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What's expected to be the last public hearings into the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls are being held in Metro Vancouver this week.
However, commissioners and speakers used the opening of testimony to echo the formal request made to the federal government last month to give the inquiry more time to do its work.
Commissioner Michele Audette says expectations are high for the inquiry's outcome and in order to hear all the stories of victims, ask important questions, and produce a thorough report, the inquiry will need more time.
Organizers say nearly 100 people have registered to testify and as many as 300 people are expected to tell their stories by the time hearings wrap up in Richmond, B.C., on Sunday.
Chief Commissioner Marion Buller says the inquiry is an opportunity for Indigenous people to set the record straight about their history, and Canada has a lot to learn from them.
Carolyn Bennett, the minister of Indigenous relations and northern affairs, said last month that the government would consider the request for an extension.
