THUNDER BAY – As many as 50 families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls will get to share the story of their loved ones after waiting years, in some cases even decades.
The national inquiry probing will hold community hearings in Thunder Bay this week, with public sessions held on Monday and Tuesday before closing with a day of private hearings on Wednesday. An opening ceremony was held on Sunday afternoon at the NorWester Hotel, gathering family members with Indigenous leaders and two of the commissioners who will hear testimony over the three days.
Sharon Johnson, whose younger sister Sandra was found dead on the frozen Neebing-McIntyre Floodway in Thunder Bay in 1992, said she began speaking up about what happened to her sister in 2005.
After more than a decade of pushing for the review into violence against Indigenous women, Johnson said it was an emotional day.
“I never thought it would get to this,” Johnson said of the inquiry.
“I never knew there were so many missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. I never knew what that was until it happened to my family. Somehow, I found the strength to say her name and share her story.”
The inquiry was announced in late 2015 by then-newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, after years of calls to probe the more than 1,200 documented cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women between 1980 and 2012.
Elder Ma-Nee Chacaby said the grief for many families still remains, especially as they still wonder what happened and why.
“We need to know some answers. Our people – our women – the ones they lost, we need them to know the answer because there’s no closure without the answer. Even just to acknowledge these people, at least to do something, there is a beginning for them to know that something is being done about it,” Chacaby said.
“It has to happen now for these women to rest peacefully, to walk peacefully.”
The Thunder Bay hearings had been originally scheduled for September until being pushed back to this week. The inquiry spent last week in Maliotenam, Que. and was previously in Saskatoon, Edmonton and Winnipeg.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation deputy grand chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum said she was told about 50 families will be participating in the hearings.
“It provides an opportunity for some of the very grave injustices that happened, if it was involving some type of misconduct or improper investigation, they have an opportunity to voice that,” Achneepineskum said. “Unfortunately, in many of the cases there was some type of grave injustice.”
Brian Eyolfson, one of the inquiry’s four commissioners, said the process is intended to honour the spirits of those lost while helping their families.
“It’s their memories that guide our work that we do every day,” Eyolfson said.
“We’re here to share their truths. We’re here to support. It’s difficult at times but it’s important.”
