DECEMBER 8, 2015
The federal government announces an independent national inquiry into the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, including Two-Spirit, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. With a $53-million budget, the inquiry is set to wrap up by November 2018.

AUGUST 3, 2016
The government announces five commissioners to lead the inquiry and presents its objectives.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016
The inquiry begins.

APRIL 14, 2017
The commission abruptly postpones two meetings—one in Thunder Bay and one in Edmonton—meant to glean advice from survivors and families on what should be covered in the hearings, slated to begin in May. MAY 15, 2017 Prominent Indigenous activists and voices pen an open letter calling for an overhaul of the inquiry process: “We are deeply concerned with the continued lack of communication that is causing anxiety, frustration, confusion, and disappointment in this long-awaited process,” it reads. “We request that you… substantially rework your approach in order to regain trust and ensure that families are no longer feeling re-traumatized in this process.”

MAY 30-JUNE 2, 2017
The first and, to date, only formal set of family hearings takes place, in Whitehorse.

JUNE 11, 2017
Tanya Kappo, an Idle No More organizer and staff member of the inquiry, resigns, effective June 15.

JUNE 12, 2017
Director of Operations Chantale Courcy resigns from the inquiry.

JUNE 30, 2017
Executive Director Michèle Moreau resigns, citing “personal reasons.”

JULY 6, 2017
The schedule for nine hearings set to take place in cities across Canada is announced. The same day, Chief Commissioner Marion Buller, head of the inquiry, says she has no intention of resigning from her position, amid criticism.

JULY 11, 2017
Another commissioner, Métis law professor Marilyn Poitras, resigns. She accuses the inquiry process of maintaining “the status quo colonial model of hearings.”

JULY 13, 2017
Trudeau tells reporters he’s aware of the concerns surrounding the inquiry, but maintains that “the inquiry needs to provide justice for the victims, healing for the families and put an end to this ongoing tragedy.”

JULY 19, 2017
Thunder Bay’s scheduled hearing is delayed by three months, and Saskatoon’s by a month. Hearings in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, are delayed a week.

AUGUST 8, 2017
Waneek Horn-Miller, the inquiry’s director of community relations, leaves the commission, citing family reasons.

SEPTEMBER 2
Commissioner Michèle Audette tells RadioCanada she and other commissioners will ask the federal government for at least a two-year extension to finish the inquiry. Audette cites the string of recent resignations, logistical issues, and a dearth of resources as key factors in the delay.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017
The federal government vows, via email, to help facilitate the inquiry process in any way needed.

Gender Equality Network Canada, a new group focused on creating an action-oriented plan for women’s equality in Canada, calls for a reset of the inquiry.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017
Buller acknowledges the inquiry process has lacked communication. She points to the Privy Council Office—the government branch overseeing the process— for restricting the process with bureaucratic red tape.

Jenny Lay, whose mom was murdered, gets an email saying that the inquiry lost her file.

In 2012, the Sisters In Spirit Vigil in Ottawa asked volunteers to silently hold pictures of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Photo courtesy of the Native Women’s Association of Canada.

For decades, Indigenous women in Canada have been resisting oppression. Canada’s institutions and systems, steeped in colonialism, racism, and sexism, have deemed Indigenous women as less worthy of raising their children, of having access to proper housing, income, or education.

They’ve also deemed them less worthy of life.

Between 1980 and 2012, there were 1,181 police-reported cases of murder and long-term disappearances involving Indigenous women and girls, the RCMP revealed in a 2014 report. Patty Hajdu, then-minister for the status of women, has cited the research of the Native Women’s Association of Canada suggesting the number could actually be closer to 4,000.

These numbers reflect what the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women have been saying for decades: There are hundreds of Indigenous women and girls whose lives have been dismissed by the government, police, RCMP, and the media.

Manitoba in particular has had a longstanding issue with racism and violence. In 2014, the province had the highest documented number of homicides of Indigenous people and recorded the second-highest rate of hate crimes. A 2015 Maclean’s feature exploring the province’s race problem found only 13 percent of Manitobans had “very favourable” views of Indigenous citizens.

Canadian police and the RCMP also have a history of discrimination in their treatment of missing Indigenous women and girls cases. Poor report-taking, ineffective coordination of and between police, failure to investigate properly, and insensitivity are all common complaints from family members of missing Indigenous women and girls. Families are often made to wait up to 72 hours to even report someone missing—an arbitrary, unofficial period of time, rooted in the stereotype that Indigenous women are transient and unreliable.

When institutions fail to protect a population, it renders them vulnerable to the violence of people who know they won’t face consequences for their behaviour. This culture of immunity is what makes Indigenous women six times more likely to be murdered than non-Indigenous women in Canada.

Last year, the Canadian government launched a national inquiry, with a budget of $53 million, into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The inquiry has been scrutinized for a lack of transparency and communication with Indigenous communities in its planning stages. It does not include the police’s role in the violence Indigenous women and girls face.

Indigenous women have had to fight for their autonomy—and their lives—for far longer than this country has been called Canada. And that’s nothing to celebrate.

CLARIFICATION (JULY 31, 2017): This story has been updated to clarify that the estimated number of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls is cited from NWAC research and not directly from former minister Patty Hajdu.