It has been nine years since Danita BigEagle, 22, disappeared from the front lawn of her family’s Regina home. When her mother reported that two men grabbed Danita and drove off in a black truck, she says police failed to properly investigate the case.

And so, as the Canadian government announced details of a federal inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women on Wednesday, BigEagle’s mother said the two-year, $53.8-million inquiry will be pointless without a proper investigation into police forces across Canada.

“When I heard this inquiry was coming up, I felt so good, and I was so happy for a few days, until I started (hearing) that they’re not going to look into what we wanted … police misconduct,” Dianne BigEagle told CTV News Channel on Wednesday.

“So I said, ‘What’s the use?’ The inquiry is useless to us.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by indigenous leaders and academics across Canada, many of whom expressed mixed feelings about the inquiry’s focus.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said Wednesday that policing will be a priority for the inquiry’s five appointed arms-length commissioners, but experts say it’s important to include that focus in the inquiry’s formal terms of reference.

The terms of reference, published online on Tuesday, make no official mention of a police probe.

Speaking with CTV News Channel on Wednesday, Mi’kmaq lawyer Pam Palmater called the inquiry “long, long overdue” but raised concerns that there is “no specific mandate to investigate the police.”

“What we really want to see is an examination of the root causes, not just the things that we know,” said Palmater, chair of indigenous governance at Ryerson University.

“We know that poverty makes people more vulnerable. We know that lack of housing and education makes indigenous women and girls more vulnerable. But we want to get at some of the root problems that have never been addressed, like police racism and sexualized violence committed by police and foster parents and child welfare agencies against indigenous women and girls.”

A few recent cases underpin those concerns. In October 2015, allegations surfaced that nine members of the Quebec provincial police force physically and sexually abused First Nations women in the Val d’Or area. A hotline was later launched to allow indigenous women to report sexual violence, and First Nations leaders called for a full independent probe of the allegations.

The ongoing cases of missing and murdered women are closely tied to “overt and systemic racism,” Palmater said.

“This isn’t just about some neutral policing policies that -- oops -- happen to have an impact on First Nations. This is about overt racism. When people die in police custody, when people are sexually abused in police custody, that’s something that shouldn’t be happening in a country like Canada,” she said.

Support for families

Dawn Lavell-Harvard, president of the Native Women Association of Canada, also reflected concerns that the terms of reference have “no explicit mention” of police oversight. But she also said she was worried about how exactly the government would support family members who are called to testify during the inquiry.

“When you re-open wounds like this, you cannot just have someone coming and testifying and then just send them home,” Lavell-Harvard said.

The Wednesday announcement included details that the government would provide long-term support for families throughout the inquiry process, and Lavell-Harvard says she’ll pay close attention to how that commitment is structured “to ensure that that promise is honoured.”

Report isn’t binding

The inquiry should take about two years, and the five commissioners are expected to provide a full report with detailed recommendations. But critics point out that those recommendations aren’t binding -- which some fear could mean they get brushed aside.

“Our fear is that after two years, we’ll have an amazing set of recommendations and no action. And we want to make sure at the outset that we’re not just going through an empty process, because it’s a traumatic process already,” Palmater said.

Past inquiries have highlighted problems and laid out solutions, but Palmater says they haven’t all meant change.

“Look at the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples -- a massive inquiry into our conditions and really good recommendations on how to address things like poverty and suicide and violence and racism. And no action was taken on it,” she said.

The brother of a B.C. woman who went missing 16 years ago said the terms of reference aren’t perfect, but he’s happy to see the ball rolling.

“They may not be perfect, but we’re off to a solid start,” said Ernie Crey, Chief of the Cheam First Nation in B.C. “I’m happy with those (five) appointments and I’m anxious that (they) move onto the inquiry now.”

Crey, whose sister Dawn Crey disappeared in November 2000, said he’d been speaking with others who were concerned about perceived shortcomings in the report. His advice to them: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

“When this inquiry is completed, there will be much, much more work to do because there will be recommendations that come from the inquiry that should lead governments and policing agencies,” he said.

“I think it will inform us as to what we need to do next.”

Holding out hope

For Dianne BigEagle, the search for her missing daughter has continued every day for nearly 10 years. She often drives around the outskirts of Regina looking for signs of her daughter, and she still posts flyers around town. Even as her grandchildren have stopped asking about their mother’s return, BigEagle’s search carries on.

“I’ve got to do things myself. I’ve done everything myself so far with no help,” she said, holding back tears.

Asked what she’d say to the federal ministers handling to inquiry, BigEagle had a few brief words.

“That my daughter is still missing and girls are still continuing to go missing. I’m not the only one who feels like this,” she said.

“They have to take us seriously. This is a really, big serious issue. It’s not rumour and gossip. They’re gone, vanished, abducted, or I don’t know -- I just about said killed -- but I don’t know.”

With files from the Canadian Press