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MMIW inquiry 'a failure'

The families of missing and murdered Indigenous women say a national inquiry has already failed and are calling for "a hard reset" on the process.

Many made emotional pleas Wednesday as two of the inquiry commissioners appeared at the Assembly of First Nations annual meeting to explain the inquiry process, including how to register and give testimony.

Gerri Pangman, whose sister and aunt were killed in separate incidents decades apart, said the inquiry is a failure because it doesn't hold police to account.

"For this national inquiry, in the terms of reference, to leave out the police, it's a failure and it's a dishonour to my sister," Pangman said at the meeting.

The remains of Pangman's sister, Jennifer McPherson, were found scattered on a remote island off the coast of Vancouver Island and her husband was convicted of murder in 2014.

Traigo Andretti subsequently pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of a Manitoba woman, Myrna Letandre, who disappeared in 2006. Letandre's dismembered remains were found in 2013 in a Winnipeg rooming house.

"So it took the death of my sister for Myrna's family to get justice, when it could have been in 2006 and my sister would be here," said Pangman.

"And you can just say this inquiry is going to be a success? No, it failed my sister."



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