'We know who the murderers are'

The issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada remains one of heartache, frustration and political controversy.

The federal government and First Nations leaders continue to have discussions in regards to stopping the tragic problem, and as recently as last week there was a call by one First Nations group for a meta-study of a multitude of studies already done on the missing and murdered aboriginal women file.

There have also been calls for a national inquiry into the matter.

That, said Sault Ste. Marie MP Bryan Hayes to an audience gathered for a Sault Chamber of Commerce event Wednesday, is unnecessary.

"It's been front and centre, there have been 1,200 murdered and missing aboriginal women."

"There is a call for a launch of a national inquiry. Our government's position is that we are not in support of a national inquiry and I just want to tell you why," Hayes said.

"What doesn't come out to the public is that of those 1,200 murdered and missing aboriginal women, 90 percent of the cases are solved and we know who the murderers are and this is over a 30-year period, it's not like this happened yesterday."

"90 percent of the cases are solved, we know the stats, we know who have done the murders and we know everything about them, the RCMP has released a report, there have been over the course of the years 40 different studies and our government's position is we don't want to do another study that will tell us most of what we already know," Hayes said.

"There are root causes to these situations."

An Aboriginal Community Safety Development Contribution Program was created by the federal government, which focuses on working with remote First Nations communities to develop safety plans for those communities and train people to administer them.

"As a government, we quite frankly need to be doing a better job in terms of the necessary resources for our First Nations communities, and we have launched a plan, we've developed a plan and we're going to work towards that plan."

"I want to get that on the record, this is something that's been across the nation, that's my government's position and that's my position," Hayes said.

'It is about holding the justice system accountable' (5 photos)

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