Vancouver has become the first city in Canada to offer a temporary refuge centre for survivors and families expected to attend next month’s hearings in Richmond for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The renovated space on the ground floor of a city-operated single-room-occupancy hotel at 44 East Cordova St. opened Monday and is called Saa-ust, which translates to “to lift up” in Coast Salish. It is the former home of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre.
“It feels great that this has happened – no other city in Canada has done this,” said Penny Kerrigan, the western Canadian community relations liaison for the national inquiry, who attended the opening along with Mayor Gregor Robertson and Squamish Chief Ian Campbell.
The move by the city, which was influenced by a request from the city’s Urban Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Committee, was done even though Vancouver is not one of the stops of the inquiry. A Richmond hotel will be the site of the hearings, which run from April 4 to 8.
Kerrigan cited “logistics” as the reason for the hearings to be held in Richmond.
“This is the largest hearing in Canada, so there was a lot of space required,” she said. “It’s a huge undertaking.”
The inquiry was in Montreal last week and travels to Thompson, Man. this week. The hearings have until this point provided a room in a hotel or facility for families and survivors to seek refuge from sharing their stories. The same will be offered in Richmond.
Vancouver organizers are working on shuttle plans, including the use of the Canada Line and vehicles, to transport families and survivors to the East Cordova centre, where legal teams will also be in place to hear stories that people prefer not to share publicly at the hearings.
"Hundreds" are expected to use the centre, said Mary Clare Zak, the city's director of social policy and projects.
Counsellors, elders and others will be available at the space, which is long and narrow with seven private meeting rooms. There’s an area for making arts and crafts and an area for ceremony. Fresh Indigenous art is throughout the centre, including a mural by a Nisga’a artist, whose mother was murdered in 2005 in Nanaimo.
“It will be a sanctuary to those using it,” said the mayor, noting the centre will remain open until late April and the city with then likely look to lease it to an Indigenous-related organization.
Chief Campbell described the hearings as a pivotal moment in Canadian history.
“It’s an opportunity to honour our life-givers, and to support the families that have gone through so much grief and loss,” he said. “So having a space like this in our shared territories is welcomed.”
The mandate of the inquiry’s commissioners is to examine and report on the “systemic causes” of all forms of violence against Indigenous women, girls and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and two-spirit people in Canada.
The mandate also includes examining institutional practices and policies implemented in response to violence experienced by Indigenous women and girls, including examining police investigation practices and responses, as part of the public investigation.
The terms of reference for the inquiry state commissioners cannot attempt to solve outstanding missing or murdered cases of Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2S people, or solve crimes against survivors. However, if new evidence comes to the attention of commissioners, it can be referred to the appropriate authorities.
The inquiry cannot provide monetary compensation or restitution to anyone.
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