MMIW roundtable hears clear message from families seeking immediate change

As the national roundtable into missing and murdered indigenous women concluded inWinnipeg on Friday, the messagefromfamilies has been "loud and clear," Indigenous Affairs Minister CarolynBennett says.

Changes are needed to how aboriginal people access mental health and addictions services, she said.

Significant improvement is also needed in education both for indigenous people and in schools where the history and culture of First Nations aretaught and inpolicing, the criminal justice systemand child welfare, Bennettsaid.

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Thefact that so many indigenous children are in government care today more than at the height of the residential schools era was one of the issues that came up many times, she added.

"All of these things are somethingwe heard very, very clearly yesterday," Bennettsaid, explaining that Thursday's roundtable was about government leadersand national aboriginal organizationslistening to the concerns of families.

Friday's agenda focusedontalkingand finding solutions.Federal, provincial, territorial and indigenous leadershave agreed to co-operate and support a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

Bennett saidthe commitment means the inquiry will be able to delve into provincial areas such as child welfare and policing.

"Without the formal co-operation of the provinces and territories, we could only launch a federal public inquiry that would look into federal issues in federal jurisdiction," she said earlier in the day.

"We want to make sure we have their full support in designing a national public inquiry, because we don't believe that a federal public inquiry can do the job."

The governments also committed in broad terms to improving social and economic conditions for indigenous people.

In terms of child welfare, Bennett praised the move by some provinces, including Manitoba, to adopt a customary-care approach, which allows foster children to be placed with relatives or families in the same community and cared for according to traditional customs, rather than besent away to non-aboriginal families.

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That same kind of commitment to change is needed from all provinces and territories to make substantive changes to the other issues, Bennett said, notingthose regional governments have jurisdiction on policingand treatment programs.

DawnLavell-Harvard, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, saidthe meeting was historic becauseall governments have committed to addressing key issues.

Details of the national inquiry, such as the scope, the cost and who will lead it have yet to be worked out.

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Bennett, whowas with acrowd thatmarched in Winnipeg last night as part ofa vigil for slain aboriginal womanMarilyn Rose Munroe, said changes to addressthe issue of murdered and missing indigenous womenmust be undertaken even before a national inquiry is complete.

"[There are] certain things the families expect us to get on with it now, because this is still happening. People don't want to wait until the end of the commission to get going on things," she said.

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Bennett is "very keen" to develop a plan to address housing, education and otherchanges necessary in child welfare and policing that don't have to wait until the end of an inquiry.