NWT residents have waited long enough. In 2022, the GNWT Department of Justice began gathering public feedback on the drafting of missing persons legislation. Having a territorial Missing Persons Act would allow investigators to access private records relating to missing persons, such as telecommunication, health, and financial information. According to the NWT RCMP, there are 80 missing persons files open, which means there are 80+ families waiting for answers. We cannot keep them waiting any longer.

We call on the GNWT Department of Justice to 1) release the results from the 2022 engagement survey and 2) establish an action plan and timeline to enact the missing persons legislation. 

Timeline

• June 2019: National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls releases 231 calls for justice, including action 5.8, which calls on all provincial and territorial governments to enact missing persons legislation.
• June 2020: MLA calls for the drafting of missing persons legislation 
• June - July 2022: Department of Justice gathers public feedback on development of missing persons legislation
• October 2022: Minister of Justice says a bill to create an act would "hopefully" be introduced in February or March 2023.
• May 2023: Minister of Justice explains delay on a missing persons legislation due to needing more consulting with the RCMP and other departments. 
• *ACCOMPLISHED* July 2023: GNWT releases its "What We Heard Report on Missing Persons Legislation" with 81 respondents participating. 
• October 2023: Yukon Premier announces during MMIWG2S accountability forum that territorial missing persons legislation, first passed in 2017, has finally been enacted. 

Missing persons legislation has already been enacted in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. Quebec has proposed Bill 14 to enact missing persons legislation. Nunavut does not have missing persons legislation. 

WE NEED JUSTICE FOR NWT MISSING PERSONS AND THEIR FAMILIES!

“That Missing Persons Act is not just for my brother. It’s for everybody else in the future that may have to go through something like this...I never want another family to ever feel the pain that we’re feeling.”

- Steven Gruben, brother of Frank Gruben

References

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/n-w-t-still-working-on-missing-persons-act-years-after-promising-a-plan-1.6858595

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/cfj-report-cards/cfj5 

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