CBC Aboriginal's top newsmakers of 2015

It's been a remarkable year for indigenous peoplein Canada, a year that included truth and reconciliation,how a young First Nation girl chose to battle cancer and the announcement of a long-awaited inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

Here are the top fivestories of 2015, as chosen by editors at CBC Aboriginal.

Truth andReconciliation Commission finalreport

An exhaustive process of exposing the history and legacy of Canada's residential school system endedin 2015.

After travelling for six years, collecting 6,740 statements from witnesses and recording 1,355 hours of testimony, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission wrapped up with a four-day event in Ottawaon June 2.

• Truth and Reconciliation chair says final report marks start of 'new era'
• TRC final report: 5 stories of residential school escapees who died
• Back Story:Connie Walker and the first-hand legacy of residential schools

On Dec.14, the complete final report was released in an emotional ceremony that had commission chair Justice MurraySinclairchoked with emotion and newlyelected Prime Minister Justin Trudeauwiping away tears.

Sinclairtold a roomfilled with many residential school survivors and their families that the release of the final reportmarks the beginning of a new chapterin relations between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians.

"Istand before you here, hopeful that we are at a threshold of a new era in this country."

Missing and murdered indigenous women

Several tragedies involving indigenous women and girls made headlines during 2015, including the murder trials for the killing ofLorettaSaundersandCindyGladueand the arrest of a man accused ofkilling 15-year-old TinaFontaine.

Then on Dec.8, after a decade of pleas from victims'families and advocates, Canada's new Liberal government announced that the first phase of an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls would begin.

• Missing and murdered indigenous women: 1st phase of public inquiry outlined
• CBC Special Report:Missing and murdered indigenous women
• 22 cases added toCBC'smissing and murdered indigenous women database

It was an announcement welcomed by many, including Interim Conservative LeaderRonaAmbrose, who said an inquiry "is an absolutely non-partisan issue."

Record number ofindigenous MPs elected

The longest federal election in recent historysawa record 54 indigenous candidates enter the race,and an unprecedentedpush to have First Nation, Inuit andMtispeople head to the polls.

When it was over, 10indigenous MPs were electedto the House of Commons the most ever.

Two of those MPs,JodyWilson-Raybouldand HunterTootoo, would take key cabinet positionsata swearing-in ceremonythat included eagle feathers, First Nation drumming, Inuit throat singing andMtisjigging.

Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry BellegardesaysPrime Minister Trudeau's appointment of two indigenous MPs to cabinet is part of a "new era of reconciliation."

It is time for a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations peoples.-Prime Minister JustinTrudeau

"It sends a powerful statement about inclusion and it sends a powerful statement about the reconciliation that is going to be required in rebuilding a new relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples."

"It is time for a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations peoples," Trudeau told the Assembly of First Nations, just days after forming government. "One that understands that the constitutionally guaranteed rights of First Nations in Canada are not an inconvenience but rather a sacred obligation."

Winnipeg crowned 'Canada's most racist city'

On Jan.22, Winnipeggers woke up to a Maclean's magazine cover story that claimed "Canada has a bigger race problem than America. And it's ugliest in Winnipeg."

Within hours, the city's first Mtis mayor, Brian Bowman, had assembled a cross-section of Winnipeg's indigenous community for a press conference to address the article head-on.

On Sept. 17, a two-day national anti-racism summit kicked off at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, hosted byBowman, to look at ways to combat racism.

• Unreserved:Race relations and the path forward

It was not without controversy, however, as many indigenous groups came forward saying they felt excluded by the very summit meant to address marginalization, and an alternative anti-racism gathering was held just outside the mayor's event.

MakaylaSault dies

MakaylaSault, the 11-year-old Ontario First Nation girl who refused chemotherapy to pursue traditional indigenous medicine and other alternative treatments, died on Jan. 18, 2015.

• MakaylaSault, girl who refusedchemoforleukemia, dies
• MakaylaSault's parents speak out about daughter's death

Makayla's case made national headlines and ignited a debate about the validity of indigenous medicine and therights of children to choose their own treatment. TheSaultsare from the New Credit First Nation near Caledonia, Ont.

Sault, and another First Nation girl of similar age,weretreated at Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The director of that spa,Brian Clement was laterordered tostoppractisingmedicinewithout a licence and fined for representing himself as a medical doctor. Those charges were later dropped because of insufficient evidence.