A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
AFN Grand Chief Bellegarde "This was an action-oriented process," said Bellegarde. "It doesn't take place of a National Inquiry".
Standing in the middle is John Fox whose daughter, Cheyenne, went missing in Toronto several years ago. He stated, "I am here for her I will fight until I find her. Until we have an answer,".
Chief Nelson gave his pass to sit at the National Roundtable to a woman, so she would have the opportunity to share her personal struggle. Nelson stated, "We do not have to be poor. This issue here is the Premiers chose to do nothing". Standing beside Nelson is Jocelyn Iahtail who has seen in her lifetime, five generations of aboriginal women who have been missing or murdered.
While a large group met at Carleton University as part of the National Roundtable for Missing and Murdered Women, a small group of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal supporters waited for members of the Roundtable to exit for a press conference.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne – "This has been very powerful. I am honored to be in presence of these families. We made a call to action on 10 fronts. And I can not answer why the Federal government was not at this press conference"
As family members and supporters of missing murdered Aboriginal women gathered at nearby Carleton University, aboriginal leaders from across Canada met with elected officials from both the provincial and federal governments at the Marriott Hotel to decide if a National Inquiry would take place. Over 1200 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada in the past 30 years. The National Roundtable, for the first time gave a voice to the family members who suffered the unbearable tragedy of losing a daughter or sister and in some cases a mother to young children.
The tragedy of losing a loved one by violence affects every member of an Aboriginal community and AFN National Chief voiced his frustration. Bellegarde acknowledged the Status of Women Minister, Kellie Leitch and Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Bernard Valcourt's presence at the roundtable talks, Bellegarde said all government departments have to be involved in discussions about missing and murdered aboriginal women.
"You need Justice there, you need Health there, you need HRSDC there for training and employment,"
Bellegarde continued, "We need an national action plan. We acknowledge that. It's a start. This vehicle is a start. It may cost 50 million for an inquiry, are you spending 50 million on better housing, more day cares, detox center, on transportation, Are you spending that amount of money? No, not yet. ¾ of the Canadian people want an inquiry. That's a big percentage. That is a lot of people. It's a Canadian issue, a societal issue. We all talk about economic marginalization. Social marginalization. Generational affects of residential school system, colonization. Indian Act. We know why we are where we are. Everything has been cut, cut, cut. You want to bring about reconciliation. Key strategic investment has to be made now in education. In housing, potable water, in transportation. It's an educational awareness process. We need to get people to the table. Have the dialogue."
The Ontario Premier, Kathleen Wynne added, "The Aboriginal organizations across the country are working very hard on this issue. We have joined together. We are on the same page. We are working now to find a partner in the federal government. We will do better; we will do better across the country because information will be shared. We will know what the other hand will be doing. We will be more agile and respond much better when we have a federal partner. That's in part is what the call for a national inquiry is about. It is a national issue. It is not even an Aboriginal issue or an issue for one territory or one organization or one province. It's a national issue. It's not even just an aboriginal issue. This is an issue for every single one of us. If one child is vulnerable or unsafe, we all are."
Bellegarde and Wynne both entered the Roundtable meeting with the same expectations and expecting more action oriented results. Both leaders expressed their frustration with the Federal government, first within the meeting and after by not presenting a united front press conference. The federal leaders held their own press release in a different location.
The Missing and Murdered Women Roundtable will meet again in 2016. The Roundtable left with a Framework document that was agreed upon. There was a number of other action items that was introduced with two action items accepted by all jurisdictions; a national prevention campaign and an awareness programs for all provinces and territories. They also agreed upon a "best practices and national task force on policing and justice and community safety".
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