Mr. Speaker, back in May, I stood to reflect on an article in Maclean's about Canada's inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women falling apart before it had even begun. At that time, I asked the minister what she intended to do to help right the ship.
We continue to be very concerned. I will go over some of the things that have happened in the months since that original article came out that caused us great concern.
It is important, first, to point out that this was right after the last election. We were concerned about how the inquiry would move forward, what it would do in terms of supporting family members. We came on board and said that we would support it, that we wanted it to be successful. It must be successful because there can be nothing more traumatic for the families that have already undergone so much to have an inquiry that does not do what it needs to do. That is a big concern.
Since then, just last month there was another story that discussed the meltdown inside the inquiry. These two articles describe how it went off the rails before it even began.
Since then, we have had a commissioner resign. The executive director, two communications directors, the director of operations, and both the director and manager of community relations all resigned. Moreover, just a couple of weeks ago, the director of research and the inquiry's lead counsel resigned. If that is not a red flag to the government, I do not know what could possibly be a red flag.
It was in August last year that we welcomed the inquiry's moving forward. Most reasonable people thought it would take a few months, that they would get their offices set up, get their computers going, and create a plan that would see them on the road in January to hear the horrific, tragic stories from the families and to move forward. Instead, months and months went by with no move by the inquiry to even hear from the families.
We had a chance to talk to the commissioners when they came to committee. We heard a number of very disturbing things from them. They talked about their trouble with support from the PCO, the fact they have old BlackBerrys and computers that do not work. They did not even have the basic logistics in place.
This question is as timely as it was back in May. There are red flags. The minister is responsible. What is she going to do to ensure that the inquiry will be a success? It is very clear that some action must be taken.