Laurie Ojick says she now has renewed hope of finding her missing daughter Maisy.
Her hope comes after the federal government released Wednesday morning the details into the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett announced at the Museum of History in Gatineau, that five independent commissioners will now have the authority to recommend how to deal with violence against indigenous women in Canada. “They left no doubt in our minds about the urgent need to examine the underlying and deep, systemic challenges of this violence, including racism, sexism and the sustained impact of colonialism," Bennett says.
Laurie Odjick’s daughter Maisy Odjick was last seen on September 6th 2008 along with her best friend Shannon Alexander. The two young girls from the Kitigan Zibi reserve near Maniwaki disappeared without a trace.
Odjick says, “It hurts me as a mother that I have to go on without her because I wish everyday she was beside us with our family.”
Over the years, Quebec Police worked with the RCMP, OPP, and the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg police department. Organizations Enfant-retour Québec and Missing Children Society of Canada also helping in the search. There have been possible sightings of the girls, even in Ottawa- but none have brought answers.
Laurie Odjick says, “The circumstances is the last time they were seen was at a high school dance and that was it. It’s like they disappeared from the face of the earth.”
Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says, "We know that the inquiry cannot undo the injustices that indigenous peoples have suffered over decades, but we can review what's happened in the past, reflect on our present circumstances, and chart a path moving forward."
Calls for a national inquiry have been growing since an RCMP review in 2012 revealed that over 1,000 aboriginal women have been murdered or gone missing since 1980. The commissioners have the heavy task of getting to the root causes of the disproportion number of indigenous women and girls who have murdered or gone missing. The commission will also have the authority to summon witnesses to testify
Ojick says she was happy to see that along with the inquiry- centralized resources will be available for families of indigenous women to gather information they need.
“Families members had difficulty in gaining accessing information about their loved ones cases, and the family liaison units with assist that families ability to access that information,” says Minister Wilson-Raybould.
The Inquiry will last at least two years and cost almost $54-mililion dollars, nearly $14-million dollars more than expected.