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8 Indigenous L. Bull. 6 (2012-2017)
The National Inquiry into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls of Canada: A Probe in Peril

handle is hein.journals/indibull8 and id is 983 raw text is: THE NATIONAL INQUIRY INTO THE MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND GIRLS OF CANADA: A PROBE IN PEIL by Jenna Walsh INTRO DUCTIO N Throughout public spaces across Canada, red dresses have been hung devoid of embodiment: the haunting vacancy serving to 'evoke a presence through the marking of an absence The REDress project's creator, Jaime Black, has deemed her work an aesthetic response to current socio-political frameworks that normalise gendered and racialised violence against Aboriginal women across Canada. Her objective is to facilitate discussion surrounding the thousands of Indigenous women that have been missing or murdered in the last four decades, while providing a visual reminder of the lives that have been lost. Black's efforts are one of the many grassroots initiatives that have prompted collective calls for a federal response to the crisis. These calls have, at last, been answered. In September 2016, the Government of Canada launched a two-year Independent National Inquiry into the missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls across the country directing the Commissioners to propose concrete actions to counteract systemic causes of violence against Aboriginal women. Since its commencement, however, the Inquiry has been plagued by criticism, including the charge that community hearings have adopted an Anglo-legalist structure which has undermined attempts to prioritise Indigenous protocols. This article will provide an overview of the context surrounding the national crisis, as well as outline the bottom-up initiatives which have provoked a political response. In addition, it will offer insight into the current state of the Inquiry, including the critiques that have arisen from within Indigenous communities in response to its perceived structural and administrative shortcomings. THE CRISIS According to a 2014 report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, almost 1,200 Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or have been murdered in Canada since 19802 However, activists from the Native Women's Association of Canada ('NWAC') and Walk 4 Justice initiative claim that the true figure is much higher, with advocates collecting the names of at least 4,232 women 6 I INDIGENOUS LAW BULLETIN July-September, Volume 0, Issue 39 and girls.3 This significant discrepancy is indicative of the many operational difficulties that have skewed national data sets relevant to Aboriginal victims. Although Indigenous women are more likely to be victims of violence than their non-indigenous counterparts, the scope of this violence is not easily quantified. This is, in part, due to inconsistent police practice in collecting information on Aboriginal identity, as well as under-reporting due to strained relationships between police and Indigenous communities.4 As a result, no definitive statistics can be given. Despite under-reporting, the recorded figures are still alarming. Although accounting for only four per cent of the national population, Aboriginal women represent 16 per cent of Canadian female homicide victims.' Consequently, Indigenous women are at least 4.5 times more likely to be murdered than non-Indigenous women across the country. Of these documented cases, only 54 per cent have led to a homicide charge in instances where the victim was an Aboriginal woman, compared to the national indictment rate of 84 per cent British Columbia, in particular, has borne a heavy burden in the national crisis for its infamous Highway 16. The route has been deemed the Highway of Tears for the many murders and disappearances which have occurred along the approximately 800km stretch of road since the 1960's, the majority of which have been Indigenous women.There is some disagreement about the number of unresolved cases within this route, but Inuit leaders from the region assert that there could be as many as forty-three or more7 SOURCES OF VIOLENCE In the context of Aboriginal communities, violence against women must be understood as both a cause and effect of systemic impoverishment. Dispossession from Aboriginal land, the erosion of traditional customs and paternalistic federal legislation has contributed to years of marginalization of Aboriginal peoples, which, in turn, has impaired community functioning. This often manifests as violence within the family unit. Although colonisation's ongoing impact on Indigenous

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