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The two-year mandate of the inquiry ends in September, but progress is hopelessly behind schedule

The two-year mandate of the inquiry ends in September, but progress is so hopelessly behind schedule that Buller is seeking an extension and more funding to its $54-million budget. Indigenous leaders have argued the extension must come with new leadership; Kevin Hart, AFN regional chief for Manitoba, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “needs to address this situation right away.”

But Trudeau is in no more hurry than his Indigenous affairs ministers to get involved. In a Canadian Press interview this week he said his government is “a long way from … starting over or scrapping it,” though “we are certainly alert to the challenges that are being faced with something that was always going to be very, very difficult.”

The reality is that a two-year extension is the best thing the Liberals could hope for. Pushing the windup to 2020 would take it conveniently past the next scheduled federal election in 2019, freeing the prime minister from having to answer for the lack of progress on one of his government’s signature issues, while allowing his ministers to continue making reassuring noises every time another sign of dysfunction crops up.

Offering money and running for cover is the traditional way Ottawa deals with the Indigenous affairs file. It’s a puzzle that the Liberals didn’t foresee the improbability of completing a national inquiry on such a fraught issue in just two years and establish a longer mandate in the first place. Trudeau is no doubt eager for the extension request to hit his desk so he can quickly scribble a signature and insulate himself from further blame.

• Email: kmcparland@nationalpost.com | Twitter: KellyMcParland