Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague's disappointment. For many years, the NDP has been raising the issue of a public inquiry. This is a small step today toward the establishment of a parliamentary committee.
Just to state my perspective, I live along Highway 16, the so-called Highway of Tears. I have walked this highway with the families of the victims we are talking about today. Oftentimes, those walks have been with two, three or four people as they tried, in the very early stages, to draw some basic community attention to and public awareness of what it was they were facing. For most Canadians to understand the true depth of the tragedy is to know that these folks have been victimized twice: once when their daughters, sisters or mothers went missing and a second time when the justice system utterly failed them in the pursuit of the justice they so rightly deserve.
The reason a public inquiry has been so important to New Democrats, Liberals and the families is that there can be no solutions until we get to the truth and the heart of the matter. This is a complex issue. The sources of this violence against aboriginal women and girls are complex, but there is no possibility of finding solutions unless we actually have the truth on the table. The resistance of the government, time and time again, to having the courage and leadership to approach this conversation and find that truth is yet a third victimization of the families.
After the Prime Minister's efforts on the apology and his contradiction in cancelling the Aboriginal Healing Foundation program and all of the other injustices done to first nations by the government, is there truly any understanding by the government of the depth and true tragedy of this issue?