The Treaty Four Governance Centre in Fort Qu’Appelle. Photo by Manfred Joehnck
The inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women could be like ripping open old wounds for many of the participants.
On Wednesday, a small gathering of both aboriginal men and women met at the Treaty Four Governance Centre in Fort Qu’Appelle to learn more about the inquiry and what to expect during the months of public hearings.
The forum was put on by Regina Treaty Status Indian Services. It featured an overview and an update on the inquiry.
Also, a psychologist gave a presentation on the process of dealing with loss, trauma and the unknown.
Erica Beaudin, the Indian Services manager says participants have been telling her the solutions must come from the people, not the politicians.
“Basically when we went through the pre-inquiry process the one thing the families kept on saying is they want the solutions to be community based,” she said. “They did not want them to be systems based as in main-stream systems. They wanted the solutions to come from them and to be carried out by our community people.
Francis Blenkin is from the Carry the Kettle First Nation. She is a victim, in 1994 a relative very near and dear to her vanished without a trace. Blenkin says she still thinks about her everyday.
“It terrifies me as I think about what happened to her because there is absolutely no trace of her,” she said.
“Think of what her family has gone through and about we feel when we think about her.”
A number of pre-inquiry hearings have already been held across the country during Phase One of the inquiry. A chair for the inquiry, and a timetable for Phase Two, are expected to be unveiled next month.
$40 million has been earmarked for the inquiry, which is expected to last two years.