WATCH: There are an estimated 800 missing or murdered aboriginal women in Canada and the call for a public inquiry have never been louder. A long-awaited report on the issue has been tabled in the House of Commons. But, as Vassy Kapelos reports, critics say it’s a whitewash.
OTTAWA – A special parliamentary committee’s long-awaited report into missing or murdered aboriginal women stops short of recommending a national public inquiry.
The report, entitled “Invisible Women: A Call To Action,” was tabled Friday in the House of Commons amid howls from the opposition that it amounts to little more than a whitewash of the issue.
Both the Liberal and NDP members, who sat on the committee, released dissenting opinions calling for a public inquiry and accusing the federal Conservatives of sanitizing its final report.
READ MORE: N.S. party leaders call for inquiry into slain aboriginal women
Among its recommendations, the report calls on the Conservative government to work with the provinces, territories and municipalities to create a public awareness and prevention campaign focusing on violence against aboriginal women and girls in Canada.
It also says the feds should continue to strengthen the criminal justice system to ensure, among other things, that violent and repeat offenders serve appropriate sentences.
But there’s no recommendation for a national public inquiry.
In its dissenting opinion, the Liberals said they’d hoped the committee’s work would provide the Conservative government with an opportunity to show leadership.
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Instead, they say, the families of the victims – believed to number as many as 600 – have been let down by the government’s failure to right a “terrible and ongoing attack on social justice.”
The Liberals said the report’s recommendations are clearly the work of ministerial offices since so many of them make reference to existing government programs.
The NDP’s Jean Crowder, a member of the special committee, called it appalling that the Conservatives produced “a sanitized report saying that everything is fine” and renewed her calls for a public inquiry.
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