WATCH: What Justice Minister Peter MacKay says the government has been doing in response to cases like Loretta Saunders.
OTTAWA – It took the disappearance of a cousin to bring Holly Jarrett and her estranged mother together after a year of silence.
After Loretta Sanders went missing, her mother called Jarrett and pleaded with her to make up with her mom.
“She explained that we’re a family, and Loretta knew my mom and I didn’t talk, and she would be very happy when she came home to know that such a good thing had come from her being missing,” Jarrett said Wednesday at a Parliament Hill vigil for her cousin, a 26-year-old Inuit student who vanished from Halifax Feb. 13.
READ MORE: Victoria Henneberry’s ex-roommate shocked about her arrest in Loretta Saunders’ murder
“I’ve talked to my mother every day since.”
The day after Jarrett reconciled with her mother, Saunders’ body was found on the snow-covered median of a New Brunswick highway.
“Left there, a young, promising, talented, contributing aboriginal citizen of our country, of my community and my family, left on the side of the road,” said Jarrett as she choked back tears.
“Our precious little girl who fought for justice for the very silent population of girls she’s now a part of.”
Jarrett proceeded to demand answers from the Minister of Status of Women Kellie Leitch as to “why this government thinks it’s okay to allow our women to be murdered at a rate of five to seven times higher than that of any other demographic in Canada.”
Saunders was an honours student at Saint Mary’s University when she disappeared. Two people have been charged with first-degree murder in her death.
MORE: Case of 2 accused of murdering Loretta Saunders adjourned to March 19
One of them, 25-year-old Blake Leggette, appeared recently in a provincial court. The other, Leggette’s 28-year-old girlfriend, Victoria Henneberry, did not appear in court and was instead represented by her lawyer.
In a cruel irony, Saunders was writing a thesis on murdered and missing aboriginal women before she died.
Cheryl Maloney of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association, who spoke at the vigil, said she grappled with the question of who, if anyone, should finish Saunders’ work before coming to a realization.
“Maybe it wasn’t up to one person to finish Loretta’s thesis,” she said. “Maybe it was up to all of us as Canadians.”
Maloney and others at the vigil called on the Conservative government to hold a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.
“If you, Mr. Prime minister, are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem,” said Manitoba NDP Niki Ashton. “We will not stop and we cannot stop in Loretta Saunders’ memory and in the memory of every single missing and murdered aboriginal woman…We must continue to call for an action plan.”
But while the Conservatives renewed funding to combat violence against aboriginal women and girls in their recent budget, they have so far resisted calls for a formal inquiry.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General Peter MacKay said Wednesday afternoon that Saunders’ death was shocking and sad, but that the Conservatives have been acting on issues “that pertain specifically to violence against women.”
“This government has enacted over 30 pieces of legislation with justice and public safety. We have brought forward more tools for police…more programs designed specifically to help vulnerable women get out of violent situations,” he said when asked about the possibility of a public inquiry during Question Period. “We have enabled aboriginal women to have matrimonial property.”
WATCH: Conservatives pressed to hold public inquiry on death of Loretta Saunders
It is estimated there are hundreds of cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women dating back to the 1960s.
A United Nations human rights investigator called that statistic disturbing last year during a fact-finding visit to Canada in which he also urged the Conservative government to hold an inquiry.
James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, said a national inquiry would ensure a co-ordinated response to the problem and allow the families of victims to be heard.
With files from Global News producer Bryan Mullan
Comments