Ottawa resists renewed calls for inquiry into missing, murdered aboriginal women

The Conservative government is not budging from its insistence that there's no need for a national inquiry into the fate of missing and murdered aboriginal women, despite a new report saying the total number of cases may now be more than 1,000.

Instead, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney counterattacked Thursday when the Opposition challenged the government to change its mind after the new figure was reported by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

In question period, Blaney criticized the NDP's refusal to support the Conservatives' budget bill, which includes a five-year, $25-million renewal of funding to stop violence against aboriginal women and girls, The Canadian Press reported.

"As a father, I'm very proud to have supported more than 30 measures to keep our streets safer, including tougher sentencing for murder, sexual assault and kidnapping," Blaney said during question period.

"And Mr. Speaker, I will stand in this house and support the $25-million strategy for aboriginal and missing, murdered women."

APTN National News said an RCMP project aimed at arriving at an accurate count by surveying more than 200 police forces across Canada uncovered more than a thousand cases.

[ Related: Pressure mounts for inquiry into missing, murdered aboriginal women ]

The review apparently had been completed and the Mounties had delivered the report to Blaney's ministry, APTN said. However Supt. Tyler Bates, head of RCMP aboriginal policing, told APTN the report wasn't done.

“There is no report as of yet that has been disseminated,” said Bates. “There will be a publicly available document down the road.”

Bates wouldn't comment on the figure of 1,000 murdered or missing aboriginal women, a number much higher than the estimated 600 cases identified in a 2010 report by the Native Women's Association of Canada, APTN said.

Although the RCMP told CP via email that the report had not yet been finalized, APTN said it was told the report was supposed to be released on Wednesday but had been delayed by Public Safety Canada.

Aboriginal groups have pushed hard for a national inquiry into the issue, convinced the number of unsolved disappearances and killings is high because cases involving aboriginals are treated differently.

The demand has triggered protest marches and even a blockade in March of the Via Rail line in southern Ontario.

[ Related: Via Rail blockade by First Nations ends ]

Native women's association president Michele Audette told CP her group is now considering whether to take Ottawa to court to try and force a national inquiry.

"It's a human-rights issue. We do it for salmon. We do it for corruption," said Audette, referring to recent commissions of inquiry. "How come we don't have the same thing for missing and murdered aboriginal women?"

In the Commons, New Democrat Niki Ashton joined Opposition calls for an inquiry.

“Families want closure, they want justice, they want to be heard and they want action from this government," she told the House, according to APTN.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has consistently rejected calls for a national inquiry, preferring to leave the issue to a special all-party parliamentary committee, which in March also turned thumbs down on the idea.

The Globe and Mail reported the committee recommended better support for families of victims and for aboriginal communities, improved police data, action to reduce human trafficking and a public-awareness campaign.