MMIW inquiry should hurry up, not wait

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/07/2017 (3074 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The phrase “hurry up and wait” is usually uttered with a sarcastic tone, its frustrated intention being to describe an exasperating situation that took too long to start and is taking too long to end.

Some critics of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls have, in essence, co-opted the old military saying, splitting its contradictory sentiment in half and then somehow giving each part equal weight.

They want the inquiry to hurry up. And to wait.

The process might be better served if these critics decided which is the preferred course of action.

For several months, the inquiry — headed by chief commissioner Marion Buller, British Columbia’s first female Indigenous judge — has been under fire for dragging its figurative feet as it prepared, perhaps too deliberately, to hold public hearings that will allow survivors, families and other stakeholders to share their stories. In May, the Native Women’s Association of Canada issued a report card that gave the inquiry either “complete fail” or incomplete scores on all 15 of its key assessment criteria.

The message was clear: let’s get this thing moving.

Last week, however, Manitoba Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson called for a halt to the inquiry’s proceedings, saying the chief commissioner should step down “as a sign of restarting the whole process.” Ms. North Wilson’s contention is that Ms. Buller’s legal background does not serve the inquiry well and that someone with grassroots connections would be more likely to gain the respect and confidence of survivors and families. Others have spoken in favour of Ms. North Wilson’s view.

Ms. Buller, whom Ms. North Wilson has never met, responded by saying she has no intention of resigning, adding that in the context of the inquiry’s exhaustive preparations and complicated scheduling, the eight-month-old process is on track and is, in fact, moving along at “lightning speed.” She has, as well, stated that she will ask the federal government for more time and money — beyond its mandated two years and $53.9-million budget — to complete the inquiry’s considerable agenda.

While it’s unlikely many observers will agree with Ms. Buller’s pace-of-inquiry assessment, some will take comfort from this week’s release of the updated schedule for community hearings, which includes stops in Thunder Bay on Oct. 10 and Winnipeg on Oct. 16. While these long-anticipated events will finally set the process of collecting stories and insights fully in motion, the scheduled dates will make it virtually impossible for Ms. Buller and her four fellow commissioners to meaningfully meet the inquiry’s mandate of releasing an interim report by Nov. 1.

The inquiry’s final report is due one year later.

While there’s no disputing that the inquiry has been frustratingly slow in getting up to speed, there is little to be gained by Ms. North Wilson’s desired halt-and-restart course of action. Replacing the chief commissioner at this juncture would squander whatever meagre progress has been made to date and there’s no guarantee that installing a new inquiry figurehead with less legal knowledge but greater community connections would inspire more confidence in the process.

If the ultimate goal of the inquiry is, as its terms of reference state, to “recommend concrete actions to remove systemic causes of violence and increase the safety of indigenous women and girls in Canada,” then the best course of action is to get on with it.

It’s time for the inquiry to hurry up. While the high-profile bickering continues, at-risk Indigenous women and girls can’t afford to wait.