The national inquiry looking into the saga of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is formally asking for two more years to finish its work.
The commissioners say they have asked Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett for the additional time, which would extend the group’s mandate to the end of 2020.
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The inquiry was originally scheduled to wrap up by December 2018, but chief commissioner Marion Buller has long warned that she believes more time would be necessary.
The federal government established the inquiry in late 2015 to examine the evidence behind a disproportionately high number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada, and to give family members a chance to have their stories heard.
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The commission says in a statement it has so far heard from more than 760 witnesses during nearly 250 public, in-camera and community hearings held across the country.
It says an extension would also allow it to commission original research on the criminal justice system and systems of colonial violence.
The Canadian Press
