"The goal of the inquiry is to address the powerlessness large numbers of Indigenous people feel in the face of a state that has been historically apathetic, when not outright hostile, to their plight. And now this."

Is that the stated goal, or is that simply the Globe's interpretation of what it believes the goal should be? Inquiries with that grandiose a scope almost inevitably go nowhere, beyond reinforcing victim narratives, accurate but by now old colonial stories, offering tantalizing reconciliation, doing nothing about the real on the ground issues, and leaving no one satisfied.

Unless the inquiry can effectively focus on its narrower mandate of investigating the cases of missing and murdered indigenous women, and providing realistic and practical recommendations for change (e.g.  affordable and accessible transit options), then it will be one more expensive process that meets no one's interests, and thus, is quickly forgotten.