Barbara Bernard wants to know what happened to her mother when she was found dead in Charlottetown, P.E.I. over 40 years ago.
“Nobody every really told me anything that happened to my mom and I think that’s one of the things that bothers me today,” Bernard, 57, said before the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Moncton, N.B. on Wed.
Bernard, a Mi’kmaq from Abegweit First Nation in P.E.I., was 16 years old when her mother, Mary Francis Paul, didn’t return to their home in Scotchford, P.E.I. following a day trip to Charlottetown. She and a couple of her friends looked for her mother but they were unable to find her.
A few days later, Bernard’s mother was found dead along the city’s waterfront.
At the time, a teenaged Bernard was told her mother died from a broken neck. Twelve years later, however, a police officer reluctantly informed her that her mother’s body was found stuffed into a metal drum.
Bernard said she hasn’t really spoken about her mother to her own children and grandchildren.
“I had to move on without her. I think I just shut that door and I never looked back,” a tearful Bernard told Commissioner Michèle Audette.
“This is probably the first time they ever really heard me speak a lot about my mom and it seems so unfair and I apologize for that,” Bernard said.
“Sometimes when you love someone so much, it’s hard to really talk about things,” she said.
MMIWG Inquiry has held hearings in nine locations since May 2017
The federal government launched the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Dec. 2015.
The inquiry’s mandate is to examine and report on the systemic causes of violence against Indigenous women and girls. The commissioners are also responsible for making recommendations to remove systemic causes of violence and increase safety for Indigenous women and girls.
Since May 2017, the national inquiry has held community hearings in nine locations across Canada.
This week, the national inquiry heard from nearly 40 families and survivors of violence during two days of hearings in Moncton, N.B. It was the second time the inquiry held hearings in the Atlantic region.
Community hearings were held in the Mi’kmaw community of Membertou First Nation, N.S. Oct. 30 – Nov. 1, 2017. More than 40 families and survivors told their stories commissioners Audette and Qajaq Robinson.
Michéle Audette, who was the only commissioner to take part in the Moncton hearings, said family members like Bernard aren’t the only ones seeking answers from the justice system about their loved ones.
“We hear it. We see it. It’s a trend across Canada. It’s happening everywhere,” Audette told reporters during the final day of hearings.
“I invite any government, any institution to make sure that families deserve answers, for those that are actually in the investigation process,” she said.
Audette also announced the national inquiry will hold community hearings in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L. in early March. Commissioner Qajaq Robinson will attend those hearings, she added.
The next set of community hearings for the national inquiry will take place in Rankin Inlet, N.U. Feb. 20-22 and in Montreal, Que. Mar. 12-16.
