Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I watched the closing ceremony for the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. From the lighting of the quilliq to the families' tearful stories to the Commissioners' grim determination, it took me back to the three days of commission hearings in Yellowknife in January of last year.
In my statement to this House then, I spoke of priority issues I heard from northern women's testimony. Yesterday afternoon I reviewed the 120-page executive summary of the report to see what the recommendations said about those issues in particular. One was the difficulty of accessing counselling in small communities. The Commissioners acknowledged the lack of health and wellness services forcing people to relocate to access care. They recommended government services be accessible where people live, offered in partnership with Indigenous people, and within the context of cultural safety.
Another issue that concerned me was the importance of helping children who had witnessed violence in their families, and once again, the lack of services outside Yellowknife. The Commissioners' general recommendation is to provide continual and accessible support for children.
There is so much more in the report about better housing, the preservation of language and culture as underpinnings of identity, third-party police oversight, and establishing a Child and Youth Advocate, to name a few. These are the specifics, but make no mistake: the report recommends sweeping changes across society to come to terms with the legacy of endemic violence against Indigenous women and girls and to chart a path forward in which women are safe and valued. As the chief commissioner said to families yesterday, "your truth cannot be unheard."
The issue front and center for me is that, given the prevalence of violence against women, governments must put more money into prevention and eradication. The report released yesterday notes that there has been little movement to implement recommendations from previous reports, and most efforts have been reactive, not preventative. This is a significant barrier to addressing the root causes of violence. The report goes on to say, "Insufficient political will continues to be a roadblock across all initiatives. Solutions must be prioritized and resourced in partnership with Indigenous people and support self-determination."
I will have questions for the Minister responsible for the Status of Women about how this government plans to respond to this milestone report. Mahsi.