. The government will then conduct a second round of consultations to ensure consensus on the inquiry’s parameters before it proceeds.
“We really want to make sure we get it right the first time so the intent is, we’re traveling across the country to hear from families directly about how they want to see the inquiry unfold,” she said of the inquiry design meetings, which will also be held in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.
“There’s also opportunities to provide input online for people who can’t make it to a meeting or other interested parties that maybe aren’t families so we’ll be folding all that information into the design of the inquiry.”
Families of missing and murdered women and institutional representatives began orientation on Tuesday at the Victoria Inn.
Bonnie Shapwaykeesic was among them. Three of her aunts were murdered, one of whom died in Thunder Bay as a result of domestic abuse.
Shapwaykeesic’s said she has never been involved in any kind of meeting with government but felt she owed the duty to her family to express their experience in her own words.
“I guess the government will be able to hear the stories the people have been going through – so they can be heard. Not everybody has heard the full stories.”
