Michle Audette to help lead MMIW inquiry

Michle Audette spent years calling for action to address the tragedy of Canada's murdered and missing Aboriginal women.

Now, she's one of five people heading a national inquiry into the matter.

The longtime Quebec activistandformer president of the Native Women's Association of Canada was one of five commissioners namedat a news conference attended by three federal cabinet ministersWednesdayin Gatineau, Que.

Marion Buller, British Columbia'sfirst female First Nations judge, is leading the inquiry.

• Marion Buller, B.C. First Nations judge, to lead MMIW inquiry
• INTERACTIVE|Missing and Murdered: The Unsolved Cases of Indigeous Women and Girls

Audette, whose mother is Innu and father is French Canadian, grew up in the Innu community ofUashat-Maliotenam,nearSept-leson Quebec's north shore, where she now lives with her five children.

Shewas one of the youngest womenever to be elected as head of the Quebec Native Women's Association.

She served as deputy minister of Quebec's Ministry for the Status of Women before taking the top job at the Native Women's Association of Canada, where she repeatedlypressed the former Conservativegovernment to call a national inquiry into the plight of Aboriginal women.

"It's a humanrights issue. We do it for salmon. We do it for corruption ... How come we don't have the same thing for missing and murdered Aboriginal women?" Audette said in 2014.

Audette also ran unsuccessfully for the federalLiberals in the riding of Terrebonne in the2015 election.

It's a humanrights issue. We do it for salmon. We do it for corruption ... How come we don't have the same thing for missing and murdered Aboriginal women?- Michle Audette, then head of the Native Women's Association of Canada, in 2014

In an interview with CBC's French-language service,Radio-Canada, in July, Audette spoke candidly about her past struggles with depression.

Five people killed themselves in her home community ofUashat-Maliotenamin 2015, which triggereda coroner's inquest aimed at preventing future suicides.

"I used to believe the stereotype that if we are strong we don't need help, but now I realize that no matter what we do in life, we are perfectly imperfect," she said last month.

Audette declined requests for an interviewon Wednesday.

Families hopeful

Laurie Odjick, an Algonquin womanwhose daughter Maisywas last seen in Maniwaki, Que.in 2008, when she was16, said the inquiry is something she'd long awaited.

Odjick, who was at the announcement, said the selection of Audette as commissioner makes her more confident the inquiry will lead to positive change.

"MichleAudettehas been with our families for a very long time," she said.

"I am so very happy that she isone of the commissioners because she's also a family member, and I know she'll do right by us."

'Historic' day

The inquiry will begin Sept. 1 and run until Dec. 31, 2018, at an estimated cost of $53.8 million.

It will examinethe factors driving a systemic, high rate of violence against Indigenous women and girls, and the role of various institutions, including police forces, governments and coroners' offices.

It will also review various federal and provincial lawsbut will not find criminal liability.

Indigenous and NorthernAffairs Minister Carolyn Bennett called the announcement of the inquiry's detailsa "historic" day, and she praised the victims' family members for sharing their "heart-wrenching" storiesto help set the parameters of the inquiry.

In 2014, theRCMP foundnearly 1,200 documented cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls between 1980 and 2012a number theMounties said exceeded previous estimates.

• 20 years on, Aboriginal leaders reflect on what's changed and what hasn't
• Feds broaden scope of MMIW inquiry to include allegations of abuse in Val-d'Or