Image Credit: CFJC Today / Chad Klassen

By Jill Sperling

MMIWG

Chief Commissioner for National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls speaks at TRU

Jun 24, 2019 | 4:40 PM

KAMLOOPS — The chief commissioner of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was in Kamloops today.

Marion Buller presented the final report of the inquiry to a crowd of more than 100 at Thompson Rivers University.

The report, titled Reclaiming Power and Place, paints a picture of societal, economic, and political factors that lead to violence against Indigenous women and girls and what needs to be done to prevent further harm.

Buller teared up as she spoke of the women and girls who have been victims of violence. Having listened to the stories of their families, she is now sharing some of her findings from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

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“From my perspective, some of the high points have been finding the impact of policies on service delivery to Indigenous women and girls and how so often there are huge cracks through which they fell,” Buller said, “and it’s really hard to track people as a result.”

Buller says there have been gaps in education, health care, child welfare and policing — all of which have contributed to Indigenous women feeling unsafe.

The report outlines a number of calls for justice aimed at governments, organizations and all Canadians.

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Chad Klassen

“The first one, of course, is to read the report,” Buller said, “or at least the executive summary, and then to decolonize yourself, to understand what the true history of Canada is, because so much of this real history of Canada, what’s happened to Indigenous women and girls has gone untold and unknown until our report.”

Throughout the inquiry, nearly 1,500 family members and survivors provided testimony about their experiences.

For Indigenous women, nearly everyone has been impacted in some way by violence.

“My cousin, my female cousin, was beaten to death in the downtown eastside,” said Faculty of Education Associate Professor Shelly Johnson, “and when this report speaks, it speaks to all of that, all of that pain, all of that anguish in my family. Even though I’m this university educator, it still affects us.”

Buller says she’s proud of the work that was done on the national inquiry.

“I think it’s a brilliant piece of work. Would we have liked more time? Of course. But, I think what we have produced is brilliant work.”