VICTORIA— The B.C. Liberal government remains silent on what progress has been made on implementing recommendations from the Missing Women’s Inquiry, despite the minister’s October timeline to report out, say New Democrats.

“Although promising to take immediate action on the recommendations made by the Missing Women’s Inquiry, we’ve seen little substantive action from the B.C. Liberal government,” said New Democrat women’s critic Maurine Karagianis. “The minister of justice said we’d see a report out on what progress has been made on implementing these life and death recommendations in October. Well, it’s the last day of October, and all we’re hearing is crickets on this file.”

The inquiry recommended that all of the recommendations made by the Highway of Tears symposium held in Prince George in 2006 be implemented. In particular, Commissioner Oppal strongly urged the B.C. Liberal government to bring in shuttle service along Highway 16. Instead, the B.C. Liberal government gave the green light to Greyhound to cut service along the route.

“We have a long way to go as a government and as a society to show that we have moved beyond the legacy of racism and colonialism that long defined our relationship with B.C.’s First Nations peoples,” said New Democrat aboriginal relations critic Doug Donaldson.

“One of the ways we can move towards reconciliation is by showing, rather than just saying, that the lives and deaths of these Aboriginal women matter to us.”