The national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls has started five days of hearings in Winnipeg.
The inquiry heard first from relatives of Nicole Daniels, who was found dead from hypothermia behind an auto body shop in 2009.
Her family says Nicole had gone out March 31, 2009 with an older man whom she met on a chat line.
They allege this man murdered Nicole; that he got her drunk, sexually assaulted her and tossed her out of his truck, leaving her unconscious.
But Winnipeg police never arrested anyone and ruled out foul play. The autopsy, which was partially read at the inquiry, said her cause of death was hypothermia, with acute alcohol intoxication as a significant contributor.
“I think we need to change how we engage with Winnipeg police. It’s apparent that there’s a complete disconnect between law enforcement and Aboriginal people,” said Isabel Winning, Nicole’s cousin. “There’s a complete distrust.”
Nicole’s mom died two years ago, so her aunt and cousin are pleading her case.
“I just can’t understand it. Does he know that he destroyed and devastated a whole family?” said Joan Winning, Nicole’s aunt. “We’re still feeling the pain today because of the actions of this one person, a selfish act to satisfy himself.”
The family hopes that this inquiry will lead to this man, whom they never identified, being charged with Nicole’s death.
Also among the first families to testify this week was the Rourke family, remembering Jennifer Johnston.
Johnston was killed in 1980 after going to a bar with her sister, Betty Rourke.
“I think my daughter tried to stop me from going up the stairs to see if my sister was okay,” Rourke recounted through tears Monday. “I turned the hallway light on to catch a glimpse of my sister, lying on the floor beside her bed. I told my children that auntie went to heaven, that she was an angel now.”
Rourke said that the man responsible for the murder was previously in jail for assaulting a woman, which she was unaware of at the time.
“I don’t understand why people that murder and assault others get off with a slap on the wrist but if anyone dares to get arrested for drugs or theft, they get years in prison. As I see it, an Indigenous life taken means nothing to the justice system.”
Over 75 witnesses will share their stories with the commission throughout the week at the Radisson hotel downtown.