Native Women's Association of Canada Prez Calls for MMIW Commission to get More Community Focused

Monday, 17 July 2017 19:49

CAP National Chief Robert Bertrand (far left) NWAC President Francyne Joe (far right) Photo: Dan Jones

Francyne Joe says Commission needs to concentrate on families, be in the communities ad appoint a grassroots Indigenous Commissioner.

EDMONTON-Two of the five National Indigenous Organization leaders emerged from Monday’s talks with Canada’s Premiers in Edmonton feeling energized about the discussions and contacts made. Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) President Francyne Joe and Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) National Chief Robert Bertrand did not boycott today’s discussions and from what they and the Premiers say was constructive dialogue on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Inquiry, First Nations housing and on-reserve child welfare.

But the headline from Monday’s talks was MMIW and moving forward, following the first national hearing in Whitehorse in May. Joe says she pressed upon the Premiers to support the families. “We are asking the Premiers to support the family first model.” She says the provinces and territories must ensure the families are heard, whether that is at the national hearings or at the communities.

The MMIW Commission is seeing controversy and lack of public support in some parts of the country, due to one commissioner and several high-level staff resigning. Joe says NWAC is concerned about the current state of the commission internally. “There’s definitely some concerns with the turnover happening at the commission, and I think we need to return to where the focus is, and that’s families first and honouring the missing and murdered women and that have gone missing.”

While some Indigenous leaders and families in Manitoba are calling for the entire commission to resign, Yukon Premier Sandy Silver (Klondike) says pump the breaks, warning that any delay in the moving the inquiry forward could be detrimental to the inquiry’s momentum. “I think a reset at this point would set us back years. We saw a showcase in Whitehorse, where the women’s organizations of Yukon, stood up and said we’ve been at this for decades and it’s time to get this thing moving forward. Anything that’s going to slow down that progress to me is not something I can support.”

Joe says the commissioners need to visit the communities, rework their schedule and ensure an interim progress report is written by the fall, as a cross-reference to the final report’s admissions and omissions. When a new commissioner is appointed to replace Marilyn Poitras, Joe says it needs to be a grass roots person. “I would definitely like to see a grassroots, Indigenous person who understands the Metis perspective. I think it’s very important to demonstrate this commission is listening to all Indigenous groups.”

(Dan Jones July 17, 2017)