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OTTAWA — A lawyer who recently resigned from the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women says the inquiry is trying to stop him from talking about his reasons for leaving.

Breen Ouellette, who went public last week about his decision to resign, says he received a cease-and-desist letter from a lawyer representing the inquiry on Friday.

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“We hereby demand that you stop making any public or private comments about the inquiry. We also require a signed written statement from you acknowledging that you will not make any public or private comments about the inquiry,” the letter reads. “Otherwise, the inquiry reserves the right to seek all remedies available to it.”

In an interview, Ouellette said he believes the “self-interest of the commissioners” has led them to try and silence him.

“They don’t want to be fired and replaced with new people,” he said. “They don’t want to be saddled with the public belief that the national inquiry has failed.”