OTTAWA—A new report on the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls paints a scathing picture of a process that is “failing” on a number of fronts, including through a “profound lack” of communication and transparency that is “effectively re-traumatizing” affected families.

The report, published Monday by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, calls on the inquiry leadership to apologize for a lack of transparency and accountability, and for failing to provide travel compensation for families taking part in hearings across the country. The report also urges the inquiry to publicly release the details of its budget and redesign its communications strategy to shift the focus to the stories of missing and murdered women and girls.

“The needs of families, as well as parties with standing and the public, have been disregarded for the most part,” the report says. “Unacceptable communication practices are effectively re-traumatizing families, and must be remedied immediately.”

The NWAC assessment is the third “report card” released since the inquiry was launched. The report graded the process on 15 areas taken from the inquiry’s terms of reference, based on observations of the process from May 2017 to March 2018. The organization supports the call for an extension, despite the perceived shortcomings of the process, “as long as there are families and survivors who want to use this avenue to share their truths and their loved ones’ stories,” the group said in a statement Monday.

The report concluded the inquiry is failing in five areas — defined as “no progress made” — that include the creation of issue-specific advisory panels, adherence to a communications strategy that provides transparency and accountability, and the provision of compensation to make sure people can travel to take part in inquiry hearings. The report says the inquiry has also failed to consider requests for incarcerated people, or allowing remote families members to be included by video, or to give time and space for families who’ve been separated to reconnect before testifying. The report notes this “is of significant importance with children involved in the child welfare system.”

Five more commitments were deemed “incomplete” by the report, including the establishment of a “trauma-informed” inquiry process, which NWAC says failed to properly use Indigenous legal systems and include families and communities in planning.

The report gave passing grades — meaning the “commitment has been met” — to the inquiry on providing opportunities for people to commemorate loved ones through art, song and dance. It also met its mandate to release an interim report in November 2017 and to promote and advance Indigenous-settler reconciliation, the report says.

The remaining two commitments could not be assessed because they pertain to the final report at the end of the process.

The report comes as the federal government mulls a request from the inquiry to extend its mandate by two years to conduct more research and allow more people to take part in the process. On its current timeline, the inquiry is working with a $54 million budget and is slated to finish by the end of the year.

The process has been criticized over the way the inquiry has been conducted, while several high-ranking officials have left their roles with the inquiry, including the process’s lead lawyer and one of its original five commissioners. On April 25, the inquiry announced a new executive director, Jennifer Moore Rattray. Her predecessor quit in January after just three months on the job.