MMIWG national inquiry names Manitoba woman as executive director

The troubled inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls has named a new executive director.

Chief commissioner Marion Buller announced late Friday that former Assembly of First Nations adviser Debbie Reid has taken the job.

Reid is from the Skownan First Nation in Manitoba, anOjibway community290 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

She was a special adviser to Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine when he held the job and has also worked for the federal government.

Buller says Reid has focused her entire career on working on behalf of Indigenous people.

The inquiry has run into troubled waters in recent months with criticism that victims' families weren't being adequately consulted about the shape of the inquiry.

One of the inquiry's commissioners and the previous executive director resigned in the wake of the criticism.

There were subsequent calls for a more profound shakeup with one prominent Manitoba First Nations chief even calling for Buller to leave.

The federal government gave the inquiry a budget of about $53.8 million and set a deadline for its work to be done by the end of next year.

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