'They're cutting our time short': Catcheways' MMIWG testimony delayed, cut back
Bernice Catcheway says she was told her testimony could affect the police investigation
The parents of JenniferCatchewayinsist they will not be silenced.
Bernice andWilfredCatcheway'stestimony in Winnipeg was postponed Monday night, after they receiveda phone call from a lawyer for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
"The reason they didn't want us to testify is that they didn't want us to jeopardize the case," said Bernice.
The family was supposed to testify Tuesday, a time slot arranged by inquiry staff. They said they have been waiting nine years for the chance to put Jennifer's story on the public record. Bernice said the couple have been vocal since their daughter disappeared, and she can't understand why they can't speak now.
"They said you could speak, but privately; I said no," she said.
"The family was explained that there are different options and opportunities on how to share their stories as part of the truth gathering process, but that in some circumstances they're not able to share in the public," she wrote. "The legal team needs to take the opportunity to assess each case."
TheCatchewayssaid they're now scheduled to participate on Friday, but it will be ina sharing circle with eight to 10 families not one-on-one with a commissioner.
Bernice said they will now have 20 minutes to share, not the two hours they would have originally had on Tuesday.
"They're cutting our time short, you can't limit what we've been waiting for for nine years," she said. "It's very poorly, poorly run."
Testimonycritical of format, salaries
AlayaMcIvordid not hold back in her testimony at the national inquiry.
McIvorspoke for her cousin,RobertaMcIvor, who was decapitated on the Sandy Bay First Nation in 2011.
"I don't believe in this [inquiry]. I am sitting here because of my auntie," saidMcIvor. "When my auntie died, she believed in a national inquiry."
McIvor'saunt, CindyRubio,Roberta'smother, died from cancer in 2016.
The inquiry heardRobertahired a designated driver the night she was killed. Two teen girls pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the 32-year-old was pushed from theback seat withher neck tangled in the seatbelt anddragged until she died.
McIvorsaid she once believed in a national inquiry and walked across Canada in 2013 calling for one. What she and other families envisioned isn't what she sees now, she said.
"You guys really failed us. You really failed drastically," she told commissioner MichelleAudettein the public hearing.
"Family needs a strong voice,"Audettesaid aboutMcIvor'scriticism. "That's what she is. That is her right and so I have to respect her position."
McIvor, who is also a human trafficking survivor,presentedAudettewith 36 recommendations.
She was also critical of the inquiry's spending and questionedwhy all of the commissioners weren't present in Winnipeg.
"Where are those other three commissioners thathead commissioner who is making $270,000 off the back of our loved ones," she said.
Chief commissioner MarionBuller'ssalary range is $230,800 to $271,500, according toan order-in-council.
AlayaMcIvortoMMIWGinquiry commissioner
Bullerwill be in Winnipeg on Wednesday. She was previously scheduled to speak at a conference in Alberta.
Audettesaidthat from here on, hearings will only have one or two commissioners present.
"If we were the four of us all together, it would be the ideal, but because of the time we have we don't have much time. We have a huge country to travel across, so we have to share," she said.
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