The Innu Nation hopes the inquiry into the treatment of children in care will be the beginning of the end of the trauma.
The Inquiry into the Treatment, Experiences and Outcomes of Innu in the Child Protection System was formally launched Friday.
It comes almost a year after Commissioner Chair James Igloliorte was named to lead it, and five years after it was first announced.
Innu Nation Deputy Grand Chief Mary Ann Nui says it’s about stopping the cycle of generational trauma.
She says it marks a new beginning for the new generation, saying the goal is to stop passing it down and putting them through what their parents and grandparents went through.
Commission Chair Igloliorte, who will be assisted by co-commissioners Anastasia Qupee and Dr. Mike Devine, says it was important that everyone acknowledged the failings of the system.
(Left to right: Dr. Mike Devine, Anastasia Qupee, James Igloliorte.)
He says all parties acknowledge the longstanding issue of not appreciating the impacts of those failures on Innu children, their families, their communities, and their culture, adding the inquiry will help guide the Innu as they work toward self-governance and their own system of child protection.
Igloliorte, who also oversaw the recent inquiry into ground search and rescue, says public hearings will likely start in the fall.
In the meantime, there’ll be meetings with community leaders, while the parties prepare and review legal documents for presentation at the inquiry.
