Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls

Shirley McLean APTN National News After decades of lobbying for a National Inquiry into the disproportional number of Indigenous women who are murdered or go missing, the first public hearing was held Tuesday in Whitehorse. A number of families told about their loved ones, and how they died.

A tent set up behind the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre in Whitehorse has been decorated with 19 quilts bearing messages of support for the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. About 40 families are set to provide testimony under the tent this week, or in private adjacent cabins, as the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls gets underway.

Delilah Saunders and five other leaders of the Indigenous rights movement in Canada have been honoured with Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2017. Saunders, the sister of the late Loretta Saunders, is an advocate for the rights of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.

WHITEHORSE - The head of a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls says she understands why families in Whitehorse are anxious as the process begins. Many family members have waited a long time to tell their stories, said Chief Commissioner Marion Buller.

The highly anticipated first public hearings for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls will soon get underway in Whitehorse. The "truth gathering process" began Monday with the lighting of a sacred fire and an opening ceremony closed to the media. Public testimony begins today and runs until Thursday.

A Selkirk woman hurt by the removal of red ribbons from two bridges in Selkirk has put them back on. Jeannie Red Eagle originally put the ribbons up on May 5 to commemorate missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

MONTREAL - American recording artist and humanitarian Alicia Keys believes a change is coming, as people in both Canada and the United States wake up to the fight against inequality and injustice. "There's a veil that's lifted so we're not able to say anymore, 'I didn't know that,'" she said Saturday in Montreal, where she was honoured for her activism.

VANCOUVER-Diane Lilley waited nearly two decades for a suspect to be arrested in her sister's murder, only to sit through a trial where she says her beloved sibling Tina Washpan was often referred to as simply "the hooker." The dismissive treatment of her sister in death mirrored the way she was treated in life, said Lilley.

VANCOUVER -- Diane Lilley waited nearly two decades for a suspect to be arrested in her sister's murder, only to sit through a trial where she says her beloved sibling Tina Washpan was often referred to as simply "the hooker." The dismissive treatment of her sister in death mirrored the way she was treated in life, said Lilley.

The national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls has fallen dangerously behind in its work and is in serious trouble. The government gave the inquiry two years and four months, beginning Sept. 1, 2016 and ending Dec. 31, 2018. As of June 1, the inquiry's commissioners will have eaten up nine months with little to...

A Guatemalan researcher says time is of the essence when it comes to gathering evidence in cold cases involving Canada's missing and murdered Indigenous women. Fredy Peccerelli, a forensic anthropologist, has been working to identify the remains of victims who disappeared or were killed during Guatemala's decades-long civil war during which tens of thousands of the country's Indigenous Mayans were killed.

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"I have to believe that there is something that is bigger than all of us out here that we can get through this together," Williams said in an interview. "I have to believe in my heart, my soul, my being that ... we are going to get our justice."

Joel Krahn/Yukon News The inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is willing to return to the Yukon if more hearings are required after the three days set for next week, said Jeanie Dendys, the minister responsible for the women's directorate.

The federal government is facing criticism for leaving Newfoundland and Labrador off the list of locations where it is holding Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Inquiry design meetings. Pre-Inquiry meeting are being held in every province except Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The federal government is facing criticism for leaving Newfoundland and Labrador off the list of locations where it is holding Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Inquiry design meetings. Pre-Inquiry meeting are being held in every province except Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

OTTAWA-Families of missing and murdered women are raising their voices in defence of the national public inquiry as it faces a stream of criticism from advocates and Indigenous leaders. Bernie Williams, who has spent more than 30 years on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside raising awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women, is urging families to keep faith in the process.

WINNIPEG - The province has declared Oct. 4 an official day to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. On Thursday the legislative assembly voted unanimously in favour of the bill, which was introduced by NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine.

With only days to spare before the first hearing of the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls gets underway in Whitehorse, the Yukon government and other groups have just received a schedule. The inquiry has come under fire in recent weeks for slow progress and poor communication.

OTTAWA -- Bernie Williams says she and other indigenous women have already been to hell and back -- and now is not the time to give up on a national public inquiry they've spent decades fighting for.