FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron on Wednesday. Photo by Dean Bear.
The chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said he is hoping the voices of Saskatchewan families will be heard at hearings for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
On Wednesday, Chief Bobby Cameron addressed the Prince Albert Grand Council’s Family Support Day in Prince Albert, which is for family members of those who have gone missing or been killed.
“Their voices need to be heard, the direction has to come from them. We (the FSIN) are just messengers,” he said.
The national inquiry is slated to begin hearings in September.
“Our communities shouldn’t lose any more of our young people by something that can be preventable. So let’s hear the voices of the families on how that can happen,” he said.
“You never get over the loss of a loved one in your family, let alone the circumstances when someone is missing and they don’t come home. Where are they? That is constantly on family’s minds,” he added.
The National Inquiry announced in late March that it will convene regional advisory groups across the country over the next two months in order to receive input from survivors and families leading up to family hearings that will begin at the end of May.
The meetings, which are mandated in the National Inquiry’s Terms of Reference, will be held in seven cities across the country including Saskatoon from May 16-18.
Those meetings will enable the National Inquiry to seek advice on local matters, cultural practices and protocols, gain understanding into region-specific historical issues affecting health, and to begin preparing families and survivors for their participation in the family hearings.
The National Inquiry will spend three days in each location meeting with families and survivors, grassroots and frontline organizations, as well as regional political bodies in preparation for hearings which is a first for a public inquiry in Canada.