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The final report of the National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is an uncomfortable read, particularly when it comes to the bitter agony evident in the testimony of family members of who have lost loved ones.

Bernice C. talked about her daughter, Jennifer.

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“Somebody stole her, had no right to her, had no right to take her. She could have had a baby. She could have got married. But that was taken from her. Somebody decided she didn’t have right to live but she had every right to live,” she told the inquiry.

The MMIWG probe was launched by Prime Minster Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government as part of its commitment to implement the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was a reasonable gesture of reconciliation, charged with symbolism, in the face of truly appalling statistics of violence against Indigenous women. The RCMP has said they made up 16 per cent of all female homicides between 1980 and 2012, despite comprising just 4 per cent of the population.