Liberals 'very close' to releasing details of missing, murdered Indigenous women inquiry

Canadians will find out who will oversee a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and how it will be structured before Parliament breaks for summer, a Liberal cabinet minister says.

The government organized 18 pre-inquirymeetings in communities across the country with family members of missing and murdered women and other stakeholders. The final meeting in that series was held in February.

"We're very close to having an announcement," Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdutold CBC News on Sunday.

"I think Canadians can be confident that, before the House rises, we'll have something to tell them about how this is going to look."

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June 23 is the last scheduled day on the House of Commons calendar before the summer break.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said in January that she hoped to announce the commissioners for the inquiry on National Aboriginal Day, which is June 21.

Bennett, Hajdu and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould are the three cabinet ministers involved in the design of the inquiry.

"What we've done is really elevated the conversation to every day Canadians who maybe didn't have it on their radar or maybe didn't connect the dots atjust how frequently this happens to people," Hajdu said of the pre-inquiry meetings.

Government statistics showthat 16 per cent of all women murdered in Canada between 1980 and 2012 were Indigenous. Indigenouswomen make up 4 per cent of Canada's female population.

The federal budget contains $40 million over two years for the national inquiry.