An RCMP report on missing and murdered aboriginal women is already facing criticism. Families of victims say the document presents numbers and little else.
“Now what? Where do we go from here? What’s going to be done now? We have the numbers and they just keep rising. When is it going to stop?” asked Bernice Catcheway.
Catcheway’s daughter, Jennifer, disappeared on June 19, 2008.
Catcheway and her husband Wilfred have spent the last six years searching. They want a national inquiry into cases like Jennifer’s.
“Something has to be done. Because it’s not going to end or stop here. Something has to be done and what’s been done in the past hasn’t worked,” says Wilfred Catcheway.
That call was echoed across Manitoba today. Dennis White Bird works for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. He said First Nations communities were not consulted about the report. White Bird said change will be difficult without cooperation and communication between RCMP and First Nations.
“If someone is going to make significant changes it has to come from within the community, within the First Nations community,” said White Bird.
He too said a national inquiry is absolutely necessary. In the meantime, White Bird said AMC will conduct its own analysis of the RCMP report.
