Murdered and Missing Women and Girls Inquiry to Start Hearings in Smithers
Prince George, B.C.- The Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls is in Smithers today, for the first of three days of submissions.
This is the only stop the troubled Commission will be making in B.C. The Commission has taken heat for a number of issues says Skeena-Bulkley MP Nathan Cullen “There has been a lot of concerns about this inquiry about how it’s set up, the many, many people that have quit, the bad communication with family and on and on. It’s been a serious, serious problem.”
Cullen will be attending the full three days of the hearings in Smithers. ” I am there to be with the families to stand with them and to make sure that they don’t get victimized one more time.”
According to Cullen the Inquiry has already spent about 40% of its budget on bureaucrats in Ottawa “When you hear things like that, then they don’t have funding to help families travel to have their stories told, you get very concerned about where this thing is headed.”
The Smithers hearings will start at 9 each morning and run until 5 each afternoon. While the public is welcome to attend the sessions, those unable to be there in person can watch the proceedings live streamed on the Commission’s website, or its facebook page.
Comments
I still see female First Nations hitch hiking this road.. why ? I know some,will say don’t blame the victim. But why put your self in harms way? I know there are lots of hunters out and about so I won’t be wearing my antler hat in the forest.. why risk it?
I hope,the police resolve this soon.. all the meetings in the world do nothing but waste time and money.. take all the money from these ongoing meetings into police man power..
At the end of the day there is someone (or more than one person) out there that are doing this. They are literally getting away with murder.
Totally agree with the above post! The commission is in disarray, kids still hitchhiking and blaming it on the establishment, how much money has been wasted so far with these ‘ enquiries?’ Where it needs to start is at home, if they are irresponsible parents maybe the counsellors and all these other social workers should step in?? They will not accomplish anything the way it is run! My own opinion of course, but it does get redundant seeing these scheduled enquiries making no headway. Go to the root!
Maybe Nate could help us out here by telling us what conclusion the commission is supposed to reach? He seems to think he knows.
Good point!
Its not just First Nation women that go missing , the enquiries should include all women. Anita T. what happened to her ? She was a happy ,good looking Gal and is missed by family and friends everyday.
So just what is the commission supposed to accomplish? What is the expected end result?
If the police reports are correct most of the crimes have been solved and/or reasons given. To solve the problem the affected communities have to look inward and deal with it.
The commission is nothing but a political reaction with no substance and in the end the affected communities will most likely not like the result if there ever is one.
Considering the number of years covered and some of the catchment being no where near hwy 16 how does this compare to the rest of the country?
Yes it is a tragedy, but not for just one demographic.
A money pit, if ever there was one!
We have been “inquiring” this issue for how many years now? How many more years will we be “inquiring” this issue?
All parties to this issue need to step up to the plate to address this issue, but some parties are content to see this issue go on and on and on and on and on!
It’s like Global Warming, oops climate change! Follow the money!
Good comment about the white women that have gone missing, but then political correctness has gone way overboard. Seems that if you are native you have better potential of being in the headlines, personally this also has gone overboard. But then I would be called a racist. So I will leave it at that. I would be curious as to how much money has been sunken into these hearings and all the boondoggle surrounding this. Why have people quit, communication goes both ways also. If there is concern the effort has to be made from two parties.
They got the subsidized bus service they wanted at the expense of Grayhound service to a wider area and the reputation of the communities along highway 16. Yet just last week I counted over a dozen hitch hikers in one trip out west…. its a cultural thing to take unreasonable risks and then blame it all on government when some horrible creep takes the bait.
I was on the island this summer and was surprised to hear people say I must be brave to travel our northern highways in light of the serial killer problem we have. Guy at the museum said he was too scared to travel that part of the province. So the perception people outside the north have is that traveling northern BC is akin to driving with foreign license plates in the rural areas of Mexico… you need to be very brave to drive those roads. Its sad and just sickening to hear that is the image we have cultivated for our region.
Sure tragedies have happened and multiple people have gone missing or worse over the last fifty years in Northern BC… and every death or missing person should be thoroughly investigated leaving no stones unturned… but liabling a whole region with hyperbolic linkages doesn’t serve anyone well and just serves to deflect and undermine the real issues of teaching safe life skills and treating each unique case with a legal investigstive process.
In Saturdays paper I was sickened to read about a First Nations young fellow beating his girl friend and leaving her for dead, he tweeted on line — Lo taught her a lesson. She knew I’d find out if she cheated, one thing you don’t do is double cross me I’m not someone’s second choice. I think part of the problem is lack of respect for women and things not be reported. I think there is a lot more problems than the highway of tears. I think if this young man had to get a Job to eat maybe he would not have time to hurt other people , something is wrong with the system First Nations have to quit blaming all the problems on the White People. The Chiefs get big bucks to do what?? when their people do with out, Its time they started to speak out and help themselves.
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