New MMIW report won't help families heal, Manitoba adviser says

An adviser with the Manitoba government says an RCMP report coming out this week will not bring closure to families of murdered and missing indigenous women.

The report, expected to be released on Friday, builds on last year's national overview that found there were roughly 1,186 unsolved cases of murdered and missing indigenous women in Canada.

• RCMP confirm report of more than 1,000 murdered aboriginal women

• INTERACTIVE: Unsolved cases of MMIW

• Police have failed missing, murdered Manitoba women, families say

Nahanni Fontaine, the province's special adviser on aboriginal women's issues, said that report did help advance the cause and raise awareness.

"It has definitively proven what the community and families have been saying, and it has given legitimacy and urgency to the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls across the country," said Fontaine.

• RCMP says 7 of 10 female aboriginal homicides committed by aboriginal offenders

But Fontaine claims the new report won't really bring solace to the families who've lost women and girls. Most families are ultimately looking for one thing.

"They want somebody to be charged and sentenced for their loved one's murder or disappearance," said Fontaine. "At the end of the day, literally that's the only thing families care about across the country."