Manitoba families meet with missing, murdered Indigenous women inquiry staff

Families of Indigenous women who are missing or have beenmurdered sat in a circle Thursday morning at Winnipeg's Victoria Inn to find out how they can participate in the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Staff from thenational inquiry, which will begin hearing testimony from family members in May, wereinvited to speak by the Assembly of First Nations. The AFN has been travelling around Manitoba doing inquiry outreach and has visited eight Manitobacommunities so far, with Winnipeg being its ninth and final stop of this leg of the outreach tour.

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"There are a lot of families and a lot of people who want the information," said AFN regional Chief Kevin Hart. "I think that hearing it from thepeople from the national inquiry, it is very important for them to hear it first-hand."

Representatives from the inquiry includeddirector of community relations WaneekHorn-Miller, commission counsel Christa Big Canoe, communications advisor Tiar Wilson, and researcher Kelsey Hutton.

"It's very encouraging to see these women at the forefrontputting their names forward, there to representnot onlytheir people as Indigenouswomen, but to also get the information outto thesefamilies, because some have been directly affected by this national tragedy as well," said Hart.

Right now there are three community relations staff members working with the commission, but Horn-Miller said eventually there will be nine people doing outreach to get more families involved.

Currently, 152 people have registered to testify in front of the commission.

Christa Big Canoe explained to the families how they can participate, either publicly to privately, by submitting anything from a sworn statement to a piece of art or poetry.

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"In order to make change [the commissioners] need to hear the stories," said Big Canoe. "They need to hear what families experienced when they tried to look for their loved ones."

Big Canoe told the families that they should also share stories about resilience, survival and successful efforts to combat violence against women and girls.

"The important part of my job is to make sure all relevant information is presented to the commissioners in a fair and neutral way," she said.

The commission's legal team is made up of nine people, and each family participating in the inquiry will speak with one of the lawyers about their case.

Families hadthe chance to ask more in-depth questions about the inquiry process during the session, which was closed to the media.

'Alot of questions'

Sue Caribou is one of 28 family members who attended the session at the Victoria Inn.

Her niece,TanyaNepinak,went missing in 2011. Convicted serial killer Shawn Lamb was originally arrested in connection with her case, but charges were stayed because of a lack of evidence.

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"I really have a lot of questions," said Caribou. "I am very tired today, I had a restless sleep thinking about this a lot."

Caribou said sharing her storyis getting more difficultevery timeshe tells it.

"I have to keep repeating," she said. "The pre-inquiry and [this], re-opening the wounds again."

She will have to share her story at least two more times once at an inquiry advisorysession in May and then when she testifies before the commissioners.

"We could havebarrelledthrough and rushed into hearings but that would almost be irresponsible," said Horn-Miller.

She said she understands how hard it is for the families to keep reliving their pain, but said the inquiry wanted guidance from those affected on how to design the process.

"That's why moving forth with caution is out of respect," she said.

Horn-Miller said the families who attended Thursday's session can begin the testimony process in May when the inquiry team returns for its advisory session.

She said at that point, families can begin meeting with commission counsel so the lawyers can start digging into their cases and begin compelling evidence if necessary.

The three day advisory hearing begins on May 1 with a public session. The second day will be open only tothe families. The commission will hear fromofficials and grassroots organizations working onMMIWissues and violence prevention on the third day.