Wednesday at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) annual general assembly saw families and Indigenous leaders call for either a reset or a resignation of commissioners of the ‘National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’.
The AFN is voting Thursday on whether to replace the current commissioners.
Bernice Catcheway’s daughter, Jennifer Catcheway, went missing nine years ago on her birthday.
Catcheway, her husband and her son traveled from Portage la Prairie, Man. to tell their story.
“It’s been a long, long nine years,” Catcheway said through tears Wednesday during an emotional speech at the assembly.
“Right across Canada, there’s broken hearts, broken spirits because nobody’s listening to us,” Catcheway said.
Their sentiment is echoed by other families who are disappointed in the proceedings thus far.
“We lobbied for the inquiry for years. I’m not happy with what’s going on there. They’ve already had commissioners resign, it’s falling apart,” she said.
“It’s a flawed process. I want to see the inquiry continue, but it’s going too fast… It was supposed to be a family-run inquiry, but it’s not.”
Police conduct
According to Catcheway, neither she nor her family have received one phone call from the police investigating her daughter’s disappearance.
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“When I heard the terms of reference, that the police are not going to be held accountable… When I heard they weren’t even looking into that… What good is it?” Catcheway asked.
Catcheway spoke on Wednesday, and Thursday morning, the inquiry announced they had a forensic team now looking into police conduct.
“The National Inquiry can and will consider the conduct of policing services and policies across Canada in 14 Federal, Provincial and Territorial jurisdictions,” the inquiry said Thursday in a news release.
Even so, Bernice Catcheway and her family’s long journey will not end until Jennifer is found.
“It gets harder as the years go by because we’re getting older, we’re nine years older, and somebody out there knows. Somebody out there has the answer we need.”
During some of Catcheway’s last words at the podium, there was only silence from the crowd.
“I’m not a mean, vindictive woman but I need you to hear me: someone stole my child.”
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