Missing, murdered aboriginal women: RCMP set to release new report

The RCMP are releasing what they call their most comprehensive account to date of Canada's missing and murdered aboriginal women on Friday morning.

The Mounties say they worked with Statistics Canada and almost 300 policing agencies to produce the National Operational Overview on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women.

RCMP officials will speak to reporters about the report Friday at 10 a.m. CT (11 a.m. ET) at its D Division headquarters in Winnipeg. CBCNews.ca will carry a live video stream of the news conference.

The report will include the RCMP's current count of missing and murdered women across the country.

Earlier this month, officials confirmed that there are 1,186 police-recorded incidents of aboriginal homicides and unresolved missing women investigations over the past three decades — a much higher number than previously thought.

The figure includes 1,017 aboriginal women slain between the years of 1980 and 2012, as well as 169 missing women dating back to 1952.

Among those hoping for answers from the RCMP report is Candy Volk, whose 18-year-old niece, Hillary Wilson, was killed almost five years ago.

Wilson's body was found in August 2009 on a dirt path northwest of Winnipeg. RCMP have said her death is a homicide, but the case remains unsolved.

"Hillary was a person. She was loved. She's missed daily," Volk told CBC News late Thursday.

"But she's just another statistic, and as her family we're the only ones who are acknowledging her. So it's really frustrating."

Michèle Audette, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, said she is anxious to see what recommendations, if any, the RCMP report will have.

She believes the lobbying for a national inquiry has prompted the RCMP to begin working on the report.

"And from that, it's going to be a political tool. It's going to help the social movement out there [that] is pushing for justice and equity," she said.

For years, members of Canada's aboriginal community have been raising awareness of the issue and calling on the federal government to hold a national inquiry.

The Conservative government has refused to call an inquiry to date, referring instead to initiatives carried out over the years to combat violence against women and girls.

Derek Nepinak, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said the RCMP report will be a partial step in the right direction.

"It's not the full step," he said.

"The full step needs to be a full public inquiry. But it is an intermediate step, and it does raise the spectre of concern that, you know, there is a much bigger issue out there."

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