Much more needs to be done to confront abuse in indigenous communities: Trudeau
OTTAWA — Much more needs to be done to confront the crime of sexual abuse of children in indigenous communities, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who anticipates the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls will reveal “huge issues” that must be addressed.
“I think part of what that national inquiry is going to reveal is there are deep challenges that we have to address that go beyond just lack of adequate policing or enforcement or justice systems,” Trudeau said during a year-end roundtable interview with The Canadian Press.
“There are huge issues that we have to work with as partners with indigenous leadership, indigenous communities.”
The issue of missing and murdered women is symptom of a constellation of social ills but a dominant theme is rampant childhood sexual abuse, say victims — including 59-year-old Bernie Williams, who wants the inquiry’s commissioners to confront head-on what many say has been an open secret in indigenous communities for decades.