Ottawa report on violence against aboriginal women stops short of public inquiry

OTTAWA – A special parliamentary committee’s long-awaited report into missing or murdered aboriginal women stops short of recommending a national public inquiry.

The study’s authors say they had hoped their work would provide the Conservative government an opportunity to show leadership.

Instead, the report states, the families of the victims — believed to number as many as 600 — have been let down by the government’s failure to right a “terrible and ongoing attack on social justice.”

The report urges the Conservative government to work with the provinces, territories and municipalities to create a public awareness and prevention campaign focusing on violence against aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

It also says the feds must continue to strengthen the criminal justice system to ensure, among other things, that violent and repeat offenders serve appropriate sentences.

The report’s conclusion, in fact, is critical of its recommendations, saying they are clearly the work of ministerial offices since so many of them make reference to existing government programs.

The report, entitled “Invisible Women: A Call To Action,” was produced alongside dissenting opinions from the opposition parties.

The NDP’s Jean Crowder, a member of the special parliamentary committee, called it appalling that the Conservatives produced “a sanitized report saying that everything is fine” and renewed her calls for a public inquiry.