B.C. Liberals Reject Public Inquiry Into Missing And Murdered Women
VICTORIA - The B.C. Liberals are marking the memorial for missing and murdered aboriginal women by refusing to convene a public inquiry into these disappearances and deaths, say the New Democrats.
“Despite 40 years of aboriginal women going missing or being found murdered along
Bob Simpson provincial highways, B.C. Liberal Minister George Abbott still insists it is not the time for an inquiry,” said Bob Simpson , New Democrat critic for Aboriginal Relations.
During Question Period on Thursday at the legislature, Simpson and other members of the Official opposition repeatedly asked the B.C. Liberal government to commit to a public inquiry. Earlier in the day, First Nations leaders gathered on the steps of the legislature to underscore the importance of an inquiry.
“B.C.’s First Nations are unified and unequivocal that a public inquiry is critical to helping prevent more deaths and disappearances. If the B.C. Liberals are serious about a new relationship of recognition and reconciliation, they should be working with aboriginal communities and First Nations leaders on calling an inquiry to determine why women and children continue to go missing,” said Simpson.
“Unfortunately, the Minister and his B.C. Liberal colleagues are refusing to call a public inquiry.”
When Simpson asked the Aboriginal Affairs Minister to advocate for a public inquiry at the cabinet table, Abbott dismissed the request, saying that police investigations into individual cases would be sufficient.
Gary Coons“It appears that Minister Abbott will not listen to the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the Assembly of First Nations, or advocates for native women, who are all saying that an inquiry is needed to help determine why so many aboriginal women have been, and continue to be, murdered in this province,” said Gary Coons , MLA for North Coast.
“If we are going to take steps to address and prevent violence, we need to get answers to these difficult questions,” emphasized Coons.
On Sunday, Feb. 14, New Democrat MLAs will be attending memorials across British Columbia for an estimated 137 aboriginal women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing.
